Tips to Spot Scam Wildlife Shopping Sites

Scams are all around especially online and it is often hard to tell scam websites from genuine ones. Scams relating to wildlife have increased dramatically recently as opportunistic scammers realise they can predate on the goodwill of people who are desperate to help the planet. In my last blog post I highlighted one such scam that is particularly active at the moment but this is far from the only one so I wanted to use this blog to help you identify other similar scam websites.

 

 

How to spot a scam wildlife shopping site

If you want to make sure that whatever you are buying is both genuine and helping the planet via the charity or methods talked about on the website you need to do a bit of research before hitting the buy button. Any or all of the following points could indicate that all is not well with the website:

Identify Scam Websites

The scammers use classic tactics of focussing on a current issue in the knowledge that people will happily part with money if they think they are helping - ocean plastic, endangered wildlife, forest replanting etc are all favoured hooks.  They then make spurious claims about how you can help with your purchases and your money will help clean up plastic, save wildlife and replant trees. Some vaguely imply they undertake the conservation work themselves but often they say they donate to genuine charities so always check this out. Visit the websites of the linked to charities and ask them if the association is genuine.

The scammers make so much money from you by selling cheap mass produced jewellery and clothes that are made in the Far East.  You can easily search for items by using the images by taking a screenshot of the product then using a reverse image site to look for identical images on other websites. You'll see how cheap and poor quality they really are.

The scammers often use the illusion of an even better deal by offering apparently huge reductions but you would still be paying way too much for the product. Another tactic is to use pressure selling techniques to push you into a quick purchase without taking due care:  "only 5 left" / "offer only available today" / "buy now to avoid disappointment" / "offer ends very soon" / "we're closing our shop x% off all stock whilst stocks last".

The website may make false claims. These can include how much money they have donated, plastic cleared or trees planted etc or claims that their products are environmentally friendly because they are recycled, organic, made by hand etc (all great buzz words to lure in the shopper). Such claims cannot be verified. They may also use fake endorsements and certifications. Check if they exist before parting with your money.

Check that the website has a Cookie Policy and a Privacy Policy. Check the latter is not simply a cut and paste from another site and that it actually related to the website in question. 

Check their email address and be wary of generic gmail/hotmail etc addresses. You will find the website has no names on it, no faces with whom you can interact directly.

Scam websites often do not allow you to right click on them. This makes it harder for you to take screenshots or copy and paste information into a search engine.

The scam websites use the platform Shopify to sell their fake goods. Shopify itself is not a scam but it is another alert that should sound alarm bells if other points above are also seen.

Identify Scam Social Media Accounts

Most scam sites promote themselves on Facebook and Instagram. Be cautious of any company you first learn about via a sponsored advert and look beyond the advert for more information.  Check on Facebook groups such as Sponsored Ads Exposed.

Look at their Facebook page and see when the page was created. Scam social media pages are often very new. 

On their Facebook page look at the comment numbers. The scammers will remove negative comments but these will still show in the number of comments. A Facebook post that says it has 20 comments but shows only 6 indicates 14 comments have been removed.

The scam sites often don't have a Twitter account. It is not possible to remove comments on a Tweet or quote Retweets that call them out as a scam so Twitter is not a useful tool for scammers.

Try and find the company elsewhere both on the internet and beyond. If there's nothing else out there about them be suspicious.

If you are unsure about a company then ask them some questions on their social media sites. A genuine company will answer your questions where-as a scam one will, at best, ignore you and at worst remove your comment and either stop you commenting or totally block you. No genuine company would do this.  Pertinent questions might include:

- which organisations do you support?
- where are your products made?
- what are they made from?
- where are they shipped from?
- what percentage of each sale goes to the charity?
- who manages the trees after they have been planted?
- what happens to the plastic you remove from the sea?

Use Scam-checking websites

 

Use a website like WHOIS to check the age of the website. Scam websites will be very new and WHOIS will also show if they have changed their name recently. Several name changes in a short period of time should alert you to a potential scam.

Check for reviews on websites using Trustpilot.  Scam sites may have a lot of positive reviews (which are probably false reviews) but they will also have a lot of genuine negative ones.

If the website isn't on Trustpilot do an online search with the name of the company and the word SCAM or REVIEWS and see what results emerge.

