How to identify and report a scam online store?

[DanielHQ]

Hi guys, I need your help. I'm a Shopify developer (no related entirely), and managed to identify that a store I and a lot of people ordered from there are being scammed. They don't answer, they keep offering new products and all, but they don't send anything. There is a big story behind in reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/bfl53x/is_officialburritoblanket_a_scam_did_i_just_give/

https://www.officialburritoblanket.com/

Please help! 

[PaulNewton]

Shopify is a hosted platform not directly responsible for individual business behaviors.

If your unconfident about a purchase or business that is unresponsive  here are some options:

• Contact your payment provider and dispute the charge
• If the company is behaving suspiciously and you used a credit card you could pursue a chargeback
• Contact support@shopify.com

[Lidia0205]

No, Shopify needs to be directly responsible for the stores they allow into there site that continually scam customers out if their money and who are not selling anything at all, Shopify needs to be diligent in contacting and informing its customers of the ‘Dwemn store’ or any others when people tell you they are scamming. You need to post products that have been deemed a scam so that they cannot be used over and over again and give information to your customer base that uses Shopify of things to watch for when scamming is probably eminent.

[Barbarasonnier1]

I agree with you.  My husband and I just recently ordered Dewalt tools for $179.00 and the email came from dwemn.  Had links for my order and the shop, but when you click on them it goes no where.  Bank charge says it was from JOHNNYSHADES HTTPSWWW.JOHNNC US.  Only thing I found about Johnny Shades was that they sell sunglasses.  Will have to see what my bank can do come Tuesday.  Sad that there are so many dishonest people out there.

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[Lidia0205]

Yes, sorry to hear that.... Jonny Shades was the same in my card... and placed under ‘groceries’. They’ve taken the identity of a real company. I am flabbergasted that Facebook allows these people to advertise on their site... heck, Facebook polices marketplace and won’t even let you put brand name items up without questioning it. These dwemn people have many different store fronts I see for the same item at $135. Now I see they have another picture they are using of a tv stand for ‘135.’ My card says it’s out of North Carolina.

It’s just crazy what people get away with.

[Barbarasonnier1]

It’s sad that consumers can be so easily ripped off by low life’s that are allowed to post their fake ads on social media. Can’t post “hate” comments but you can sure post market place scams and rip people off!

[Knv]

Almost all the ads on Facebook marketplace are scams and easy to tell. The comment section usually has a lot of comments of people ordering it, but not one saying they received it. If there are any positive comments, they are likely from the scammer. They add comments to sound like they are legit.
I try to post in every ad comment section that they are scams. I could do this 24/7 and never post on all of them.
They have taken to disallowing comments and only a link to their purchase site. This way people can't warn others.
I can't understand how Shopify, Facebook and PayPal can turn a blind eye to this. They must be making money, but shooting themselves in the foot to do it. In the long run it will just tear apart their customer base.

[Firestorm]

Facebook is getting paid by shopify for the use of their markets. And
shopify is getting paid by the scammers to use their platform. Both have
plausible deniability and dont really care if you get the item or lose your
money, because they are making theirs. Sorry, but imho, both sites should
be held accountable. Wasn't zuck on a mission to make facebook a safe
space; even going as far as calling out the Russians for buying ad space
during the elections? Where is his sense of morality when his users come to
his employees and complain that they are being taken by fake shops using
his marketplace?

