How to Tell if a Website is Selling Fake Prom Dresses

Seriously- scammers are everywhere to target prom goers arming themselves with fake designer dresses, charging hundreds of dollars for a counterfeit dress or a dress that they may never receive at all.

For a high schooler - Prom is special. This is their red carpet event and most teen girls, they dream for a beautiful gown from many different websites on the Internet. Sadly, girls are trapped into websites that sell these dresses enticing them to a deep discount and that is a problem.

Before purchasing your dress for your prom, homecoming, or special event, we urge that you do your due deligence to ensure that you don’t get scammed! 

We list some of the tell tale signs to look for when shopping online. 

1 . Pay close attention to the advertised retail price. Retail prices should be consistent across all authorized retailers. If you discover a store or website that offers a brand name dress substantially at a lower price than others, assume that the dress is a low quality counterfeit fake. Also, be aware of words like “inspired by,” “imitation,” “fake” and “similar to” that appear on the store’s website or advertisement.

2. Just having an  Ssl seal  or Paypal seal at the bottom of a webpage is not enough. The seals should be active- not just an image. When you hover over the seal with your mouse or click the seal, a new website should pop up. Scam websites will steal these seals and have them on their webpage as a jpg. It's also a good idea to see if an e-retailer is a member.

3. Challenge the authenticity of the brand name being advertised. Every authentic dress will bear a hangtag and inside garment label with the brand’s logo. If your dress is missing a tag or label, it may be a fake reproduction. Also, double check the spelling of the brand being represented.

4. Look for reviews at top prom website or prom website association. E-commerce retailers are registered with prom associations to ensure authenticity of the websites and it’s products.

5. The website is selling counterfeit prom dresses if a specific dress is sold in many different colors, Designers usually offer a dress in, at most only a handful of colors.

6. Take note of the pictures displayed on the website or advertisement. If the imagery used includes a model with a blurred out or pixelated face, cropped off head or displays any other suspicious photo-changing feature, the website or advertisement may be selling counterfeit dresses. 

7.  Take note of style numbers. Often, the style numbers are different than the other American websites where you have seen the dress. Sometimes, there is not even a style number. The real style numbers are created by the authentic prom dress designers and are utilized by all retailers so that we may reference the same dress without confusion.

8. If an overseas website says they'll mark your package as a “gift” to save on shipping costs, that should raise a major red flag. Counterfeit manufacturers do this to avoid detection by U.S. Customs officials.

9. Visit the website’s Contact Us page. An address in the United States as well as a telephone should be listed, not just an email address. And it is also important to double check at the telephone number isn't being forwarded to another foreign country.

   IF THE PRICE SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE - IT IS FAKE!