Navigating shadowy dark patterns: See how insidious website designs trick you into spending more than you intended

Shopping platforms are also known to employ a technique known as fake scarcity by falsely indicating low stock or high demand to create a misleading sense of urgency or FOMO (fear of missing out). — Image by Freepik

Have you encountered items being added to your online shopping cart automatically or come across limited-time offers that weren’t truly time-sensitive and didn’t offer any actual price reductions?

If either of these situations sound familiar, you’ve come across the so-called “dark pattern”, cleverly designed interface elements that encourage people to make choices that benefit businesses, often at their expense.