Please type your reply above this line -##

[adoptn2]

I should have known it was a scam when I bought a bunk bed sofa for 59.00. It shows up on my credit card statement as HairCity and also HairsCity. When you look them up it is a hair salon that sells wigs so they stole the name of a legit business to scam people out of money. I’m going to have my bank do a chargeback on my account on Monday

[mrrainey]

Same here.. got caught up in the Black Friday deals and purchased from 3 different Shopify ads on Instagram..found out the following morning ALL 3 were scam sites (selling PlayStation 4 bundles and mini video arcade machines etc. )when I tried to visit the store again for an update.. 3 cards had to be blocked and awaiting dispute Monday..Shopify needs to do better before they be out of business.. They (Shopify) were no help at all when calling besides sounding so aware of the problem when reported...won't get any of my business again.👎🏾👎🏾 I'm warning ppl on all platforms to beaware

[Firestorm]

I think I got the same scam with the ps4 bundles. It was charged to tessuti-shop.com tessuri-shop tx. I searched all over to try to find the ad online and when i found it again, it was saying zengershop.com or something similar. Zenger turned out to be a jewelry store.

I tried to stop payment on my card white it was processing; I was willing to eat the $30 stop payment charge if it meant saving me $160, but my bank wouldn't stop the payment. They said we had to wait for it to process and then dispute the charges.

I was christmas shopping for my dad who is a disabled veteran and lives on a fixed income. He wanted to do something special this year for his grandkids.

To the idiot that keeps defending shopify; THEY ARE NOT WITHOUT FAULT. THEY ARE LEGALLY OBLIGATED TO PROVIDE SOME SORT OF SECURITY FOR THE USERS OF THEIR SITE. THEY KNOW THIS SCAMMING BS IS HAPPENING AND ARE DOING NOTHING. THEM AND PEOPLE LIKE YOU DEFENDING THEM ARE WHAT MAKES THESE LOWLIFES LIVES SO EASY.
I'm sorry, but for the people who have to struggle for the holidays, these deals are like miracles. And for those who don't shop online very often, their ignorance is sweet ambrosia to pos scammers. The creators of amazon and shopify know this. These marketplaces are supposed to provide online customers with trusted vendors, not allow scammers to run rampant. Shopify and Facebook are both just as liable for allowing this BS to happen.

I will be fighting to get my dad's money back. And if it means taking the fight to these asshats that provide scammers a safe place and give no warning to the consumer, so be it!

[Barbarasonnier1]

I truly believe web sites like Facebook, Shopify, and others only care about making money.  They let anyone advertise their wares and never bother to check and see if they are legitimate businesses or not.  TOO many people getting ripped off by these people on the other end of a computer preying on people that are just trying to save money on things they normally couldn't afford other wise.  Lesson learned.  I will research every company from now on before buying online and only pay through PayPal.  These people are probably in foreign countries where we can't even touch them if they could even be found out.  Sad.

[Knv]

When I did some Google map searches based in info I could pull from their websites. They don't show a business, but do show a Starbucks and a bank if China within a block. I can imagine them sitting in Starbucks, cranking out the sites and walking to the bank to pull their I'll gotten money.
The whole process of building these sites, linking them to PayPal and Facebook is so automated that they probably build one every 1/2 hour. Knowing that no internet crime unit is going to sweep in on them.

[Firestorm]

BODEAM.COM gives a non existent address in Indiana. I think it all depends
on where you live. They also give a phone number(which they dont bother to
answer!). This is beyond ridiculous, and the enablers should be held just
as responsible as the scammers who use their systems!

[MissMisty]

Dont count on PayPal. We are going through the same scam and PayPal is taking the scammers side. Told us that " they (the seller) entered the same tracking number on their account that they used on our invoice and it says shipped." Are you kidding me? How the eff does that prove its shipped or that there was even a item to begin with. What a joke. Obviously they didn't check the tracking number because if they had they'd know it was a fake shipping service and there is no shipment with that tracking number! Also they didnt bother to go to the actual store on our invoice because if they had , they'd know it doesnt exist! PayPal will not help us!

[Pensarmy87]

Pay pal is ridiculous. They provide nothing, don't bother calling these people In India because you'll barely understand them and that's if you can hear over the other 100 paypal employees all in India on the phone with ppl getting fleeced in North America. They say call your bank, bank says call PayPal and after about 4 days and countless hours on hold you sadly give up because life goes on, there probably 1000s of ppl daily just throwing there hands up in frustration 

[Knv]

Good luck to you. I'm after Shopify, Facebook AND PayPal, they all ignore the obvious and just take the scammers money.
I'm sure the scammers don't mind the fees. They get 100% profit after paying for the ads, platforms and money handlers. All other people's money.

