Online retailers have a playbook to trick consumers into spending without realizing it – but experts are exposing these ‘dark practices’.
Companies are removing items from checkout boxes, hiding costs, and doing Privacy Zuckering, named after the Meta CEO, for the way their companies secretly collect user data.
Amazon has been accused of being the number one culprit of deceptive designs for things like automatically ticking subscription boxes, while StubHub has been accused of hiding costs.
KyrosAML.com’s financial and anti-money laundering experts have identified the six most common dark model techniques to help you identify them and avoid their scams.
trick questions
Some questions may appear to ask one thing but are designed to ask another question and trick users into giving the company the desired answer.
This affects users when they see certain checkboxes when they sign up, subscribe or unsubscribe to a service.
For example, when unsubscribing, there may be two options: Continue and Cancel.
Most people will choose Cancel because they want to terminate the service, but it actually cancels the process.
Enter the products in your cart
If you’ve noticed an unwanted product during the checkout process, you’re not alone.
Online retailers sneak a peek at products in hopes that unsuspecting shoppers won’t see the added value.
“This can happen if you miss the unsubscribe button or if a bundle deal is displayed next to a product you really want,” experts said in a statement.
Be careful when reviewing purchases from online retailers.
Hidden costs at checkout
Some products may be more expensive at checkout due to added taxes, delivery charges, or important last-minute add-ons.
Data from Merchant Machine says grocery delivery giant Instacart is guilty of the scheme, and Deception Designs cites Stubhub as using hidden costs to increase profits.
According to a group of fraud lawyers, his method was to advertise a low price, lure users through a long series of steps, and finally reveal a higher final price before payment.
At this point, the user has already spent time and energy, so they had to weigh the time and energy cost of trying to find a cheaper price elsewhere (and risk failure) just to pay.
Be aware that there’s probably no way to avoid hidden costs, but items like tickets and hotel reservations are likely to cost more than initially announced, experts say.
Consumers are also encouraged to report companies that add additional fees.
And Consumer Reports found that 64% of people who complained about hidden or unexpected fees in 2019 were able to have the charge removed from their bills or get a refund.
Privacy Zuckering
The tactic is named after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg because of the site’s early practices in collecting user data.
“It encourages you to share more private information than you’re comfortable with,” says Merchant Machine.
Privacy Zuckering was used by LinkedIn as part of its registration process in 2015.
According to the fraudulent designs, new users were asked to add their email addresses, and then LinkedIn used it to grab any email addresses it could find.
Deceptive designs, “Although the page provides a description of this function, the text is gray on a blue background, making it relatively low-contrast and difficult to see, and the content of the text does not clearly indicate of results.”
Experts recommend that you always read the Terms of Service, which tell consumers how their data is collected or shared.
Confirmation discloses to buyers
Some companies use loaded language to entice or panic users into agreeing to something they don’t want to do, such as signing up for a subscription service.
MyMedic, a company that sells medical supplies and first aid kits, implemented this when it asked users for permission to receive notifications in 2018.
When asking for permission for the website, the opt-out link is labeled “No, I don’t want to live” or “No, I’d rather die from blood loss.”
Experts say the only way to overcome this trick is to not let companies pressure you into making an unwanted business or purchase.
interesting ads
This obscure practice is done by confusing consumers by “blurring the line” between actual content and advertising.
Some websites may use images or links that look like regular content or action buttons but are hyperlinked disguise ads.
Softpedia, a popular software download site, often uses hidden ads on its software download pages to increase ad revenue.
The company displays ads with a bright green download button that looks like a software download option. The general rule of thumb is never to click on a big “download” button. The actual links will be displayed in text format.
Source: Daily Mail
Source: Arabic RT
