Familyshopmax.com is a scam website that offers to buy items at exceptionally cheap prices. It may appear as a discounter, or as a marketplace for warehouse liquidation items, but it is in fact just a ploy to make you think this site is legitimate. After ordering goods from this site, you will likely get nothing at all, or, at best, inferior or counterfeit items.
In this article, I will demonstrate the warning signs regarding the Familyshopmax.com site, the way this deception operates, and show how to detect similar frauds. This will help you to avoid similar shopping frauds in upcoming times.
Familyshopmax.com Site – Scam Overview
As I said, Familyshopmax.com may initially appear like a authentic discounter or the seller of stock liquidation items. But a swift analysis shows a disturbing amount of red flags that indicate clearly about this site’s dishonesty. Questionable advertising methods, excessively low prices, absence of customer support and user feedback – this site accomplishes the scam bingo right away.
Website | Familyshopmax.com |
Hosting | AS13335 Cloudflare, Inc. Germany, Munich |
IP Address | 188.114.96.3 |
Threat Type | Scam/Fraud |
Scam Type | Fraudulent/Scam online shop |
By shopping on websites like Familyshopmax.com, it is improbable that you will obtain the items you’ve ordered. More commonly, it results in one of 3 scenarios common for scam sites.
Counterfeit goods. Not the worst option, as you get at least something. But as it usually happens to fake items of popular brands, the attribute will be inferior, to say the least. Eventually, the site may inform about that somewhere deep in the item description or “about us” page, but users rarely check them thoroughly. This is a particularly often case when ordering from websites that promote baubles, small electronics and stuff the like.
Wrong item. To make the deal look real, but spend even less money on the delivered item, scammers may ship a incidental item they have on hand instead of your order. An old t-shirt instead of a brand new one, a dented aluminum dish instead of a set of dishes – frauds may turn quite inventive in that case.
Absolutely nothing. This is the most usual situation when ordering from pages like Familyshopmax.com. Scams take your money, promise the delivery, and then just disappear. As scams are not going to exist for a long time, rascals do not bother themselves with creating even a faint sight of legitimacy.
Familyshopmax.com scam – How does it work?
As any scam, Familyshopmax.com runs a simple and well-proven scheme of operations. It commonly consists of 3 stages, with certain deviations from time to time.
Step 1 – Attract the Masses. Frauds post huge amounts of advertisements on social media, particularly preferring Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Paid ads say exactly the same things as their sites do: 90% discounts, free delivery around the world, hurry up to get the deal.
As users deem ads on the mentioned platforms benevolent, they do not suspect anything at this point. Ads become especially compelling during major events that boost people’s interest in shopping, like Halloween, Black Friday, Christmas, etc. Sometimes, they mask themselves as resellers of the liquidated stock of bankrupt retail companies.
Step 2 – Take the Money. Once users are on the site, tricksters do their best to make the users buy something. Impossibly good deals, additional discount promo codes, free shipping, bright and blinking “Order Now” buttons that are just everywhere – they use every single method possible. And this works out – uninformed users stick to the offers and proceed to paying for the order.
Payments are done in a quirky manner. Instead of more classic options for online shopping, like Visa/MasterCard payments or PayPal, swindlers offer using direct bank transfers, Venmo or CashApp. Thing is, the latter do not provide any refunds, regardless of the circumstances. Even when you can prove that the transaction went to fraudsters, “no refunds” is a part of their policy which you agree on upon registration.
Step 3 – Vanish. Once tricksters get enough money, or – what is more likely – there are enough grievances and user reports about the site being fraudulent, they just vanish. Usually, this happens at around the 2nd or 3rd week of the site activity. Once enough customers are aware about the dishonest activity, the money flow will dry up, leaving crooks with no motivation to move on. Reporting the scam to the domain hosting speeds up the domain takedown.
Why is Familyshopmax.com a Scam?
Well, we just talked about the way the hoax site operates. Now, let’s see how to understand whether the site is deceptive without risking your money. Fortunately, fraudsters do not bother themselves with creating well-rounded disguises, so the same red flags repeat from one site to another.
1. Fake or absent reviews
Hoax websites aim to exist for 1-2 weeks, so there’s no reason (and way) to make any online reputation with user reviews. Obviously, even benign shopping sites will lack consumer comments shortly after the start, since there were not many clients yet. For that reason, this sign is not stand-alone and requires confirmation by other signs or indicators.
However, when you face phishy-looking reviews that have nothing to do with what the site sells, that’s definitely not a good sign. Any vague or nonsense reviews that may describe any item sold on the site should be taken with a grain of salt. And well, on dishonest websites you will get an entire saltcellar. Always search for reviews on Google – this may save your money.
2. Unbelievably high discounts/low prices
No merchants will sell goods at loss for themselves. 70%, 80%, 90% discounts are not feasible even during sales events such as the aforementioned Christmas. In some cases, deceptive sites set the prices low without saying anything about discounts, but they will most likely be absurd, like $30 for a bed or $10 for a branded leather bag. Goods may be sold at a low price, but every discount has its reasonable limits.
3. No customer support.
That factor distinguishes fraudulent sites from the benign ones, even newly established. When a site is about to rip off the clients, there’s no need to waste time on answering their questions. Check out the “About us” or “Info” page – the page will have no support contacts whatsoever.