[Knv]

Spread the word!

[vinkr94]

Same here.. got caught up in the Shopify ads on Instagram..found out the following morning ..Shopify needs to do better before they be out of business. i ordered bicycle on 10 feb. 21 @ 5.52 am through CC and when i track shipment status it shows same. there is no update. here is link

https://digi-think-com.myshopify.com/

[Knv]

Facebook doesn't even give a choice in their resolution area for these scams. I posted on two other topics, just to get in, but they just turned me down and said it didn't fit. They also asked me to escalate the issue before a certain date or they would drop it and it can never be opened again. I escalated it three times, but they never acknowledged it and closed it anyways.
I had this happen three times. First two I paid with credit card and they reimbursed me. The last and final straw was using PayPal. I thought they would cover it or not allow questionable businesses to use their system. They won't cover it and make it hard to dispute it. I know they could do more monitoring of the sellers using their systems.

[Knv]

These scammers have cookie cutter programs all laid out. They never go past the emailed receipt saying they will track the order and if course the victim can't get in touch with them and they soon slink off to their other scam sites. Some may try to look real by posting comments or replies in Facebook, but that's just to suck as much out of people that they can from that ad and scam.

[Firestorm]

Oh yes. One of the two who got me this holiday has been especially chatty.
In lieu of the tool set I ordered, I got a pair of rayban sunglasses. I
sent them photos and asked them if this looked like the tools i ordered.
They said it was drama in their system and they accidentally sent the wrong
item. They asked if I would allow them to send the correct purchase. I
replied that as long as I wasn't charged for it again. Awaiting a reply.
But for safety sake, please avoid bodeam.com. unless you like rayban
sunglasses, that is.

Please type your reply above this line -##

[Knv]

Shopify should be able to look a bit further than most of us can to determine if they are scamming. I can see enough patterns to be 90% sure they are a scam, but Shopify should be able to spot these and look a bit further to see if anyone ever received products.
Just the store names are so random as to raise a flag.
Between Facebook accepting the ads for stores built in Shopify and PayPal running the purchase through, they all support the scammers and do nothing for the victims.

[Hannah1960]

If Shopify is not going to take responsibility for the businesses that they are exposing the consumer, it appears the most appropriate action would be for us to quit using Shopify as they cannot be trusted to only allow honest businesses to advertise and sell on their site. I’m game! 
Problem Solved! 

[aarontrudeau]

explain

[zixet]

Just signed up to let Shpify know that your platform + Facebook ad are being used to scam people EVERYDAY!

I personally cannot trust any shop that has this black and white style website which is 99% based on Shopify!!

The easiest solution is to implement a reputation system and not let anyone create a fake shop in 5 minute! You are ruining your company for the short term profit!!

[Knv]

All sound ideal, but if Facebook, Shopify and PayPal ignore these scams, it just a matter of making them seem convincing enough to trick people.

[MRxGRIMM]

I was scammed by Shopify (as far as I'm concerned while trying to resolve it) via a store called "Soaring Dragon" using a charge program called Docsite. I tried to vet the store prior to making a purchase, but all I could find was equal parts good and bad for Shopify so I decided to trust the store since Shopify didn't outright appear to be a scam. However, the old saying proved true, "If it sounds too good to be true...." My bank refused to do anything about the charges because they were authorized by me (I mean after all I was buying from what I believed to be a legit company at the time). Shopify is claiming to be blameless and not responsible for the scam since they are only the "bridge" for the scammer to reach you. They will however protect the Scammer in favor of you (the consumer). I was told repeatedly that they could do nothing for me because they protect their sellers and that they are NOT responsible for scamming me through their platform (in a nutshell). I have found repeated site that look identical to Soaring Dragon pop up with different names but identical products and page layouts (but slightly tweaked) via Shopify and Facebook. I have ordered from "Drop Ship" sites back in the early days when places like Shopify didn't help scammers take my money and had great success (sure wait times sucked because of Customs). After dealing with Shopify I'm left to question the company's legitimacy as a whole, despite believing some small percentage of stores that use Shopify are actually legit. But none of the ones I've dealt with personally appear to be.

