Fake Action Camera site scams shoppers with absurd camera deals on TikTok

A fake Action Camera storefront on TikTok tried to pass itself off as a real camera shop, then dangled a Canon SX740 for $73.59 to pull shoppers into a checkout flow that looked legitimate at first glance. The scam surfaced when a customer emailed Action Camera after ordering a Canon PowerShot camera through the bogus site and wanted to know when the package would arrive. Brian White, who manages the Reno store, said the customer’s screenshot showed a receipt for a Canon SX740 and that $73.59 charge, the kind of price that should stop any camera buyer cold.

The real Action Camera is not some fly-by-night name. It says it has served the photography community since 1984 and operates stores in Rocklin, California, and Reno, Nevada. Its Reno location is at 5890 S. Virginia St. building 3 in Reno, and its Rocklin store is at 4415 Granite Dr. #200 in Rocklin. The business also sells and services the kind of gear photographers actually shop for, including camera sales, rentals, repairs and used gear, which helps explain why a stolen logo and familiar name could look convincing to someone scrolling fast.

The fake storefront itself was a mess if anyone bothered to look. The site appeared to sell clothing and a random pile of AI-generated junk, yet Action Camera’s logo sat at the top. In the version pushed through TikTok-driven mobile flows, it morphed into a camera shop listing 54 different models, from a Canon PowerShot SX740 to high-end bodies like the Leica Q3 43 and Sony RX1R III, all at prices that had no business being real. Nearly 80 TikTok videos were used to promote the bogus shop, a reminder that social proof can be manufactured as easily as a fake receipt.

The warning signs are the same ones that keep showing up in online gear scams. A trusted local retailer gets impersonated. The deal is absurd. The product mix makes no sense. The checkout path changes depending on how you arrive there. The Federal Trade Commission says it received more than 330,000 reports of business impersonation scams and nearly 160,000 reports of government impersonation scams in 2023, with reported losses topping $1.1 billion. In 2024, it said impersonation scams caused $2.95 billion in consumer losses. TikTok’s own guidance says fraudulent offers for free goods or services can be used to push users toward a website or link, which is exactly how this kind of fraud moves from a feed into a payment screen. The safest move is still the least glamorous one: verify the seller, check the domain, and assume any camera deal that looks like a joke is probably meant to be one.