Sportck.com is a fraudulent website that offers to purchase vases at unusually discounted prices. This site may look like a discounter or a reseller of goods from stock liquidation, but it is in fact just a narrative to make you think about this site as a legitimate one. After ordering from this site, you will likely get nothing at all, or, at best, poor-quality or counterfeit items.
In this article, I will show the red flags regarding the Sportck.com store, the way this fraud operates, and show how to detect similar scams. This will help you to avoid similar shopping frauds in future.
Sportck.com Site – Scam Overview
As I said, Sportck.com may initially seem like a authentic discounter or the seller of stock liquidation items. But a brief analysis shows a disturbing amount of red flags that indicate clearly about this site’s deception. Unfair advertising methods, excessively low prices, absence of customer support and customer reviews – this site accomplishes the fraud bingo right away.
| Website | Sportck.com |
| Hosting | AS13335 Cloudflare, Inc. United States, San Francisco |
| IP Address | 104.18.29.238 |
| Threat Type | Scam/Fraud |
| Scam Type | Fraudulent/Scam online shop |
Sportck.com Scam
By shopping on websites like Sportck.com, it is uncertain that you will obtain the items you’ve ordered. More commonly, it results in one of 3 instances common for scam sites.
Counterfeit goods. Not the worst option, as you get at least something. But as it usually happens to counterfeit items of popular brands, the standard will be inferior, to say the least. Eventually, the site may mention about that somewhere deep in the item description or “about us” page, but users rarely check them thoroughly. This is a especially often case when ordering from websites that offer baubles, small electronics and stuff the like.
Wrong item. To make the trade look legit, but spend even less money on the delivered item, rascals may ship a accidental item they have instead of your order. A worn t-shirt instead of a branded one, a dented aluminum plate instead of a set of dishes – frauds may turn really inventive in that case.
Absolutely nothing. This is the most usual outcome when ordering goods from sites like Sportck.com. Scams take your money, promise the delivery, and then merely vanish. As scam sites do not aim to exist for a long time, scammers are not wasting time creating even a faint visibility of legitimacy.
Sportck.com scam – How does it work?
As any scam, Sportck.com follows 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 massive amounts of advertisements on social media, particularly preferring Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Paid ads say the same things as their sites do: 90% discounts, free delivery around the world, hurry up to get the deal.
Ads of fraudulent shops posted on different platforms
As users regard ads on the mentioned platforms genuine, they do not suspect anything at this point. Ads become particularly persuasive during major events that boost people’s interest in shopping, like Halloween, Black Friday, Christmas, etc. Sometimes, they disguise themselves as resellers of the liquidated stock of bankrupt retail companies.
Step 2 – Take the Money. Once individuals are on the website, tricksters do their best to make the individuals buy something. Impossibly good deals, additional discounts, free shipping, bright and blinking “Order Now” buttons that are just everywhere – they use every single method possible. And this works out – uninformed consumers stick to the offers and proceed to paying for the order.
Payments are done in a curious manner. Instead of more classic options for online shopping, like Visa/MasterCard payments or PayPal, deceivers 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 swindlers, “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 complaints and user feedback regarding the site being a scam, they simply disappear. Usually, this happens at around the 2nd or 3rd week of the site activity. Once enough people are aware about the fraudulent activity, the money flow will dry up, leaving cheats with no reason to move on. Reporting the scam to the hosting speeds up the domain takedown.
Why is Sportck.com a Scam?
Well, we just talked about the way the fraud site operates. Now, let’s see how to understand whether the site is fraudulent without risking your money. Fortunately, rascals 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 sites aim to exist for 1-2 weeks, so there’s no purpose (and way) to make any reputation with reviews. Obviously, even legit online shopping sites will lack consumer comments when they have just started, as there were just a few patrons yet. For that reason, this sign is not stand-alone and must be confirmed with other signs or indicators.
Definitely not generic comments generated by AI
However, once you face phishy-looking reviews that have no relation to what the site offers for sale, that’s definitely not a good sign. Any obscure or gibberish reviews that may describe any item sold on the site should be taken with a grain of salt. And well, on scam sites you will get an entire saltcellar. Do not hesitate searching 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% reductions are not trustworthy even during sales events such as the aforementioned Thanksgiving day. In some cases, dishonest sites set the prices low without saying anything about discounts, but they will most likely be preposterous, like $30 for a bed or $10 for a branded leather bag. Goods may be sold for cheap, but every sell-off has its rational limits.
3. No customer support.
That factor distinguishes dishonest sites from the genuine ones, even newly established. When a site is about to defraud the clients, there’s no need to bother about answering their questions. Check out the “About us” or “Info” page – the site will most likely have no support contacts at all.
Typically for fraudulent sites, the “About us” column is completely empty
When they offer a contact email, or even a phone to reach them out, there is a great 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 phone numbers and email addresses as “support” contacts, you can search them on Google. When they are used on a different site, be sure you are facing a blatant scam.
A chain of scam websites that use the same “support email”
4. Payments via payment systems that does not support refunds
This scam indicator is complementary, as there are a whole lot of trustworthy services using direct bank transfers, CashApp, Venmo or similar payment systems. All of them though have the same feature I’ve already mentioned above: they do not suppose any refunds. And this is what makes it so attractive to scammers – once you paid for the order, nothing will help you 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 scams.
5. Items’ images are sourced from another page
As scams most likely don’t have any goods, they cannot make unique pictures. Thus their option is simply to steal these images elsewhere. When rascals sell identical goods on different sites, you can find same pics on similarly-looking scam pages. By searching for the image on Google, you can prove whether the image is unique or not.
Image duplicates on another scam site, as well as on Amazon and Walmart sites
6. Design repeats the one of a different page
Frauds do not steal only pictures. As frauds may scam people on the same topic again and again, they use the same web design under the new address, and voila – a new scam site is ready to rock-n-roll! In some cases, reverse image search on Google advice I’ve mentioned above may lead you to the copy of the original site. It makes uncovering such scams particularly easy, but scammers who create them never aim at cautious users.
Example of scam sites that duplicate each others’ design
Is your PC infected?
There are situations when Sportck.com website, along with similar scam pages, are promoted by malware. Adware and browser hijackers are two particular malware types known for such behavior. If you notice excessive amounts of ads appearing in your browser, see your search inquiries going into an unusual search engine and some random pages open time to time, scan your system 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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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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Frequently Asked Questions about the Sportck.com Scam
Sportck.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 indicators that point at fraudulent nature of Sportck.com shop. First and foremost, Sportck.com shop recently created its website, which is a common feature of brief deceptive sites that swiftly disappear. Second, the webpage lacks contact information such as a phone number, street address, or live chat choice, making it difficult to resolve problems or questions. Third, it provides counterfeit business information, offering no authentic data about the company behind the website. Additionally, this scam entices buyers with exaggerated rebates and promotions, reducing prices by over 70% or even 90%. Moreover, Sportck.com reproduces content and merchandise visuals from legitimate e-commerce platforms like Alibaba, Amazon, and Aliexpress, indicating a shortage of originality and credibility. Moreover, despite claiming to present trendy and fashionable goods, the webpage lacks any social media presence or links to online networking platforms. Finally, real customer feedback is completely absent, with reports of delayed or absent deliveries, inferior customer support, defective or inaccurate products, reimbursement difficulties, and illegitimate billing 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 Sportck.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 Sportck.com as a fraudulent site and urge them to block future charges from it.
- Promptly change your passwords if you have a Sportck.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 Sportck.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, Sportck.com does not have genuine customer feedback or testimonials. The absence of legitimate customer reviews further indicates its untrustworthiness and potentially fraudulent nature.
