Criminals are well-versed in using the Internet to steal identities, hold computers hostage, blackmail victims and worse. Stealing a portion of our hard-earned cash through websites elaborately camouflaged as some of the gun industry’s most well-known brands pales in comparison to some of these scams, but the approach gained serious social-media momentum in December 2024.
The volume of legitimate-looking ads the impersonators took out on Facebook for “Warehouse Sales” or other bargains late in 2024 saw many gun writers sharing notes and anger. Traditionally, scams are easy to spot, but these were typo/broken-English free, included a legitimate company logo and featured recognizable products in familiar packaging.
They looked legit and, in most cases, prices on the display ad were a good deal, but not low enough to raise red flags. High-ticket items, like optics and firearms are the usual target, but with all the new guns that arrived during the holidays, apparently, criminals decided to highlight products with lower profit margins.
Hornady Warning
On Dec. 21 Hornady posted the following on its Facebook page:
“There are numerous fraudulent websites claiming to be Hornady by offering ammunition, bullets, brass, etc. on their website. We do not sell those products direct to consumer and the only legitimate Hornady websites are: https://www.hornady.com and https://store.hornady.com.”
“Example of a NON Hornady website: https://hornady-us.shop THIS IS A SCAM. Please be mindful this holiday season and do not fall victim to these criminals.”
“We have reported all of the websites that we are aware of.”
Federal Premium Warning
On Dec. 3, Federal Premium posted:
“We have been made aware of a scam where a number of sponsored ads here on Facebook are driving folks to a fake website that looks just like ours. Please note this is not legitimate. Our only official website is FederalPremium.com. We are actively working to get the website taken down. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Sierra Bullets Warning
Another “Warehouse Sale” advertisement on Facebook looked like it was sponsored by the real Sierra Bullets in December. It was not.
The company’s real website now has a banner on top of its home page stating, “There is a scam website called ‘sierrabullets.shop’ that is impersonating us. Please stay clear of that website. Thank you.”
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of other gun-related scams on the Internet, although the shift to more modest priced ammo and reloading components caught many in the industry by surprise. The proliferation of ads on social media was significant as the holiday season approached and they are likely still circulating.
The FBI has a variety of tips to help avoid becoming a victim and the web page includes links to file a report if you’ve been lured into one of the increasingly sophisticated scams.
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