{"id":7021,"date":"2023-01-26T11:38:27","date_gmt":"2023-01-26T10:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.bart.sk\/en\/?p=7021"},"modified":"2023-02-27T11:44:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T10:44:00","slug":"investigated-scam-discount-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bart.sk\/en\/investigated-scam-discount-portal\/","title":{"rendered":"We have investigated a scam discount portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/b><\/p>\n

This scam was brought to our attention by e-shops owners themselves. After entering the keywords “discount coupon e-shop-name”, <\/span>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.<\/b><\/p>\n

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Such a deal is definitely worth it, so shoppers immediately started registering, fortunately directly on the original e-shop. <\/span>However, after its confirmation, they didn’t receive any discounts, which of course caused a wave of indignation<\/b> and a few nasty e-mails to the administrators. They are innocent in this. Where does the truth lie?<\/span><\/p>\n

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:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Incorrect translations<\/b><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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.<\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Missing diacritics and all words starting with a capital letter<\/b><\/strong><\/h3>\n

No sound copywriter would do that.<\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Mixed currencies<\/b><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Discounts are in euros or percentages, but the total savings are converted into dollars. At what exchange rate? Probably by chance…<\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. No web administrators’ contact info<\/b><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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.<\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What does the portal want?<\/b><\/h2>\n

This seems to be a very awkward promotion of a browser extension called Coupert.<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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. <\/span>However, the add-in itself, although it looks trustworthy, has very few user reviews and even those refer to it as a scam.<\/b>

\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Therefore, it’s very likely that <\/span>it’s only a tool for collecting information from your browser \u2013 from e-mail addresses and passwords to saved cards<\/b>. That’s why we didn’t install it either and we brought this scam to the attention of our clients and colleagues.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what’s the conclusion? Still the same. <\/span>Be sure to thoroughly check every website you visit.<\/b> And if you’re looking for discount codes, prefer verified portals with properly completed contact information. Or like the e-shop on social networks \u2013 this is where you’ll often get the latest information about promotions and some discounts for following.<\/span><\/p>\n

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