With Black Friday and Cyber Monday going live this week we thought it would be useful to advise on the cashback prompts on various e-commerce websites such as Moonpig. Reported to have started earlier this year, various e-commerce websites have been troubling users with cashback offer popups during their shopping process. An example can be seen below:
Many users started to report this to the companies on which website they were shopping, however, they would receive a surprising reply to inform them that it is not anything out of the ordinary and that the website has not been hacked. This is because these so-called scam pop ups are legitimately created on the website, usually by an affiliate deal company that the e -commerce websites are partnered with. Alternatively, this could be a display advert.
Although users may be relieved to know they have not been a victim to a virus or cyber crime, it has also caused many online shoppers to question these cash back deals and the morals of the methods used. In many cases these popups are specifically designed to appear as part of the businesses own process.
If a user did decide to continue with the so-called offer, they would be asked to sign up to a monthly service, in this instance costing £15 a month. This service would allow them to get cash back on future affiliate websites when placing orders. Although possibly economical if you shopped in high volume each month, this offer of immediate cashback is potentially deceiving and shoppers may take the bait without understanding what they are signing up to.
With many complaints being filed, the reputation of the companies who allow these pop ups from an affiliate company have in some cases been damaged. Our advice would be to simply close the pop up by pressing the top right X and if you did decide to continue, make sure you read the small print and fully understand what you are signing up to.
Contact your bank if you have already paid for this offer. Nationwide and other banks have received so many complaints that they have arranged for the company involved to issue full refunds for any monies paid.