Go directly to sites such as Scam-detector or Scam Tracker (US) and use their website checkers.

In many countries companies need to be correctly registered so check them out. In the UK check on Companies House and in France they must have a siret number. 

You can also install browser extensions that detect scam websites.

What to do if you have been scammed

If you have paid by credit card or Paypal you may find they can recoup your money in the case of non-delivery or substandard goods.

The scam websites are usually set up using the Shopify platform. Report scam websites to them: https://help.shopify.com/en/questions#/contact/email

Report scam adverts and pages/accounts to Facebook and Instagram.

Report scam websites to official organisations such as Action Fraud or The Citizen's Advice Bureau in the UK, Europol in Europe and Report Fraud in the US. Other countries will have similar organisations. 

Alert your friends to scam websites to prevent them being scammed.

Scam Wildlife Shopping Sites

These are just a few of the scam companies purporting to support the planet that I have found - some are currently active whilst others are not but could easily start up again with or without a rebrand:

- Planete Vivante (French)
- 4Amazonia
- Save Koalas - Active on Facebook in 2020 but nothing since then
- Turtle's Journey.co
- Wildlife Team
- Club Ocean
- Ocean Project
- Treehuggersbracelets
- Renew Bracelets 

Remember that this scam is not limited to wildlife charities and innumerable other scam websites exist. In the last couple of days I have seen similar websites offering to support mental health charities and an advert for fake jewellery saying they are due to close and placing a 3 hour timer on their website (that amazingly resets back to 3 hours when you log in again) and states limited number of items are available that has been 10, 11 and 15 each time I checked (in that order!).

It is often not easy to identify online scams like these and scammers are becoming ever more sophisticated. My advice would be to never make a rash decision. Take the time to do your research and if you have the slightest doubt about a company, walk away and don't part with any money. 

If you really want to help the planet buying stuff you don't actually need is never going to be the answer.  Just stop and think of the environmental damage you are buying into.  It is impossible to track how far the materials and product have travelled to get to you and how much plastic was used or pollution and carbon emitted along the way?

A more effective strategy is to search out genuine charities and donate directly to them.  These scams work because people feel that their purchase has done some good for the planet where-as, in fact, the complete opposite is true. 

Please pin me so together we can stop other people getting scammed. And do let me know of you come across any other such scam wildlife websites and I will add them to the list above.

Deforestation, Palm Oil and Black Friday

Do you remember/know that in 2018 an advert by the UK supermarket chain, Iceland, was banned.  It outlined the plight of orangutans in the face of increased deforestation for palm oil plantations but was considered too political to be aired.  If you don't know the advert and want to read up more of the story or you just want to see it again click HERE. 

Are you outraged at this type of censorship?

Now let me ask you 2 more questions ...

• Are you planning to buy anything in a Black Friday sale event, either in a shop or online?

• Are you busy wondering what Christmas gifts to buy all your family and friends, searching online lists of what to buy a difficult teenager or elderly relative etc or grabbing the latest "must have" ideas after seeing some other slick TV advert?

Covid-19 and Capitalism. Why we need a new sustainable normal

Covid-19 in humans resulted when a virus jumped from a wild animal to humans, possibly via an intermediate host species.  Since 1957 there have been numerous new viruses including SARS, MERS, Ebola, HIV and several flu strains where-as in the previous 1800 years there were far fewer major new viral outbreaks.  This begs the question why we are seeing such an increase in new viruses?  These outbreaks have coincided with a time of greatly reduced natural habitats across the globe leading to wild animals coming into much closer contact with humans so increasing the chances of a virus jumping across species barrier.  Some viruses are able to then make the deadly jump of being able to pass from human to human rather than just from animal to human.  When this happens in overcrowded urban areas the virus can spread quickly amongst the human population.  Add to this how much we travel around the world and it is easy to see how a pandemic such as Covid-19 was a disaster waiting to happen.

You may question why Italy became the first European country to be so badly affected when other countries closer to China have fewer cases.  Northern Italy and China have build strong business links through Italy's fashion industry and brands such as Gucci and Prada which are located there.  In a bid to keep down costs and raise profit margins many fashion houses outsource manufacturing to China, notably the Wuhan region and opened up the first international flight routes between Europe and mainland China.  Over the Chinese New Year many families flew between the 2 countries, some of whom were unknowingly infected.

