Lammle's has been the subject of websites claiming to be Lammle's Western Wear has been launched and has placed ads in social media directing unsuspecting customers to their storefront.
Purchasing from this fraudulent website will expose your personal information and payment information. They are not a real store and you will not receive product from Lammle’s. Do not share your personal or financial information with the website in question.
Lammle's has no association with the website, and do not have any promotions at 80% off as the fraudulent ads claim. We are actively seeking legal, criminal and technological avenues to remove both the website and the ads.
To be certain you are shopping the authentic Lammle's Western Wear website:
Look in the upper left corner of our homepage, and ensure:
1) The URL (web) address on the homepage displays either "lammles.com" or "https://www.lammles.com" exactly. Our homepage will always start with one of these two web addresses.
2) The website upper left area appears similar to the "Authentic Example" below, with 4 dark grey tabs at the top and the Canadian flag beside the Lammle's logo.
Authentic Example (Fully safe and encrypted):
Fraudulent Example (Unsafe):
Note: Fraudulent website has been updated with animated snowflakes and Christmas-themed graphics.
If you have any questions, please contact us at customerservice@lammles.com. Note, however, we will be unable to provide information on any orders placed on the fraudulent website.
Suggested other tools to help verify website authenticity:
(Note: These are suggestions only and not intended as failsafe ways to verify a website is safe).
1) Examine the website itself: Pay attention to the branding and look and feel which doesn't match what you expect from a known retailer. Look for discounts that appear too good to be true. Examine "contact us" or other supplemental pages for inaccuracies, missing functions, dead links, spelling mistakes, or references (like email addresses) to other websites which don't appear related.
2) View the registration information associated with a website using a tool such as lookup.icann.org. While Canadian privacy law limits the information provided by such sources, there may still be indications of strange details. In the case of the website impersonating Lammle's above, the Registar is located in Hong Kong and using Alibaba servers, which is highly abnormal for a Canadian company.
3) Do a Google search for the website URL with "scam" as a search word. Ie: "www.website.com scam". If people online are talking about it, there is a good chance you can pull up the conversation in a search. Alternatively, do a Google search for the company name you are intending to visit, and the first search results will generally lead you to their authentic website before it will lead you to a scam imposter.
4) Use a tool like Scamadviser.com: Perhaps the best way to flush out a scam is to use resources online which measure many factors of a website to give a score as to its safety. On Scamadviser.com, scores below 50-65% are generally scams, scores 65-80% require caution, with websites having higher scores typically considered safer. Note that it can take several days of monitoring and feedback from when the website was launched before these scores can be considered a good indicator - though they will also usually indicate to you if the website has not existed for long.
5) If you frequent a website, a wholesale change to the appearance may indicate a scam - particularly when the difference is a downgrade from the website you were used to visiting.
6) Look at the URL (web address at the top of your browser) for anything that appears strange. Often, scammers will use a variation of the authentic URL adding or removing a character, or misspelling it altogether. Ie: "Lamles.com".
Do not assume that just because a website has quality product images/descriptions, an authentic-looking logo, or a high level of complexity that it isn't a scam. Scammers will often steal images and use tools to build websites easily which can appear very much authentic at first glance.
What to do if you think you've been scammed:
Although malicious websites may use malware or viruses to negatively affect you or your device, your primary concern is privacy of your personal and banking information. Customers will often consider their purchase after the initial excitement of a great deal wears off, and then question if the website was authentic afterwards. If this happens to you, first verify if you believe the website to be authentic. If you proceed without this step first, you risk negatively affecting an authentic retailer.
Things to look for:
1) Look at your confirmation email. Scam websites will generally either not send a confirmation, the confirmation looks incomplete or suspicious, or the email address sending it doesn't appear to have any association to the company you believed you purchased from.
2) Although not all retailers provide easy access to a phone number on their website or in their confirmation emails, look for it as a partial factor since scam websites will rarely provide one. If they do, feel free to call it to confirm your order, and consider a Google search on the phone number to determine if it is authentic. Authentic websites will have registered phone numbers and will rarely use WhatsApp or similar methods. Alternatively, call a verified authentic phone number for the company you thought you were purchasing from to see if they have a record of your purchase.
3) Look at your online banking and see if the name of the charging company makes sense. Generally speaking (but not always) payments will be made to a name that is similar to the name of the company where you purchased.
If you believe there are signs that you were scammed, contact your payment provider immediately for next steps. If this isn't immediately possible, try to shut down the card with your online banking app to avoid extra charges. Your provider may issue a chargeback or provide other options including possibly issuing you a new payment card.
Do not panic. Online scams are common and payment providers are used to handling them. There are usually mechanisms in place which protect you from fraudulent transactions.
Stay safe, and happy (safe) shopping!