Online shopping has become something that many people do even on a daily basis. You can shop for anything, even your lunch for the day on apps and be sure that what you buy is going to be delivered to you within a reasonable time frame. That being said, there are still certain people or companies out there that advertise things on social media, that you maybe want to think twice about buying. If you’re someone who is ready to go on a trip and you’re looking for ways to buy foreign SIM cards it’s pretty much just a matter of minutes before the Google algorithm will start showing you ads that relate to your searches.
There’s a good chance that you’re also going to be bombarded with ads on social media. By now most people know that you can’t trust everything that you find online. Then again, we really shouldn’t say that too much, because how can you trust us? Well, what we want to do in this article is to give you some tips when it comes to buying Foreign SIM cards on social media. At the same time, we’re going to talk about wifi hotspots. These devices are very much all over social media.
Right off the bat what we can say is that some ads are going to be legitimate and some are outright going to be fake. You need to be able to properly judge each of them in particular before you make a purchase. It’s hard to flag one type of ad as always a bad idea and another post as always legit, but there are signs that you should be looking out for. Here are a couple of the topics that we’re going to cover in this article.
- Is Buying SIM Cards on Social Media a Good Idea?
- Signs That The Page is Legit
- Signs That You Probably Shouldn’t Make The Purchase
- Is a Wifi Hotspot a Good Idea When Traveling?
- Are Wifi Hotspots Sold on Social Media Legit?
- Can I Get Foreign SIM Cards Delivered To My Home Country?
Is Buying SIM Cards on Social Media a Good Idea?
Many companies promote their products through social media these days. Whether that be through running ads or running a fan page on Facebook or Instagram. This is a practice that is common even for well-established companies and brands. Therefore, there is no way that we can sit here and tell you that you shouldn’t believe anything that you see on social media and just disregard it as a scam. That’s the whole issue though, quite frankly with online shopping in general. Unless you trust the seller there’s always going to be a certain degree of risk involved. We could say that about buying anything online even on places like eBay or Amazon.
One of the things that we’re probably going to keep coming back to throughout the article is the final payment or page or buying page. Essentially the way that you are asked to pay for the product is one of the main aspects that you need to consider before you can label something as risky or safe. There’s a huge difference between clicking on a link that you find on social media that leads you to an online store and buying things through Facebook groups and making direct deposits to the account of a person that you’ve never met. When you spell that out it seems easy to see that you probably want to be buying from the web page rather than throwing cash around to someone you don’t know.
The problem with the whole ordeal is that having a webpage doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’re not going to get scammed. There are a lot of scammers that are giving it away that they’re a scam. The web page looks awful and it screams out that it’s fake. Yet, many people still fall for their tricks. We want to make sure that this doesn’t happen to you. Therefore, we want to give you some tips and tricks to spot scams.
Signs That The Page is Legit
There’s no reason to sugarcoat this, the best way to ensure that you’re buying from a page that is 100% legit is to buy directly from the service provider. So for example, if you want a SIM card for your trip in Europe, go to the Vodafone website, go to the Telefonica, or Orange website and try and get a SIM card directly from there. We would say that if you’re traveling to the United States you should go to the Verizon and the T-Mobile site. You’re going to find though, that getting a foreign SIM card directly from a service provider in some countries is actually hard. Many countries have laws that force mobile services providers to collect a bunch of data from clients before giving them a SIM card.
This is where people are faced with the realization that they are essentially being pushed to deal with some companies that could be considered shady. If you’re buying online from a third-party seller the best signs that you can have are actually within your own security. Use a payment method like Paypal or another payment service to not put your credit card information directly at risk. Another option is actually to buy from sellers on eBay or Amazon. You’ll be getting protection from the site as well as your credit card company.
We advertise the services offered by SimOptions. We feel they are one of the most complete SIM card providers for online shopping. They offer a large selection of foreign SIM cards. You’re going to be able to find a SIM card for virtually any country in the world that you happen to be visiting. That doesn’t mean that they are without their flaws. To sum up though, the best way to know that a page is legit is either to verify that you’re buying directly from a service provider. The second option is to buy from a platform that can protect you. The third option is to know you’re covered from fraud by your card company.
Signs That You Probably Shouldn’t Make The Purchase
As we mentioned buying SIM cards online in many ways is the same as buying anything else online. There are a couple of unique aspects to these types of products. Some of the warning signs are rooted in common sense. If you’re on social media and someone that you don’t know asks you to transfer money to their account and they’ll send you the SIM card it’s tough to justify that as a wise choice. Unless you know the person. If you’re going to do this, it’s better to have a platform like Amazon or eBay that can actually protect you against fraud. It may take some time to get your money back from these guys, but you could do it. If you transfer cash you’re done for.
The next thing that is maybe not a warning sign, per se, but is important to point out is that you really shouldn’t make purchases very close to your travel date. Especially if you want to get the SIM cards delivered to your home country. If you do this, you’re not only running the risk of getting scammed, but you put human error into the mix. You could get sent a wrong card, or there could be some type of mix up. Ideally, make the purchases with enough time to spare so that if anything goes wrong you can do something about it.
