Customers are facing another threat. After the fraudulent e-shops that David recently wrote about, this time fake coupon sites are trying to fool them. They promise up to 40% savings after registration or cashback on purchases in certain categories. In reality, however, they want the user to install a browser extension
This scam was brought to our attention by e-shops owners themselves. After entering the keywords “discount coupon e-shop-name”, Google offered their customers a new portal skcoupone.com, where they read, for example, that after registration they get up to 40% discount on the first purchase.
Such a deal is definitely worth it, so shoppers immediately started registering, fortunately directly on the original e-shop. However, after its confirmation, they didn’t receive any discounts, which of course caused a wave of indignation and a few nasty e-mails to the administrators. They are innocent in this. Where does the truth lie?
We decided to review the new discount portal to verify its credibility. And it only took a few seconds for us to come across a few exclamation marks:
1. Incorrect translations
Despite the fact that the portal looks like a Slovak one, after clicking on “Stores” in the header, the “list of stores” sign doesn’t appear in Slovak, but in Czech.
2. Missing diacritics and all words starting with a capital letter
No sound copywriter would do that.
3. Mixed currencies
Discounts are in euros or percentages, but the total savings are converted into dollars. At what exchange rate? Probably by chance…
4. No web administrators’ contact info
Who collects, verifies and tests all these coupons and discounts? Who can I contact if something’s wrong? You won’t find the answer to these questions on the website.
What does the portal want?
This seems to be a very awkward promotion of a browser extension called Coupert.
On its official page in the app store, it claims that after installing it, it will automatically add current discount codes to your e-shop baskets and alert you to ongoing promotions. However, the add-in itself, although it looks trustworthy, has very few user reviews and even those refer to it as a scam.
Therefore, it’s very likely that it’s only a tool for collecting information from your browser – from e-mail addresses and passwords to saved cards. That’s why we didn’t install it either and we brought this scam to the attention of our clients and colleagues.
And what’s the conclusion? Still the same. Be sure to thoroughly check every website you visit. And if you’re looking for discount codes, prefer verified portals with properly completed contact information. Or like the e-shop on social networks – this is where you’ll often get the latest information about promotions and some discounts for following.
