I’ve been buying online for years and I’m usually really wary — since going back to the Goldwafer/PIC‑chip days. I even build my own websites, so I can normally spot when something’s off. But on New Year’s Eve I got caught out a beauty.
I was looking for a balanced‑flue gas heater for my workshop, hadn’t quite woken up, did a search, and clicked the product picture on Google’s top product result. The site looked normal, and I honestly believed it was part of the Baxi/Valor/Dimplex group. The price was cheap, but with regs changing and demand dropping, I just assumed it was old stock being cleared. And because it was the top Google listing, I didn’t think twice. I tried to buy it, the payment got declined, and I even tried a second card — also declined.
I called the bank. While I was explaining that the site was legit, I took another look and suddenly things stood out — the text was too light compared to the pictures, and when I went through the other pages every other product on the site was under £100.
I felt like a complete tool, but luckily none of the payments went through and I’ve had new cards issued.
It just shows how easy it is to get caught when a dodgy site comes up in Google’s product results. I dropped my guard because it was a Google product listing. If it had been on Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, whatever, I’d have looked at it differently — but being pushed by Google caught me out.
Maybe I’m getting older or just more complacent, but honestly, just be wary of Google’s product results.
It's amazing how easy you can get blinded by a bit of impulsiveness. My alert level has definitely gone back up
I was looking for a balanced‑flue gas heater for my workshop, hadn’t quite woken up, did a search, and clicked the product picture on Google’s top product result. The site looked normal, and I honestly believed it was part of the Baxi/Valor/Dimplex group. The price was cheap, but with regs changing and demand dropping, I just assumed it was old stock being cleared. And because it was the top Google listing, I didn’t think twice. I tried to buy it, the payment got declined, and I even tried a second card — also declined.
I called the bank. While I was explaining that the site was legit, I took another look and suddenly things stood out — the text was too light compared to the pictures, and when I went through the other pages every other product on the site was under £100.
I felt like a complete tool, but luckily none of the payments went through and I’ve had new cards issued.
It just shows how easy it is to get caught when a dodgy site comes up in Google’s product results. I dropped my guard because it was a Google product listing. If it had been on Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, whatever, I’d have looked at it differently — but being pushed by Google caught me out.
Maybe I’m getting older or just more complacent, but honestly, just be wary of Google’s product results.
It's amazing how easy you can get blinded by a bit of impulsiveness. My alert level has definitely gone back up