With Covid-19 affecting the respiratory system anything that weakens it will lead to a worse infection and greater likelihood of getting life threatening secondary infections and pneumonia.  High levels of air pollution as seen over large urban areas make the effects of the virus worse. These areas will have more people with asthma,  lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema. Anyone with any of these conditions will find it harder to fight off Covid-19. 

Air pollution disproportionately affects poorer people who live in overcrowded urban areas, many of whom work in factories supplying goods for people around the world, be that cheap goods or designer goods.  Economists often say we need economic growth to prevent recessions but the bottom line is that capitalism creates economic inequality: a few people get extremely rich from it and many more are left in poverty where their need for any work is exploited and their human rights are eroded.

Where is this air pollution coming from? It comes from particles and gases that are emitted from vehicle exhausts, factories as well as "natural" sources such as forest fires, pollen and volcanoes.  The pollution that hangs over cities is primarily human derived. As well as these visible forms of air pollution that can be seen as a haze over cities there is another form of air pollution, the increase in greenhouse gases.  Some of these gases come from natural sources (volcanoes, animal respiration etc) but the vast majority have built up since the mid 18th century due to man-made activity:  burning fossil fuels for electricity and vehicle fuel, through agriculture (arable and livestock) and deforestation, by the creation of refrigeration gases and plastics plus a plethora of other man-made sources.  The result of these increased levels of greenhouse gases is far reaching - rising sea levels, increasing extreme weather conditions, loss of biodiversity and changes in global climates which affect agriculture and the spread of diseases.

So what if the Covid-19 pandemic could act as the catalyst we need to restructure our lives and our economies. We don't need the mega-corporations that, through their businesses, are destroying the planet.

We have power through what we spend our money on. What if we move away from the likes of Amazon, Coca Cola, Nestlé,  etc. What if we start to fully support local businesses who pay their employees living wages and acceptable working hours. What if we didn't buy so many new cars, phones, TVs, wardrobes full of fast fashion items, imported out of season food, excessively packaged goods etc but were happy to make things last, mend them and share with friends and neighbours. What if we bought fewer things but that they cost a bit more and they lasted longer.  Businesses would survive but quality over quantity would be better for the environment and for the workers in factories producing these goods.  The CEOs and shareholders would not be quite so stupidly rich but the poor would not be so stupidly poor. And more importantly the earth could begin to heal.

In a post Covid-19 world we will remember that most of us survived under lockdown and for the most part our worlds did not fall apart because we couldn't fly around the world, buy useless tat on everyday trips to the shops or upgrade our phones etc. We discovered the power of our local communities and of small independent shops. We marvelled at the simpler things and saw pollution levels drop.  This lockdown Easter a friend bought her son just one high quality chocolate egg which he got in place of large numbers of lower quality ones he usually received from family and friends. They had a low key family day, playing games and making Easter  decorations. Her son voted Easter 2020  "the best Easter ever"!

Do we really need to fill our houses and lives with so much tat? With less comes a greater appreciation of what we already have. Not only was the one quality chocolate more appreciated by its recipient but it was also better for the environment and better for the chocolatier who made it.

Capitalists tell us we need growth.

Do we?

Yes, we need jobs but what sorts of jobs and the way we work needs to change ... as lockdowns continue the world is able to breathe again and we must not lose this opportunity to do the right thing for future generations. Surely businesses can see that at least some home working and online meetings are perfectly workable options.  Individuals can make sustainable choices and Governments can support those who actually keep countries running.  In lockdown we valued key workers in essential services and this must continue because it was in lockdown when we realised we didn't need the the bankers or CEOs with their fat cat salaries nor the super rich, many of whom flew away in their private jets to their private hide-aways.

As I write this much of the world is still lockdown so I urge you to stay home and stay safe.  I hope you can use this time to work out how you can become more sustainable. For the sake of the future of humanity and for something positive to come from those who died from Covid-19 we have to change. We cannot return to normality because that normality was fundamentally flawed. We need a new post Covid-19 future: a new sustainable normal.

Have you made the connection? Climate Change and YOU

A few short weeks ago the news was full of stories of the bush fires in Australia. Whilst summer bush fires are not unusual the number this year there were many more than normal, they were bigger, they burned longer and the loss of life (wildlife, plant life and human) was greater than ever before.

