As if the wounded store chain hadn’t suffered enough. A squad of fly-by-night scamsters are trying to cash in on the buzz around Wilko’s clearance sales.
Wilko is in administration with 400 stores and 12,000 jobs at risk after collapsing in August.
The hunt for a buyer continues
Administrators PwC are hunting for a buyer for what is left of the collapsed DIY chain. The process is expected to take weeks. As the company is in administration, buyers can pick and choose which bits they want.
The stores drew crowds as they suspended online deliveries and staged clearance sales across the country for much-needed cash.
Fake websites mushroom
Yet, a span of fake websites also mushroomed. They attempt to scam bargain hunters with offers of discounted goods from Wilko. Some carry the Wilko name, logo and website address.
On Facebook, a shopper complained they had spent more than £100 on goods from these fake websites and were concerned they wouldn’t get their money back.
Wanna buy a sofa?
The website that staged the most brazen attempt to scam shoppers, offered Wilko sofas for £4.99. It claimed the sofas were piling up in the warehouse.
Wilko doesn’t sell sofas – never has.
These fake websites even send email confirmations for orders they know don’t exist.
Administrators are trying to shut down fake websites for fear they will cloud an already complex process of persuading a buyer to save as much of Wilko as possible.
“We have been made aware of fake sites.”
A spokesperson for the administrators said: “We have been made aware of a number of fake Wilko websites which are offering Wilko products at heavily discounted prices. These websites are not genuine and have been set up to scam users, the only legitimate Wilko website is www.wilko.com.”
Warnings from Action Fraud.
Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, advises bargain hunters to do their research and look for online reviews of any website before buying for the first time.
You can report scam websites via a specialist reporting service. Emails or texts offering big discounts can lead to fake websites and it suggests visiting the site directly to check it out rather than clicking on any link.
