SOUTH ST PAUL, Minn. — Since 2010, South St. Paul-based WindRider has built a national reputation in the outdoor apparel industry. Launching originally as a sailboat manufacturer, the company now offers sun protection clothes, rain gear, ice-fishing suits and a variety of other products to buyers across the country.
Usually, in anticipation of ice-fishing season, WindRider sees a strong boost in sales starting in early November and lasting through the winter.
Strangely, though, that did not happen in 2023-24.
"At the beginning of November, we weren't really seeing the traction we were seeing historically," CEO Robert Sanberg said. "All the sudden, we started getting calls, of like, 'Hey, where's my suit?'"
Hundreds of frustrated customers reported buying items from WindRider that they never received. When the customers presented order numbers, they did not match anything inside of WindRider's system. The company had no record of any of the purchases.
At first, Sanberg found himself perplexed by the whole situation.
Then, after doing some digging online, he discovered a barrage of Facebook advertisements offering enormous discounts on WindRider items. One of his products, for example, was marked down from $599 to $49.90. Clearly, something had gone terribly wrong.
According to Sanberg, a fake company — which he believes is based overseas — has created more than 700 of these false ads as a form of trickery. When customers click the links to buy the discounted items, they are directed to a fake WindRider website, barely distinguishable from the real thing.
"They got me for $61. I thought this was the first of 12 payments," one customer wrote on Facebook. "This is the last time I try to buy anything off Facebook!!!!"
Over the past two months, Sanberg said more than 1,000 people have called to inform him that they fell victim to this scam. The scheme is so sophisticated that customers have reported dealing with fake customer-service representatives, who told them to check with their local U.S. Post Office to figure out why their WindRider items were missing.
Sanberg said he's frustrated with the lack of response from Facebook, which he said has taken days to remove some of the ads.
"Every time we get something taken down, [the scammers] create a new one and they're off to the races scamming people," Sanberg said. "Truly, daily, I get up in the middle of the night, and low and behold new ads have popped up. It's playing whac-a-mole constantly of trying to get the ads taken down."
Facebook's parent company, Meta, did not respond to KARE 11's request for comment.
A spokesperson from the Minnesota Attorney General's Office said he could not specify how many people have made complaints about the fake WindRider ads due to privacy reasons, but in general, he said "scam ads make a frequent appearance in complaints we receive about Facebook."
For WindRider, the toll has been devastating. Sanberg estimates he has lost at least $1 million in revenue over the past two months, due to plummeting sales. To make matters worse, he's now fighting an uphill battle to clear his company's name, which has become associated with an online scam through no fault of its own. (WindRider has an A+ accredidation from the Better Business Bureau.)
"There's the immediate revenue which is significant, and hurts, but I'm also super concerned about the long-term brand damage," Sanberg said. "There's a sense of helplessness. There's nothing I can do to stop this."
Sanberg said he has tried cutting ad spending on Facebook, but the false advertisements continue to appear.
"We've contacted the Attorney General, had an attorney write demand letters... all this stuff, and basically, nothing has worked and nothing has come of it," Sanberg said. "We're in a holding pattern and continue to get calls from people who continue to be scammed. They're frustrated because they thought they ordered something and nothing showed up. It's definitely a frustrating and challenging situation."
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