Photo Credit

Now the news is full of a completely different natural disaster with catastrophic floods affecting many parts of the UK.  As with the fires in Australia there are more floods than have been seen since records began, they are deeper and have lasted longer.  Whilst deaths due to the flooding have thankfully been kept very low there have been deaths caused by falling trees etc in the storms than bought the flooding.

It is not just the UK either. In January 2020, 66 people were confirmed dead in Jakarta as a direct result of flooding and there are countless other examples of extreme weather events leading to loss of life, property and damage to land.

Image credit

The bush fires started earlier than usual and with greater ferocity due to exceptionally hot and dry weather.

The UK floods were caused by extremely heavy rain brought in on 2 severe winter storms.

These and many other extreme weather examples indicate that the overall climate is changing. Australia is becoming hotter and drier and whilst the UK is experiencing warmer and drier summers but having more winters with severe storms.

Climate Change is the result of increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  One of main ways this happens is through the burning of fossil fuels.  Fossil fuels are burned to create the electricity used to create all the stuff we buy and what it is powers aeroplanes.  Our excessive consumerism and addiction to flying are 2 of the main reasons we have bush fires and flooding.  We are therefore all responsible and have each played our part in these disasters played out around the world.   

Is your addiction to so much STUFF (clothes/imported food/electronics/cleaning products/plastic etc.) and the desire to FLY to a foreign holiday destination really more important than leaving behind a planet for our children to thrive in?

You can pin these images:

It's time to swap for a better world

Who is old enough to remember the TV programme Swap Shop?  It was a ground-breaking children's entertainment programme that aired for 3 hours on a Saturday morning on BBC.  It included music, interviews with celebrities, competitions, cartoons and news coverage - but the name of the programme came from the part called the show called the "Swaporama" where children could swap their toys etc with other children.  I very much doubt thinking green and keeping items out of the bin was behind the concept but it was immensely popular and over the 146 episodes must have seen so many items find a new home rather than ending up in landfill.

They say "one man's rubbish is another man's gold" and how often do you think about throwing something out that is of no further use to you but think it must be useful to some-one else?  We need to bring Swap Shop back to the 21st century and make it more than just something for kids to swap their toys etc.  You don't need to be a TV producer, though, and there are plenty of ways to swap items and organise your own swap events.

Branded toy giveaways encourage consumerism in children

Slap bang in the middle of Plastic Free July seems an odd time for a well known UK food retailer to launch its Little Shop series of "free" toy products with each £20 you spend.  Quite understandably some eco-aware people have been up in arms about this pointing out that many of the mini items are plastic and at a time retailers should be working hard at reducing plastic the marketing team of this shop have come up with this idea.  They are, of course, not alone.  Macdonalds have been giving away free toys for years and in Australia 2 well know supermarkets are doing the same thing.


M&S have tried to defend their decision saying the plastic is all recyclable but that is not really the point, after all how many will actually end up in the recycling and as I have said so many times before recycling is not the answer?  However whilst the plastic issue should not be ignored I feel there is a bigger and more serious threat to the environment through schemes such as these.  M&S is an upmarket food retailer that sells a large range of ready cooked meals, imported and plastic packed produce. Through the little shop items M&S are encouraging children to become their consumers of the future thus increasing how much of these unsustainable foods they purchase.  This is even outlined in the press release about the mini shop launch:

"A similar campaign proved to be hugely popular in Australia last year with one of its largest supermarkets, Coles, driving sales and social media talkability about the supermarket and its products."

This giveaway isn't about giving children toys, it is all about developing brand loyalty.  It is often the case that once a consumer finds a brand they like and are used to they will stick to it come what may, without questioning its price or how environmentally friendly (or not) it may be.  This is why all shops work so hard at developing a distinctive brand through their logos and adverts ... the mini shop is just an extension of this, priming children to become the M&S shoppers of the future.  And, as I keep writing in this blog, fundamental to reversing climate change is the need to reduce how much of everything we buy.  We do not need to be encouraging consumerism in the citizens who will suffer most from the effects of Climate Change - our children.