When they offer a contact email, or even a phone to contact them, there is a huge possibility that these numbers and emails will be unresponsive to your request. This, or you will receive some generic text regardless of your question.
As frauds often reuse numbers and emails for specifying them as “support”, you can search them on Google. When they are mentioned on a different site, be sure you are facing a blatant scam.
4. Payments via payment systems that does not support refunds
This scam indicator is not a guarantee, as there are a whole lot of genuine shops and services using direct bank transfers, CashApp, Venmo or payment systems like them. All of them though have the same pitfall I’ve already mentioned above: these methods do not suppose any refund options. And this is what makes it so attractive to scammers – once you’ve sent the money, there’s no way to get the money back.
Some sites may also offer payments in crypto, which feature even less control. While cryptocurrency transactions expand their presence slowly, they still remain a beloved bay for different rascals.
5. Items’ images are sourced from another page
As scams are unlikely to have any items on hand, they are not able to shoot unique images. Thus their option is to steal these images from other websites. When frauds sell identical items on different pages, you can find such pics on similarly-looking scam sites. By searching for the image on Google, you can prove the uniqueness of an image.
![Copied item images](https://howtofix.guide/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/images-copied.webp)
Image duplicates on another scam site, as well as on Amazon and Walmart sites
6. Design repeats the one of a different page
This is the continuation of the stolen images I’ve just described. As rascals may parasite on the same topic again and again, they reuse the same web design under the new web-address, and voila – a new scam is ready to rock-n-roll! In some cases, reverse image search advice I’ve mentioned above may lead you to the identical copy of the page you’ve started on. It allows you to unveil such scams particularly easy, but scammers who stand behind them never aim at cautious users.
![Copied design scams](https://howtofix.guide/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/design-copies-a.webp)
Example of scam sites that duplicate each others’ design
Is your PC infected?
There are cases when Familyshopmax.com site, along with similar scam sites, are promoted by malware. Adware and browser hijackers are malware types that aim specifically at such purposes. If you see excessive amounts of ads appearing in your web browser, see your search inquiries redirected into a different search engine and some random pages open time to time, consider scanning your computer with GridinSoft Anti-Malware. This will help you to get rid of annoying promotions and scam sites.
Remove malware with Gridinsoft Anti-Malware
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![Gridinsoft Anti-Malware - Main Screen](/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/gsam-main.webp)
To use Gridinsoft for remove malicious threats, follow the steps below:
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![Gridinsoft Setup Wizard](/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/gridinsoft-setup-wizard.webp)
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![Scan for malware adware](/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/gsam-scan-1.webp)
Be patient, as the scan duration depends on the number of files and your computer's hardware capabilities. Use this time to relax or attend to other tasks.
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![The malware was Found](/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/gsam-scan-finished.webp)
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![The malware has been removed](/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/gsam-removal.webp)
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Frequently Asked Questions about the Familyshopmax.com Scam
Familyshopmax.com operates as a scam website that pretends to be an online store selling various items at low prices. However, it is involved in fraudulent activities and aims to deceive customers by sending counterfeit or inferior products or not delivering anything at all.
There are multiple signs that point at fraudulent nature of Familyshopmax.com shop. To begin with, Familyshopmax.com shop recently set up its online platform, which is a typical characteristic of short-lived scam websites that quickly evaporate. Secondly, the webpage lacks contact information such as a telephone number, street address, or real-time chat option, making it hard to address matters or questions. Thirdly, it shows fake business information, presenting no authentic data about the enterprise behind the website. Additionally, this fraudulent scheme entices shoppers with exaggerated discounts and sales offers, reducing prices by over 70% or even 90%. Moreover, Familyshopmax.com reproduces content and product images from genuine online stores like Alibaba, Amazon, and Aliexpress, showing a absence of unique ideas and credibility. Furthermore, despite claiming to provide trendy and chic items, the site lacks any online networking presence or links to social media platforms. Lastly, authentic customer feedback is completely absent, with reports of delayed or absent deliveries, substandard client assistance, flawed or incorrect products, repayment difficulties, and unapproved transactions on credit cards.
No, it is not a legitimate or reliable website. The aforementioned red flags indicate that it lacks credibility and has been reported as a scam site. Customers have experienced receiving counterfeit products or facing difficulties in obtaining refunds or contacting the company.
Take the following steps if you have made a purchase on Familyshopmax.com:
- Firstly, immediately contact your bank or financial institution if you paid with a credit card or debit card. Request them to cancel the transaction and initiate a refund. Additionally, report Familyshopmax.com as a fraudulent site and urge them to block future charges from it.
- Promptly change your passwords if you have a Familyshopmax.com account or use the same password for other online accounts. Consider enabling two-factor authentication to enhance security against hackers attempting to access your accounts and steal personal information.
- Beware of phishing emails related to your Familyshopmax.com order. Treat any emails offering discounts or refunds as phishing attempts. Avoid clicking on suspicious links or downloading attachments that may contain malware. Delete such emails immediately.
- To prevent malicious ads, Trojans, phishing attempts, and other undesirable content, use a browser-based content blocker like AdGuard. This will complement your antivirus software and provide enhanced protection.
- If you suspect your device is infected with malware, scan it using Gridinsoft Anti-Malware to ensure your security.
No, Familyshopmax.com does not have genuine customer feedback or testimonials. The absence of legitimate customer reviews further indicates its untrustworthiness and potentially fraudulent nature.