Fraudsters Are Already Profiting From Confusion Around Tariffs
If you’re like most people, you probably didn’t think much about rates until this year. And if you’re like most people, you’ve probably spent this year thinking a lot about tariffs, particularly how they will affect your life. Whether it’s concerns about high prices and empty store shelves or more general economic anxiety , these are certainly exciting times. And like clockwork, we can add one more thing to worry about regarding rates: fraud.
Freed from the chaos and uncertainty that everyone experiences around periodic tariffs and their constantly changing parameters, scammers quickly launched several new attacks on your bank account. They are counting on the fact that most of us are not economists and have no experience with import/export laws, so we can be easily scared or intimidated into forking over the cash, especially since the only thing most of us know about tariffs is that they will cost us money. Here are the tariff scams you should be wary of and how to spot them.
Fake government emails
One new scam is trying to take advantage of people’s lack of knowledge about tariffs by posing as government agencies requiring tariff payments directly from consumers. Since the beginning of the year, several hundred websites have been created, many with deceptive names, including terms like “US Customs” or “Tariffs”, in hopes of convincing you that they are legitimate government agencies . Scammers then send emails from these official domains, claiming that you must pay a tariff for something you recently purchased, or that you must pay a general tariff.
Sometimes the scammer’s goal is to get you to make a payment, but more often than not, they are simply collecting your information through an official form.
How to determine this: First, always keep in mind that consumers don’t pay tariffs directly – if costs are passed on to you, it’s through higher prices. Any request for direct payment of a tariff is almost certainly a scam. Any official government website will have a “.gov” extension , so you should be suspicious of any “.com” or “.net” site claiming to be associated with the government. You can also use what is called a WHOIS lookup to find out when a web domain was registered. Any site created within the last few months should be considered highly suspicious.
Fake messages about mail and parcels
Another way scammers will try to use rate confusion against you is by pretending to be a major shipping company like FedEx or UPS. They will send you an email claiming that your package is delayed due to tariff debt and will direct you to the scam site to pay for the package to be released. It’s a variation on an old scam, but the uncertainty about who should pay the fees gives it a new sheen of legitimacy.
How to spot it: Simply reminding yourself to never pay a tariff directly is the key to success: any request from a shipping company or US Post Office for a fee associated with a tariff is a scam, period. If you do receive packages and you are not at all sure about their status, always check the details separately by going to the sender’s main website and entering tracking information there, or by contacting customer service.
Factory purchases
If you’re a consumer on a budget (and you’re not these days), you might be happy to come across a social media post or email that claims to sell you products directly from factories in China or other countries without any tariffs. They argue that they are the same clothes as other name-brand products, just without any branding, making them cheaper to offset any price increases caused by tariffs. These sites are often promoted by so-called influencers on platforms such as TikTok , who are seeking to avoid tariff fees.
Of course, once you receive your items (assuming you actually do), they will almost certainly turn out to be fake and probably pretty shoddy in terms of quality. And you won’t be able to use the brand’s customer support services either.
How to spot it: Anyone who claims they can beat tariffs is probably lying to you, and the old rule about things being too good to be true (i.e., they probably aren’t) always applies. If you see a post or video showing an overseas factory selling products directly to consumers, it is almost certainly a scam.
Fake payments at preferential rates
Understandably, all this talk about skyrocketing prices has everyone nervous about paying their bills. This has given rise to a version of the scam that has become popular since the pandemic stimulus checks arrived: fake relief payments.
Advertisements are appearing on social media claiming that various “tariff relief” payments are being made, offering between $750 and $5,600. These are supposed to be government programs to help us all survive the new reality of tariffs, and after previous government relief programs and stimulus payments, they may seem plausible on the surface. Of course, if you click on any of these ads, you’ll end up on a phishing site asking for all the sensitive information the scammers can come up with.
How to spot it: Because they usually appear as paid ads on platforms like Facebook, they’re usually marked as “sponsored” in some way—if you see an indication that they’re paid ads, ignore them. If the government were sending out any tariff-related stimulus, it wouldn’t require you to fill out forms—as with previous stimulus payments, it would rely on the troves of data it already has on you thanks to the IRS. And tariff incentives will be in the news. Many. If you’re tempted to believe something like this, look for headlines on legitimate news sites—if you don’t see them, assume it’s a scam.
Investment fraud
Fraudsters always try to play on two things: fear and greed. While investment scams involving fake accounts or dubious cryptocurrencies have always existed, the newest versions of these scams play on everyone’s fear of economic turmoil by claiming that a new investment product – usually in the cryptocurrency space – offers a risk-free refuge from tariff chaos. While economies and national currencies may falter as trade wars escalate, this sleek new version of money is said to be unaffected by tariffs or other traditional economic factors and offers stable returns. Naturally, if you do contact these sites and make an investment, your money will simply disappear, or you will get sucked into a pig butchering scam with a fake website showing you incredible returns on your investment that you will never be able to withdraw.
How to spot it: The most obvious sign of a fraudulent investment is an unrealistic rate of return. Any investment that “guarantees” no risk of loss and huge profits in a short time is almost always a scam. If it’s a cryptocurrency you’ve never heard of, you should definitely be wary. An increasingly common sign of tariff-related cryptocurrency scams is a fake “endorsement” from a political figure – for example, a scam targeting nervous Canadian investors used fake testimonials from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other officials to dupe people. Government officials generally discourage investments, and you should be sure to check everything you see without relying on the links provided by the site itself.