If you think shops such as M&S should be banned from running these sorts of giveaways there is a petition you can sign.  You can also contact the retailers direct either by email or on their social media pages and you can also boycott their shops (do let them know).

When shops do toy giveaways it is all about building brand loyalty and encouraging children to be consumer focused - this is bad for the planet where we need to be curbing how much "stuff" we buy. 
Our planet needs us to turn our backs on consumerism and these giveaways should be some of the first things to be banned.  Do you agree?

Why antibacterial cleaners are bad for you and the planet

Antibacterial cleaners, wipes and hand santisers are big business with countless varieties available, all claiming to kill 99.9% of germs/bacteria.  There is however compelling evidence that these antibacterial cleaning products are both ineffective in keeping us healthy and in fact dangerous for the people using them, their families and the environment.  Their success in recent years can be put down, at least in part, to some very effective marketing by the manufacturers, who have duped the public into believing they are vital to maintain health, when actually the complete opposite is true.  Just look at this marketing for a product called Lysol, an American antibacterial cleaner, that uses the tagline: Stop just CLEANING. Start HEALTHING. 

Photo Credit

Naked or Plastic-wrapped - Which is the Better Swede?

In my previous post I wrote about the importance of contacting supermarkets (and other businesses) by social media if you refuse to buy something they stock on environmental grounds.  True to my word I tweeted to Tesco about the plastic wrapped swedes I saw in their Ruxley Corner store at the weekend.  And this is how the conversation proceeded.

Use social media to tell supermarkets we want change

Sometimes I am sure you have all had that feeling that your efforts to reduce your impact on the environment via your shopping choices just don't make any significant difference.  Will buying one less plastic wrapped swede from a large supermarket chain actually make any significant difference to global plastic pollution levels?  Will the supermarket even notice?  

Does it make any difference?

Yes!

** Every piece of single use plastic rejected is one less piece of plastic 
ending up in landfill or escaping to become pollution **

Will the supermarket even notice?

This may well be a no ... unless you let them know. And if you let them know publicly via social media it can have far more of an impact.  You will be ensuring the supermarket is aware of practices you want them to change and your message will get to a larger number of other customers. It is the ripple effect in action.  You may find you only get a standard corporate answer or you may get a more personalised reply. Either way the supermarket knows your views and the more people that contact them the more likely they are to implement change.  I have just tweeted this and tagged Tesco because nobody needs plastic wrapped swedes.  I am waiting to see their response.

To make contacting the main UK supermarkets even easier for you, here are links to their social media accounts. You can then either write/comment on their pages or tag them in your own posts.  And remember, it's not just the negative stuff - give them a shout-out when they make positive environmental changes too.

12 ways to wean yourself off supermarket plastic

Supermarkets ore often synonymous with large amounts of plastic. Not only are many of the products on their shelves sold in single use plastic but much of this produce will also arrive at the supermarket on trays wrapped in plastic that are on pallets that are further wrapped in plastic.  Now in an ideal world all consumers would turn their back on these plastic producing supermarkets who would then be forced to change their ways if they were to survive.  But we do not live in an ideal world so what can we do right now to reduce how much plastic we buy?  How can we wean ourselves off supermarket plastic?

When supermarkets need a pat on the back

I have previously blogged about the negative impact supermarkets have on the environment - from excess packaging to selling out of season imported produce and a lot more besides, I am the first to admit I am not a lover of supermarkets.  But I am also a realist. I use supermarkets and I also know that they are not going to go away in the foreseeable future and so when this image popped up on Facebook I was really pleased.  As far as I am aware Morrisons are the first supermarket to actively encourage customers to bring their own containers when buying meat from the butcher counter.  Brilliant news.

Image from The Rubbish Diet Facebook Page

Skills we must not lose

This image turned up on my Facebook timeline this morning.  I am sure it brought a smile to a good few people, especially if they had managed to rush to the shops before the bad weather hit and stocked up of loads of bread.  However when a friend posted on Facebook that they were baking bread, he wondered how many people were also doing this and how many do not know how to bake bread.

