Fake shops: Beware of Black Week and heating oil offers

At the start of the heating season, criminals are seizing the opportunity and trying to lure victims with supposed heating oil bargains. Likewise, they are targeting bargain hunters as part of Black Week and the subsequent Christmas gift shopping. But after ordering, only the money is gone; no goods arrive.

The consumer advice center North Rhine-Westphalia is currently warning about fake shops with supposedly cheap heating oil and firewood offers, warns the consumer advice center North Rhine-Westphalia. Before you jump at such offers, it is worthwhile to check the online shop using the fake shop finder of the consumer advice centers. The c't has some practical tips and hints for recognizing fraudulent intentions are ready, and the somewhat older hints are still valid.

Numerous fake shops with fuels

The consumer advice center NRW warns that now, in the cold season, many consumers only realize late that their heating oil tank or firewood storage is not full and thus get into time pressure. Fake shops exploit this and lure with prices far below market price. The presentation of the fake online shops appears reputable at first glance, which can easily lead potential victims to fall for them. The consumer advice centers have published a current list of currently active fraudulent online shops. Consumers should therefore not order from:

• brennholzmeister.de
• heizoelpreise-region.de
• europellet.at
• easyoel.net
• e.holzheiz.com
• graenergie.com
• heizoel-liefern.de
• heizoel-marke.de
• heizoel-kalkulator.de
• holzmarket24.com
• brennstoffe-energy.de
• heizoel-freunde.de
• pellet-profi24.de
• heizoelpreise-region.de

Scammers rely on seasonal events

The criminal perpetrators adapt their fraudulent offers to seasonally relevant topics and events. Therefore, interested buyers should now remain attentive and cautious, also in the context of bargain hunting for Black Week—the extended Black Friday, which takes place on the occasion of the US Thanksgiving and traditionally heralds Christmas shopping. The hints linked above will help with this.

Many people are actually affected by the online scam with fake shops. According to a recently published Forsa survey commissioned by the consumer advice centers, almost one in eight online shoppers has fallen for such fraudulent trade in the past two years. According to a current SCHUFA survey, a good third of fake shop victims report the incident to the police. The survey was conducted by Nordlight Research GmbH on behalf of SCHUFA from September 9, 2025, to September 25, 2025, using an online panel of 1000 population-representative participants.

(dmk)