Doing Better Business: Beware of realistic looking online shopping websites that are scam

MISSOULA, Mont. — The Better Business Bureau warns it is easy to get sucked in to a great looking website when we are shopping, and asks you to look beyond the website when deciding to buy anything.

One online seller claimed to be based southwest of Dillon, in Twin Falls, Idaho and selling artificial Christmas Trees.

"People reported to the Better Business Bureau that they sent a lot of money to buy a tree, but the tree never showed up and the company never responded," said Dale Dixon of the BBB. "We found out the website was actually located in China, and the address they claimed in Idaho was actually a grocery store. It had nothing to do with artificial Christmas trees."

Investigators found that the site had gone out and found online pictures to copy and paste and claim as its own.

"Then they used a third party pay system like Venmo or PayPal to collect the money before they would just disappear and not send the trees," Dixon said.

The BBB warns that the site continued to stay up for a time, even after it brought its fraudulent dealings to light.

"We are a private, non-profit," Dixon said. "We help bring bad businesses to light and help people find businesses they can trust. We're calling out businesses that you can't trust. In this case, it is a business that claims to be located in the northwest. The Better Business Bureau doesn't regulate. We can't force somebody to shut a website down. We can't force a business to close. We don't want to do that. That's something for the attorney general or law enforcement to do."

The BBB urges you to make sure a business' address is legitimate.

"Do a Google search. use Google earth to see exactly where that address is," Dixon said.

You also can track the photos a site uses.

"You can do a reverse Google search," Dixon said. "Google will go out and search for it. It you see it being used in a number of places, it's not real."

Also, a legitimate business should have you pay through an encrypted portal.

For more information, visit bbb.org.