Image from Leamington Spa Courier

Green Christmas Present Ideas - The Ultimate List

If the advertisers and big manufacturers were to have their way we would buy so much stuff for Christmas we'd have to starve for the rest of the year.  Well I have a message for big business.  There is another way.  A green way that does not mean Christmas is stuffed full of plastic, packaging, waste and debt.  Christmas can be just as fun, and above all better for the planet if we step off the treadmill of rampant commercialism and make Christmas altogether more sustainable.  In my previous blog post I wrote about general ways to celebrate a green Christmas and now I give you the low down on eco-present giving.

When Organic food may not be the best choice

"Buy Organic and save the Planet" could well be the logo of a company selling organic products and in many ways it rings true.  With a world of only organic agriculture we could be rid of so many harmful chemicals that kill more than the pests and weeds they are designed to wipe out and the world's soil would be in a much better state.  But is organic always the right choice?  Are there actually times when you would be better off not choosing the organic option?  Was this "Simply Good and Organic" muesli I bought really a good environmental choice?

Am I really green because ...

I am not a vegan?

But what about all those vegan foods that are imported from the other side of the world.  Maybe I should only ...

Shop Locally?

But what if I can only get non organic produce or factor farmed meat locally.  I need to ...

Only Eat Organic

But you know what?  My organic shop sells a lot of processed foods, non local foods and those made with palm oil.  So let's go ...

Palm Oil Free

Looking good until you realise that the only palm oil free peanut butter you can buy comes in a plastic jar.  So the answer must be to ...

Go Zero-Waste

Sounds great until I tell you that the nearest bulk store for me is miles away without any public transport so think of all that fuel I'd use to get there.  So I need to become ...

Self Sufficient

Now in fairness I do grow a lot of my own produce.  And so it is local .... and organic ... and palm oil free and very low on waste.  BUT, I raise and eat my own animals (and use their manure to fertilise the soil) so I am well and truly not a vegan which takes me neatly back to the start of this post.

My shopping trolley - a plastic reducing challenge

Throughout June the Marine Conservation Society UK is organising a #PlasticChallenge, encouraging everyone to reduce how much plastic they use, especially single use plastic.  You can find more details and how to sign up here.

Over the years I have gradually worked at reducing how much waste we, as a family produce, although I know I have a long way to go to become zero-waste (more of that in another blog, shortly) ... but I thought I would share this week's shopping trolley with you complete with my failures and successes, and some ideas on how I could further reduce my plastic consumption.

How much plastic is in your shopping trolley?

The UK's Obsession with Plastic Wrapped Fresh Produce

I am currently on a short holiday in the UK and today I went into a well known supermarket wanting some salad ingredients and a few bits and bobs to see me through.  Once in the shop something quickly struck me.  Practically all the fresh produce was wrapped in plastic.  Where was all the loose produce?  In France much more is available loose and the bags you use to put it in are made from corn not plastic and are biodegradable.  Or, maybe you are like me and you take your own reusable produce bags.

Weekly Green Tips #32 - 7 Green Christmas Present Ideas

Week 32 -7 Green Christmas Present Ideas

With the festive season fast approaching and many people being far more organised than me when it comes to present shopping I thought a post in my Weekly Green Tips series about the types of presents you can give whilst helping the environment would be a timely idea.  Rather than listing specific green items I am, instead, suggesting how you can switch your whole buying ethos to one that moves away from the huge excesses that currently seem the festive norm.  Can we work together to make this a Christmas where you still give generously but not excessively?

Weekly Green Tips - Non-supermarket Food Shopping

Week 18 - 7 places to food shop that are not supermarkets

When supermarkets first appeared they were seen as such a boon to the busy housewife.  She could get all her groceries in one place with plenty of choice and as they grew in popularity they also they rapidly grew to the monster enterprises we see today.  But as I wrote in this blog, supermarkets are perhaps not all as wonderful as their advertising would have us believe.  So if you feel you wnt to spread your whopping wings and support other businesses with your food shopping, where can you go? Here are 7 non supermarket places you can get your supplies.

Image from Pixabay

The Negative Side of Supermarkets

The concept of supermarkets started in America in the early 1900's but didn't take off in the UK until after the second world war as rationing was removed.  In the few years since then they have grown exponentially and now sell every conceivable foodstuff as well as all sorts of other goods and services.  They are seen as cheap, convenient and most people use them on a regular basis for most of their food shopping needs.  However are they really as good for you, the consumer and the environment as all their advertising would have us believe?  I think not.

Image from Pixabay