How To Detect a Fraudulent NRS Website or eCommerce Store

Recently, we have seen an uptick in fraudulent websites and social media ads attempting to scam NRS customers with steep discounts, counterfeit products and copycat websites. These websites use tools to scrape the authentic NRS website, https://www.nrs.com , pulling legitimate logos and product images and uploading them to fraudulent storefronts that use URLs or web addresses similar to the genuine NRS web address (nrsshop.com for example). These fake NRS websites will take payment via credit card, PayPal, or other digital payment and then ship incorrect or counterfeit product, if they ship anything at all. Then, if you attempt to contact customer service for a resolution, they are unresponsive.

This article offers tips to help identify counterfeit and fraudulent websites and social media ads, resolve disputes with credit card companies, and protect yourself from scammers posing as legitimate NRS dealers.

How Do I Know if a Website Selling NRS Product Is Legitimate?

Fraudulent NRS resellers and websites do a good job of making their online presence appear authentic, and it can be tricky to differentiate a legitimate business from a counterfeit one. The tips below offer a quick checklist to tick off when attempting to distinguish between real and fake.

Are You on the Official NRS Website?

There is only one NRS ecommerce website: https://www.nrs.com. NRS does not have direct-to-consumer ecommerce websites specific to any other country or region for retail customers¹ (i.e.: Canada, Europe, Australia, etc.). Many fraudulent websites will add words, letters, or numbers to mimic our website and deceive our customers. Examples of this are:

• nrsdiscount.com
• storenrs.com
• nrsshop.com

The genuine NRS web address will not contain any additional letters or numbers before the ".com" domain—it will always and only be listed as https://www.nrs.com. If you are on one of our authentic product or category pages, other characters will be listed in the web address, but only following a forward slash (e.g.: https://www.nrs.com/nrs-ninja-pro-pfd/pmm4).

Is the Seller an Authorized NRS Dealer?

NRS works with hundreds of authorized global retailers to provide access to our large assortment of paddling gear, apparel and accessories. We value our NRS retailers as they are a vital part of our business.

One quick way to verify if a retailer is an authorized NRS partner is to look them up using our dealer locator tool. Follow these steps:

1. Identify the address of the retailer in question by searching for the info in the footer of their website or their contact information.
2. Search for that address or business with our dealer locator tool.
3. If the retailer appears in your search, they are most likely an authorized NRS dealer. If they do not appear in your search, we suggest locating the NRS products you would like to purchase from an authorized dealer listed on our dealer locator or directly from https://www.nrs.com.

Please note that not every authorized NRS retailer is listed on our dealer locator list. If you have any doubt about the legitimacy of the website you want to purchase from, we recommend contacting the host of the website before making your purchase.

Is the discount or pricing too good to be true?

A sure sign that something isn’t legit: dirt cheap discounts.

• If the discount seems too good to be true, it likely is—especially on new season products or if it’s the only website selling at that price. Our US-based retailers are required to follow a Minimum Allowed Pricing (MAP) policy, which restricts retailers from advertising discounts to NRS gear as they please. While there can be occasional authorized sales throughout the year, discounts will not exceed 25%. If you are seeing a deeper discount outside of that, further investigation is justified.
• Closeout or clearance items are the exception to the MAP policy. NRS retailers are allowed to sell products from prior seasons or at the end of the season at a deeper discount.
• NRS does have Clearance and Used categories with deeply discounted items. However, these items are from past seasons or have been gently used and/or repaired.
• In summary: you will never see new or current products on sale at 70–80% off.

Is the writing on the website free of grammar errors?

NRS is headquartered in the United States. Many fraudulent websites are based internationally. After carefully scanning their website information, particularly their return and shipping policies, the use of inconsistent and broken English becomes apparent. Our copywriters pride themselves on their impeccable grammar. Frequent simple spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and/or incorrect word usage are all red flags that the website is likely fraudulent; find the NRS product you would like to purchase elsewhere.

Does the product mix feel logical?

NRS uses extensive categorization to help customers easily navigate our website, from paddlesports-specific categories—kayaking, rafting, fishing—to apparel—sun protection, technical outerwear, insulation—to gear—life jackets, dry bags, safety equipment—and most of our authorized retailers have similar organization.

If you are browsing on a website with zero navigation or see a raft frame listed next to a dry suit next to a stand-up paddleboard, this can be an indicator of a counterfeit website. However, some of our authorized retailer’s websites, with smaller available inventories, will display all of a brand’s assortment on the same page. Since it can sometimes be less than clear, please refer to the instructions above to determine whether a retailer is an authorized NRS reseller before making a purchase.

Do the provided contact email addresses make sense?

Websites that display contact email addresses with @gmail, @msn, and @yahoo—or no customer service contact email at all—warrant further investigation, as this is often a red flag for an illegitimate operation.

• Official email contact information will almost certainly be listed using the company name or an abbreviation of the company name in the email domain. For example, all official email contact information at NRS ends with the email domain @nrs.com. Our authorized retailers use the same structure in their contact information, i.e., shopinfo@confluencekayaks.com, customerservice@rutabaga.com, etc.
• Many times, fraudulent sellers will have no customer service contact information listed at all. This is an evident and immediate red flag.
• We have encountered fraudulent websites that list our official contact information, service@nrs.com. If you are on any other website besides https://www.nrs.com and are directed to contact our team using official NRS customer service info, take this as an immediate red flag and do not purchase through that website.

Fraudulent Ads on Social Media

There are fraudulent ads on social media and email offering fake discounts on NRS products. Do not click or buy from these ads or share them with others via your social media account. NRS does place paid ads on Facebook and Instagram, but they always point the user directly to our official website (https://www.nrs.com).

If you are redirected to another website to complete your purchase, please follow the steps outlined above to verify the seller’s authenticity. We are aware of fake and misleading social media ads and are doing everything we can to shut them down. Please report fake or deceptive ads as scams to Meta (Facebook/Instagram) or TikTok; they have the tools to remove them. We are actively reporting information to Meta to remove scam ads.

I Made a Fraudulent or Counterfeit Purchase—Now What?

If you have mistakenly purchased counterfeit products, were shipped the wrong product, or nothing at all from a fraudulent seller and cannot get in touch with the seller’s customer service department, we recommend reaching out to your bank or credit card to resolve fraudulent charges.

Most credit card companies will immediately credit your account and launch an investigation to resolve the disputed charge, but it may be helpful to have a few items on hand to support your claim. Those items include:

• The receipt or purchase acknowledgment from the fraudulent website.
• The web address of the website/business name where the counterfeit products were purchased.
• A copy or transcript of your communication with official NRS customer service representatives confirming the fraudulent purchase.
• If shipped a counterfeit or incorrect item, a photo of the item.

PayPal and other electronic payment systems have their own protocol that must be followed to resolve fraudulent or counterfeit product disputes. Please refer to the website of the service you used to make your purchase for detailed instructions on how to proceed.

You can also file complaints directly with the FTC (https://reportfraud.ftc.gov) and Internet Crime Complaint Center.

With hundreds of authorized retailers selling NRS products, there are plenty of online places to purchase legitimate NRS goods. In fact, you are much more likely to purchase authentic NRS products than counterfeit products. Still, vigilance is key when online shopping. When in doubt, you can always reach out to our customer experience team directly.

Footnote:

1) NRS operates and maintains business-to-business (B2B) websites, which are not intended for use by the general public. B2B websites require an application process, approval, and credentials (username / password) to access. Examples of NRS B2B websites include:

• www.nrsb2b.com
• www.nrscanada.com
• business.nrseurope.com