Money expert warns of air fryer website scam after falling for it herself | Personal Finance | Finance
Air fryers have been gaining popularity for years, however, demand has surged over the course of the year with them having seen a 244 percent google search increase in October alone according to New Casinos. An air fryer is essentially an amped-up countertop oven and most importantly they have been dubbed to be much more energy efficient than a conventional oven, which could save people a lot of money on their energy bills.
Maddy Alexander, founder of My VIP Rewards and lifestyle money specialist who shares money-saving tips and frequently preaches scam awareness on her TikTok, decided to give it a go and purchased an air fryer.
She wanted to test whether the energy claims were true for her followers.
Speaking to Express.co.uk Maddy said: “I’m constantly talking about how to save money and I need to be practising what I preach so I had a look online and the Ninja air fryer kept coming up.
She searched for the model via a search engine and clicked on what she thought was the Ninja website.
Maddy said: “It looked real, and I did not suspect anything.”
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After having a quick browse, Maddy noticed that there was a countdown timer at the top of the website for a half-price special offer on air fryers.
This offer meant that Maddy could purchase a five-litre air fryer for just £43 instead of the usual retail price of between £80 to £100.
She added: “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh’, that’s an absolute bargain so I bought it and I started doing a TikTok chatting about the offer and I said it was such a good deal, and literally as I was talking I started to realise that I had been had.”
“The comments on the TikTok backed me up as they all said, ‘Yeah that’s too good’ and, ‘Oh you’ve definitely been scammed.’”
Maddy rushed to check her email to check for the confirmation of the air fryer purchase.
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“On the website, it had Ninja Kitchen hyphen shop at the top and I thought it was the shop version, of the brand.
“I don’t know, but there was honestly nothing about it that made me think this is a scam site. It had the Ninja logo and all the products that I would have expected to see there.”
Maddy said she felt the pressure of the timer at the top of the website made her make the purchase. It also made her not check for a verified payment method such Paypal or Stripe, as she paid directly with her debit card.
She said: “I was absolutely gutted but I really wasn’t paying a massive amount of attention to it at the time but it really does prove that it literally can happen to anyone.
Maddy said she thinks people are really aware of types of email scams, but warned there are “ones where you genuinely get caught off guard”.
She added: “They are getting clever and they’re getting more sophisticated and they’re targeting people who are looking to try and save money.”
Ninja is aware of fraudulent websites which are popping up and issued a warning to Britons who were wanting to purchase one of their products.
A spokesperson for Ninja said: “Following an unprecedented surge in demand for Ninja products, particularly our Air Fryers, we have become aware of a rise in fraudulent websites appearing to offer our products at greatly reduced prices.
“We would recommend any new or existing customers only purchase goods through the official Ninja website (ninjakitchen.co.uk) or via a reputable retail partner to ensure you receive our five-star rated products as ordered.”
Thankfully, Maddy has not experienced any follow-up scam calls or texts after the incident, nor has she had her bank account compromised.
Maddy has shared her experience to raise awareness of the scam particularly as Black Friday is coming up in November.
She said: “People will be looking to try and get things like this for a lot cheaper if they can and they could end up doing the exact same thing as me.”
Maddy urged people to be wary and make sure to check for the basic things on websites such as the padlock in the address bar and for a secure method of payment.
She also recommended people check out the Take5 website which details different scams which people could face and how to identify and prevent them.
Maddy said: “I really want to help other people to avoid this, to avoid the mistake I made.
“I am usually super vigilant all the time and I just had a moment of madness where I wasn’t so wary, and I really think that by sharing my story people can learn from it.”
