Scammers Exploit Tariff Confusion To Dupe Online Shoppers Into Paying For Packages That Never Arrive, BBB Warns — Here's How To Spot The Red Flags

Scammers are hijacking tariff headlines to trick online shoppers into paying for packages that never arrive, the Better Business Bureau warned this week.

What Happened: BBB spokesperson Melanie McGovern urged consumers to vet unfamiliar retailers, scrutinize delivery windows and read return policies before clicking "buy." In a statement shared with USA Today, McGovern said, “Scammers rely on consumer confusion, especially when it comes to topics in the news, so doing a little bit extra to make sure the website is legitimate, and that all costs are upfront, can save headaches down the road.”

Victims typically click a sponsored ad, buy from a slick-looking site and then receive only canned emails urging patience, the BBB says. Weeks later, the seller claims the package is stuck in customs because of new tariffs or demands extra cash to "release" it. Some fraudsters even send tracking numbers that show delivery to the wrong state. A Wisconsin shopper told BBB Scam Tracker she got silence after asking for a refund on shoes delayed "due to tariffs."

U.S. customers rarely owe tariffs after checkout, so any post-purchase demand for customs fees is a red flag, the bureau added. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service urges shoppers to ignore texts that claim package delays and request link clicks.

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Why It Matters: To stay safe, experts recommend researching sellers beyond sponsored ads, reading independent reviews and looking for misspellings or odd URLs. Use a credit card, never a debit card or payment app and walk away if asked to pay more after checkout.

The BBB also urges victims to file disputes with their card issuer and report cases to its Scam Tracker, which logged dozens of complaints describing the same "customs hold" ploy. Similar tactics appear in broader package-redirection fraud that manipulates tracking data to block refunds.

Fortalice Solutions CEO Theresa Payton recently called tariff confusion "the perfect storm" for cybercriminals. Similarly, James Lee, the president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, reiterated that it isn’t unusual for scammers to use a government action as the basis of a scam.

Image via Shutterstock

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