DELTONA, Fla. – As America prepares to mark 250 years of independence, scammers are turning patriotism into profit.
Deceptive “Made in the USA” websites are flooding social media feeds with deals on patriotic gear, and some shoppers are already paying the price.
Debbie Sayfoot learned that lesson the hard way. She was playing a game on her phone when an ad caught her eye.
“I saw this shirt, and it was so pretty on there,” Sayfoot said. “I thought, this is great. I’ll buy this, I can wear this to the party.”
What arrived looked nothing like what she ordered.
“I opened up the package, like, what is that? That’s not what I ordered,” she said.
One site under scrutiny is Wendlly.com, which touts a rich American history on its “About” page, claiming to have hand-knit Merino wool sweaters in a remote U.S. town since 1986. Today, the site mainly sells printed sequined graphic tees.
But domain records show the site was created in October 2025. And that “remote American town” the company claims? Records show the site traces directly back to a province in China.
Sayfoot said the product she received looked nothing like the patriotic shirt shown in the ad.
“I thought what I was ordering was a patriotic shirt that had sequins because in the picture it showed it looked like they were sequins all over the shirt,” she said.
When she inspected the shirt more closely, the problems kept mounting.
“These two stars, not even full,” she said. She also noticed the shirt had no care tags,...
DELTONA, Fla. – As America prepares to mark 250 years of independence, scammers are turning patriotism into profit. Deceptive “Made in the USA” websites are flooding social media feeds with deals ...