Weed Out Common Sustainability Scams by Following These 5 Tips

You’ve probably heard of greenwashing, but have you ever encountered a sustainability scam? With green living being so popular, they’re on the rise.

Discover what to look out for to protect yourself from these eco hoaxes.

Common Sustainability Scams to Watch out For

Sustainability scams come in many forms, from fraudulent home improvement deals to misleading product claims. Here are six common schemes targeting eco-conscious consumers.

1. Home Improvement Scam

A door-to-door salesperson claims to be affiliated with the local government, which is giving out tax credits for rooftop solar arrays. They promise big savings, so you get the panels. When the savings aren’t as high as promised, you fall behind on payments, and the company places a lien on your home.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission advises homeowners to be careful about financing home improvements and trusting people claiming to sell free solar panels.

2. Environmental Charity Scam

A fraudulent entity sets up a scam charity. You think you’re donating to wildlife conservation or ocean cleanup, but your money goes to scammers. They may ask for unusual or untraceable payment types, such as cash, wire transfer, gift card or crypto.

3. Electric Vehicle Range Scam

If you plan on buying a used electric vehicle (EV), watch out for scammers. Shady sellers may advertise the vehicle’s original EPA-estimated range without accounting for battery degradation.

Most EVs already fall short of their label’s range, so the difference could be huge. Say you want a used Tesla Model S with an advertised range of 405 miles. Unbeknownst to you, it performs roughly 30% worse than that right off the lot. After 100,000 miles, it might retain roughly 80% of its original range, which is a noticeable loss. Even though the seller advertises 405 miles, you might only get 225 miles.

4. Farmers Market Scam

The farmers market scam involves dishonest vendors who resell mass-produced or wholesale goods under the guise of small-farm sustainability. They may mislabel produce as organic or use greenwashing to make products seem more environmentally friendly than they are.

5. “Support Small” Scam

Say a small business claims to make hand-sewn clothes from recycled materials, but the clothes are actually mass-produced. If you buy them, your “sustainable” purchase actually contributes to transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.

Lisa Says Gah, an Instagram-famous brand, claimed its products were predominantly made in-house in California. It advertised itself as eco-friendly. However, when Abby French, an internet sleuth who exposes greenwashing, cross-referenced import databases, she found the brand was importing from offshore factories used by fast-fashion brands. After she posted this information online, the brand scrubbed language like “Ethically Made Clothing” from its website.

6. Eco-Resort Scam

The eco-resort scam passes the burden of sustainability onto guests. The hotel may ask you to reuse towels or take short showers while taking no steps to be eco-friendly itself — all while charging premium prices. The worst offenders hide behind self-declared certifications.

Follow These 5 Tips to Avoid Sustainability Scams

Protect yourself from sustainability scams with these five tips.

1. Ignore Unsolicited Messages

Phishers will often make an urgent appeal to get you to respond quickly. They may claim they need an immediate donation to save an endangered animal or prevent an old-growth forest from being clear-cut, so you won’t have time to research them. The same logic applies to unsolicited visitors.

2. Learn Greenwashing Terms

Some advertisers use vague wording to give you the impression they’re eco-conscious but offer no clear information on their processes or impact. For example, “eco-chic” means nothing and “vegan leather” may be a fancy word for plastic.

3. Do Your Research

Whenever you’re buying something, visiting somewhere or sending someone money, do your research first. Fully understanding the situation and what’s at stake helps prevent you from making rash decisions.

4. Verify the Brand’s Values

Greenwashed brands are all talk and no action. Take Coca-Cola, for example. In 2009, it pledged to source 25% of its plastic from recycled material by 2015. That deadline came and went a decade ago. It has quietly walked back similar promises over the years. You can tell what a company stands for by checking whether it has followed through on past promises. Review import databases, corporate reports or peer-reviewed studies.

5. Ask the Right Questions

Scammers can lie, so the trick is to ask questions they haven’t prepared for. Ask them to produce something tangible, reference a verifiable third party or describe a process that can be fact-checked.

Instead of asking a farmers market vendor if they use pesticides, ask, “How have you kept pests off your produce in this weather?” Real local farmers will know how to answer. When buying a used EV, ask, “What mileage have you been getting for city driving versus on the highway?”

Save Yourself and the Environment From Scams

Scams are constantly evolving, so stay vigilant. Rather than following common advice like looking for bad grammar in an email or looking for “ugly” produce at the farmers market, strengthen your intuition to outsmart scammers.

Author Bio: Oscar Collins currently serves as the editor-in-chief of Modded. He’s written in the sustainability space for over five years with bylines at Earth911, Happy Eco News and Get Green Now.