Another elaborate scheme that we want to warn people about is actually one that certain scam pages do. They’ll send you to the payment page and everything looks like it’s in order. You’ll try to make the payment via credit card or Paypal and it will decline it. Essentially forcing you to select some type of wire transfer option. Although some banks will cover you for this, most of the scammers will still get away with the cash!
When something seems too good to be true it usually is. A lot of scammers get people to fall for their schemes with very simple tactics. All they do is promise that you’ll get coverage for a ridiculously low price. The best way to guard against these types of scams is to do some digging and see what the average cost for a SIM card is in that territory. Remember that mobile coverage prices can vary drastically all over the world. What would be super cheap in your home country could be a reality in another. Visiting a couple of sites to check out prices is the best way to go.
Is a Wifi Hotspot a Good Idea When Traveling?
Another product that you’re probably going to find being advertised when you start looking for ways to get coverage abroad is a mobile wifi spot. We have more information on these types of products in other articles on the site, you can check those out if you have time. Essentially these are devices that are going to provide you with a traveling wifi connection. Different manufacturers offer these types of products. One of the cool features that most of these companies offer is that you can rent the device for your trip. You’ll be able to get it sent to you or you can pick it up at one of their stores in the country that you’re visiting. Once you’re done you can just send it back to them.
Some of the same tips that we talked about with SIM cards apply here. Make sure that you’re buying directly from the service provider. A lot of them are advertising their products on social media. If you come across an ad that doesn’t lead you to the official site of the product that should be a red flag that you need to concern yourself with. In these cases, the best and safest way to rent or buy these products is to do so directly from the manufacturer.
What would be the issue that we see with these products? If you have a problem you need to get on the phone with the service provider quickly and hope that they can walk you through resetting the device or something of that nature. A lot of times the good thing with SIM cards is that if you buy a legitimate product you can walk into a T-Mobile shop anywhere in the country and they’ll be able to help you out. With some of these wifi hotspot companies, it can be a little bit harder to get face to face help.
Are Wifi Hotspots Sold on Social Media Legit?
We’ve basically touched upon this already, but we want to make sure to just say outright. Yes, a lot of the wifi hotspots that are sold on social media and advertised through these channels are legit. That being said, some of the same tips that we talked about before apply here. You want to make sure that you’re buying directly from the official page of the product. Particularly, when you want to rent out one of these devices. We’re sure that there are some Facebook pages out there that are going to try and scam you. That’s really sad because one of the things that happens when we come across these types of threats is that we can’t recommend up and coming brands. You never really know which one is a total scam.
SkyRoam and Travel Wifi are two of the top brands in this sector. As we mentioned you have to go to their site and fill out a couple of forms. Mainly, to ensure that they’ll be able to provide you with a device that is going to work in the country that you’re visiting. If you have an actual wifi hotspot that you bought from your local mobile service provider such as Verizon or T-Mobile, these for the most part won’t qualify as a travel option. This is because these companies usually aren’t able to provide international coverage like what you can get with SkyRoam or Travel Wifi.
Can I Get Foreign SIM Cards Delivered To My Home Country?
For the most part, the answer is yes. The question that you maybe should be asking is whether you would want to have SIM cards delivered to your home country or to the country where you’re going to be staying. Our two cents on that, would be it depends on how much you trust the sender. We usually do recommend that if you’re going to buy online you do so ahead of time that way you get a chance to receive the product and check it out before you have to put it to work. Obviously, one of the main problems that you’re going to find is that you are most likely not going to be able to check all of the SIM card features from your home country because you won’t be getting coverage.
Another thing that you need to consider is that if you order online from a company that works locally in the country that you’re visiting having the package delivered to your home country could mean delivery costs will considerably increase. Our goal on the site is never to try and push you one way or the other. We just present all of the different scenarios that you could come across. Hopefully, getting that perspective allows you to make a better decision in the long run.
Final Thoughts on Buying Foreign SIM Cards On Social Media
Usually social media ads that you see offering SIM cards or mobile wifi hotspots are going to lead you to another page where you have to make the purchase. We just can’t endorse buying directly off of Facebook groups where you would have to make a direct deposit to the seller. For the most you want to have some type of “barrier” in the transaction. That could be buying off of Amazon or eBay. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t scams on these pages. It’s just that if you do get scammed you’re at least going to have a chance to get your money back.
If you want to outright avoid all of the uncertainty that can come with online shopping for these types of items go ahead and buy them directly from an authorized phone company shop on the street in the country that you’re traveling to. If you feel confident in communicating in the local language this can easily be the best way to go. In buying a local SIM card directly in a shop you’ll be able to test it on site and make sure that everything checks out before you head out into the world and try to use it.
If you’re going to buy online make sure that you can get the delivery date right. If you can, have it shipped to the hotel days in advance of your arrival. That way you give the company a little extra time to sort out human errors. Hopefully, you’ll be able to find a source, this source could be SimOptions that you trust. That way you’ll be able to buy foreign SIM cards particularly for visiting countries where you don’t speak the local language.