Woolies alerts customers to fake website posing as retailer

SCAMMERS are working overtime and will try any trick to get your money.

On Saturday evening, I decided to check the Woolworths website for a Father’s Day gift after a friend suggested that they have some great items on sale for cool dads.

As I was on the phone while rocking my baby to sleep, I clicked on the first link that appeared on Google without double checking and to my surprise, it was an illegitimate website.

I spent about three minutes trying to navigate the website with a 70% sale. I was shocked because it’s not Black Friday. Even if it was, 70% is too good to be true. When I noticed that the page was only displaying a few items and had no section for babies under 2 years, I knew that the whole thing was a scam.

I don’t think @WOOLWORTHS_SA is aware of this. Guys, please be mindful of these online scammers. pic.twitter.com/gESjBEUWRr

— Nzimalamase (@thobie4me) June 10, 2023

Another give-away was that the apparent sale was ending in about five hours. So they were in a rush to scam people. I then rechecked the whole website and compared it to the original Woolworths site, which satisfied me that I was indeed right, that website was/is bogus.

It has a typo, written as wolworthza.com, but when you open it, it has the Woolworths logo and font.

As any millennial would do, I went straight to Twitter and tagged Woolworths and a few hours later, they responded by saying they are aware and working on taking the fraudulent website down.

Hi there! Our IT team is aware and is attempting to get the fraudulent website taken down. Please advise loved ones not to interact with the website.

— Woolworths SA (@WOOLWORTHS_SA) June 11, 2023

People responded to my tweet, sharing similar experiences they’ve had when shopping online. Previously, there also has been suspected fraudulent websites of Ted Baker and Steve Madden.

I saw something similar ka Dr Martens recently, prices were too good to be true.

— Tshepo (@tshepo_thato) June 11, 2023

And the sad part is that although I could spot the scammers quickly, someone fell for it and got scammed.

So, when shopping online, be wary of the scammers because they will take all your money (since you provide your credit card details), leaving you high and dry.

Stay alert and remember that if something is too good to be true, it probably is fake.