Wlnyot.com is a deceptive website that offers to buy garden decorations at extremely low 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 this site is legitimate. Upon ordering goods from this site, you will most likely get nothing at all, or, at best, inferior or counterfeit items.
In this article, I will highlight the red flags regarding the Wlnyot.com store, the way this deception operates, and show how to detect similar frauds. This will help you to avoid similar shopping deceptions in upcoming times.
Wlnyot.com Site – Scam Overview
As I said, Wlnyot.com may initially look like a authentic discounter or the seller of stock liquidation items. But a short analysis shows a concerning amount of red flags that say clearly about this site’s deception. Unfair advertising methods, extremely low prices, absence of customer support and customer feedback – this site completes the scam bingo right away.
| Website | Wlnyot.com |
| Hosting | AS13335 Cloudflare, Inc. United States, San Francisco |
| IP Address | 172.66.40.89 |
| Threat Type | Scam/Fraud |
| Scam Type | Fraudulent/Scam online shop |
Wlnyot.com Scam
By shopping on pages like Wlnyot.com, it is improbable that you will acquire the items you’ve ordered. More typically, it results in one of 3 situations characteristic for scam sites.
Counterfeit goods. Not the worst option, as you get at least something. But as it usually happens to imitation items of popular brands, the grade will be inferior, to say the least. Eventually, the site may notify about that somewhere deep in the item description or “about us” page, but users rarely check them thoroughly. This is a particularly common case when ordering from sites that market baubles, small electronics and stuff the like.
Wrong item. To make the deal look legit, but spend even less money on the delivered item, scammers may ship a random item they have on hand instead of your order. A worn t-shirt instead of a branded one, a dented aluminum platter instead of a set of dishes – scammers may turn really inventive in that case.
Absolutely nothing. This is the most common case when ordering goods from sites like Wlnyot.com. Scams take your money, promise the delivery, and then merely vanish. As scam sites do not aim to exist for a long time, scams are not wasting effort creating even a slight semblance of legitimacy.
Wlnyot.com scam – How does it work?
As any fraud, Wlnyot.com follows a simple and well-proven modus operandi. It commonly consists of 3 stages, with certain deviations from time to time.
Step 1 – Attract the Masses. Frauds post abundant amounts of marketing on social media, particularly preferring Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Paid ads say the same things as the websites do: 90% discounts, free delivery around the world, hurry up to get the deal.
Ads of fraudulent shops posted on different platforms
As users deem ads on the mentioned platforms genuine, they do not suspect anything at this point. Ads become particularly compelling 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 site, fraudsters do their best to make the consumers buy something. Impossibly good deals, additional discount promo codes, free delivery, bright and blinking “Order Now” buttons that are just everywhere – they use every single method possible. And this works out – uninformed customers 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, scammers 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 tricksters, “no refunds” is a part of their policy which you agree on upon registration.
Step 3 – Vanish. Once swindlers get enough money, or – what is more likely – there are enough complaints and user feedback regarding the site being a scam, they simply vanish. Usually, this happens at around the 2nd or 3rd week of the site activity. Once enough individuals know 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 Wlnyot.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 deceptive without risking your money. Fortunately, frauds 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
Scam sites aim to exist for 1-2 weeks, so there’s no reason (and way) to make any reputation with user reviews. Obviously, even legit shopping sites will lack client testimonials when they have just started, as there were just a few buyers yet. For that reason, this sign is not stand-alone and requires confirmation by other signs or indicators.
Definitely not generic comments generated by AI
However, when you face unrealistic reviews that have no relation to what the site offers for sale, that’s definitely not a good sign. Any obscure or nonsense reviews that may describe any item sold on the website should be taken with a grain of salt. And well, on fraudulent sites 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 trustworthy even during sales events such as the aforementioned Black Friday. In some cases, deceptive websites 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 sell-off has its sane limits.
3. No customer support.
This is what distinguishes fraudulent sites from the benign 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 (if it is present at all) – the site will have no contact info whatsoever.
Typically for fraudulent websites, the “About us” column is completely empty
When they offer an email, or even a phone number to contact them, 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 scammers tend to reuse numbers and emails as “support” contacts, you can search them on Google. When they are used on a different site, be sure that this is a blatant scam.
A chain of scam sites that use the same “support email”
4. Payments via payment systems that does not support refunds
This scam indicator is not a guarantee, as there are plenty of genuine shops and 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 attracts scammers – once you paid for the order, there’s no way to get the money back.
Some websites may also ask for payments in crypto, which is even less controllable than aforementioned payment methods. While crypto payments expand their presence slowly, they still remain a beloved bay for different rascals.
5. Items’ images are sourced from another page
As rascals most likely don’t have any items, they are not able to shoot unique pics. Thus their only option is simply to hijack these images from other sites. When fraudsters sell the same items on different websites, you can find same images on similarly-designed scam pages. By reverse image searching 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 stop on stealing pics. As scammers may parasite on the same topic again and again, they put the same site design under the new web-address, and voila – a new scam is ready to rock-n-roll! In some cases, image search on Google advice I’ve mentioned above may lead you to the identical copy of the original site. It allows you to uncover such scams particularly easy, but criminals who run them never aim at cautious users.
Example of scam sites that duplicate each others’ design
Is your PC infected?
There are cases when Wlnyot.com website, together with similar scam sites, are promoted by malware. Adware and browser hijackers are malware types known for such behavior. If you see excessive ads in your web browser, see your search inquiries going into an unusual search engine and some random pages open time to time, consider scanning your device 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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Frequently Asked Questions about the Wlnyot.com Scam
Wlnyot.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 several red flags to watch out for. Firstly, Wlnyot.com shop recently set up its website, which is a common feature of brief deceptive websites that swiftly disappear. Secondly, the webpage lacks contact details such as a phone number, physical address, or live chat choice, making it difficult to resolve matters or inquiries. Third, it shows bogus business information, giving no authentic data about the organization behind the webpage. Additionally, this fraudulent scheme entices shoppers with unrealistic price cuts and sales offers, slashing prices by over 70% or even 90%. Additionally, Wlnyot.com copies text and item pictures from genuine e-commerce platforms like Alibaba, Amazon, and Aliexpress, demonstrating a absence of unique ideas and reliability. In addition, despite claiming to provide trendy and chic items, the webpage lacks any social media presence or links to social media platforms. To conclude, real client testimonials is completely absent, with reports of delayed or absent deliveries, poor customer service, flawed or wrong products, refund difficulties, and unauthorized 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 Wlnyot.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 Wlnyot.com as a fraudulent site and urge them to block future charges from it.
- Promptly change your passwords if you have a Wlnyot.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 Wlnyot.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, Wlnyot.com does not have genuine customer feedback or testimonials. The absence of legitimate customer reviews further indicates its untrustworthiness and potentially fraudulent nature.
