Bargain online offers at Wilko are fake
What was claimed
Wilko is selling items for as little as £1.90 to clear the remaining 8,000 products left in its warehouse.
Our verdict
These offers are not genuine—Wilko is no longer selling products online. Wilko’s administrators told Full Fact they were aware of a number of sites that had been set up to “scam” users.
A post advertising Wilko products at heavily discounted prices has been shared on Facebook.
But these offers have nothing to do with the retailer, which fell into administration in August putting around 12,000 jobs at risk, with administrators telling Full Fact the websites sharing these offers are “not genuine”.
The post says: “We have to clean up the remaining 8000+ products in the warehouse! !
“To thank everyone for your continued companionship and support, the lowest price during clearance is only £1.9!
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“Don’t miss the store closing offer [sic].”
It also features pictures of products supposedly available at very low prices, such as a suitcase set for £7.99 and an airfryer for £7.35.
Although the Facebook page sharing the offer is not called ‘Wilko’, the post contains Wilko branding. It provides a link to a third-party website which does appear to be selling a variety of products under the Wilko name, however the branding is incorrect and the site has a different URL to the official website.
A spokesperson for PwC, the administrators appointed by Wilko, told Full Fact: “We have been made aware of a number of fake wilko websites which are offering wilko products at heavily discounted prices.
“These websites are not genuine and have been set up to scam users, the only legitimate wilko website is www.wilko.com.
“We would like to remind our customers that all wilko sales are now in-store and you are unable to purchase items online.”
Shoppers have previously been warned to avoid fake websites following the collapse of the chain.
Posts associated with retailers allegedly offering products at unbelievable prices are very common on social media, and we have checked them many times before. We often see them in the form of claims a company is trying to clear unwanted stock, with fake giveaways for returned-item bundles widely shared.
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Image courtesy of Ian S |
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the administrator for Wilko has confirmed that the offer is not genuine.
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