Is the prom dress you ordered not what it looked like online? | Source: ShutterStock

If you haven’t bought a prom dress yet, you may be spending time scrolling through ones you find online, hoping to find your dream dress at a good price. But be warned! It turns out that online prom dress scams are definitely something to be concerned about.

The Today Show ran a segment on it this morning and it was pretty crazy. Basically scammers run websites that look pretty legit for girls to get discounted designer prom dresses, with pictures of the real dresses. But what actually shows up in the mail is a different story.

They interviewed one high school girl who ordered her dream beaded prom dress. The one she got was the wrong color and poorly constructed, but the icing on the cake is that they sent her the bag of beads and sewing supplies. I mean, I’m all for a good DIY prom project, but when you’re paying for a dress with beads, I think it’s only fair to expect the beads are on the dress.

As Today points out, the companies that make the dresses and even the government are taking these online scams seriously. It’s rare for scam victims to get refunded in these scenarios, so it’s good to see that kind of action being taken before more girls experience prom dress debacles because of them.

On a related note, I wonder if these scammers are able to continue what they’re doing because they really capitalize on the pressure that girls feel to have a designer dress for prom just for the name on the label. Prom sometimes loses sight of being a fun dance, and instead becomes a social status competition. That kind of pressure could really make these discount sites more tempting.

The thing is though that you shouldn’t by a designer dress just because it’s designer. You should be able to wear what you want to prom and you don’t need to spend a lot of money on prom (even some of those discounted dresses were still out of what my price range would have been). It’s just about feeling great about yourself and not what the label on your dress – or your classmate’s dress – says.

One year I found my prom dress at a random store in the mall for $30 and the next year I just borrowed a dress I loved from a friend. I was lucky that at my school, there wasn’t any pressure to get a designer dress. Some girls wore them and some didn’t. I think if that attitude was adopted across the board, hopefully it would keep scammers from preying on girls with these “deals” and in the end, just really messing with their prom dreams. Not cool.

Overall, always be careful when you’re online shopping. Especially with something like a prom dress where there is some personal significance as well as probably a hefty price tag, really make sure you’re doing your homework about where you are ordering from. Talk with your friends about places they have shopped and gotten quality results and or as experts told Today, you could also call the dress company directly to find out if the website you saw their dress on is legit.

So just do your shopping homework, and I think you’ll be good to go. In any case, whether you get a designer dress or not, I just hope all of you feel fabulous and have a totally fun prom free of any scams or drama!

Do you know anyone who got scammed buying a prom dress online? Do you feel pressure to order a designer prom dress? Tell us in the comments!

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