Overview
- A representative Forsa survey for the federal consumer association found nearly one in eight online shoppers in Germany paid a fake shop in the past two years and never received goods.
- An audit of 653 suspect domains shows about half ran paid promotions on Google and Meta, with the five biggest reaching at least 134 million ad impressions and one shop placing over 42,000 ads on Facebook and Instagram.
- Despite alerts from the consumer association in its role as a trusted flagger, some ads stayed online or were removed only after delays, highlighting gaps in platform response.
- Consumer centers logged more than 10,000 complaints about dubious traders in 2024, up 47% from 2023, and over 8,000 additional reports by September 2025, with losses running into the millions.
- Authorities urge checks such as verifying the imprint, register number, bank location, phone contact, and clickable trust seals, and they promote the Fakeshopfinder tool, noting money is often unrecoverable when sites vanish.