Argos has been accused of "misleading" shoppers through an Xbox advert on its website.
The retailer received two complaints over captions such as "Going Fast! Last purchased one minute ago" and "Selling Fast! Purchased 24 times since your last visit" on two Xbox consoles in September and October 2021.
One listing also carried a message saying: "In Demand! 100+ others added this to basket today."
But the complainants argued that these statements were misleading, as they said the consoles were out of stock in their nearby stores when they tried to purchase them.
The complaints - which were submitted to the Advertising Standards Authority - relate to the Xbox Series X 1TB Console in both black and white.
Argos said that overall, 9,159 units of X Box Series X 1TB Console, covering both models noted in the complaint, had been sold between September 13, 2021 and November 7, 2021.
However, they said they could not provide exact "stock positions" as that data was not kept on record.
The company said since the complainant saw the ads "Last purchased 1 minute ago" and "Selling Fast! Purchased 24 times since your last visit", 172 consoles had been sold.
It argued that availability of the consoles depended on location.
The ASA said that Argos was not able to prove that one of the X Box models had indeed been sold within the last minute of the complainants checking the website, so upheld the complaints.
Argos was told the adverts must not appear again in the forms complained about.
ASA said in a statement: "We therefore considered that a retailer who listed such an item as being in stock would expect to see an increase in attempted purchases because of the mixture of its scarcity and popularity.
"We acknowledged Argos's comment that 172 consoles had been sold on the day the complainant saw the messages concerning its recent sales history, and that availability had depended on a consumer's location.
"Argos did not, however, provide any evidence to substantiate the claim seen by the complainant that a console had been sold within a minute of when they had seen the ad, nor 24 times since their last visit."
An Argos spokesperson said: "We have acknowledged the ASA's claims and the necessary changes have been made."