[bb6]

Shopify has to be responsible for holding these stores. This store is made on shopify and its advertising a scooter made by STATOR that is still in pre-order. The STATOR original scooter costs $4000USD and they are "selling" this in their store below for 70USD. This is clearly a scam. Shopify needs to hold these scammers accountable or it will obliterate the e-commerce trustworthiness and harm good sellers.

https://shoppingink.com/collections/frontpage/products/intelligent-electric-skateboard

[Knv]

So many products are obviously scams and Shopify seems to be one of the
most used sales network for it. Between Shopify and Facebook Marketplace, I
have very little faith in these services and don't see enough response from
companies acknowledging these scams to think things will get better soon.

[mukesh9]

Shopify must do a background check on the seller or at least manage the transparency if the item sold are legit.

I had to suffer for 4 month to get my money back because I used Paypal slow process and seller tricked paypay by providing some random USPS tracking. I am thankful to USPS that they provided me the detailed info regarding the package and I was able to justify and issued a refund.

Fake Seller:- 8340 KILLIAN INC (jiefangshou49244@163.com)

People please be aware, if you see charge from this seller.

[mukesh9]

Fake Seller website: guruto.myshopify.com 

Fake seller: 8340 KILLIAN INC (jiefangshou49244@163.com)

People please be aware, do not buy anything. I have already reported them to Paypal as fraudulent/scammer.

[ermaps]

liansukuaidi@163.com

marissaedwin234@gmail.com

xunaihuan1989@gmail.com

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=126875719227075&id=100689908512323

these are also fake email addresses

beware of this scammers

[nelslynn]

How absolutely pathetic, Shopify, that you pass the buck to the payment provider when all you have to do is shut the fraudulent websites down. Are you that desperate for business? Online theft is rampant and you can do something about it but you drag for feet all so you can make the bottom line with probably hundreds of fraudulent websites. I reported a website over a month ago and you still are dragging your feet shutting it down.

[Qkirby]

I've experienced the same issue. I purchased a 12x10 gazebo from Kolajira. They sent an email but none of the links are active now nor is there a telephone number to call. It says store is no longer available. How do I get my money back.

[aarontrudeau]

I want my money back

[quintenbro]

Yeah I placed an order through idestroyedtheyouth.com 3 months ago, tried to contact them directly countless times with zero reply. Tried to talk to shopify and they literally don't do anything. The person I talked to told me he can't even confirm if it's a shopify store and tried to send me to a copyright claims website?!?!?!? I don't own a copyright for a company that may or may not exist! Shopify definitely need to take a bit more responsibility and have proper measure put in place to not only prevent this but on the occasions it does happen they need to be able to help the customer.

[MissMisty]

****UPDATE****

Ok, so I want to update everyone because this could help you with paypal if you used it. Our fake seller provided us with a tracking number to some fake shopping company. When paypal got involved they gave paypal a tracking number from Canada post, paypal used it on the Canada post website and it said delivered. How can that be we didnyt receive anything? PayPal closed the case. End of story.

Rewind to 2 weeks earlier we recieved a small packet which looked like it came from WISH. we do A LOT of shopping on WISH.com and a couple other packets arrived with it. When we opened that one addressed to my husband it was this little pink card holder wallet and we both thought weird and threw it out cause who knows what the hell reason that was sent and we didnt order it , plus I'm paranoid and a conspiracy theorist type. After a hour thinking about it I thought something is weird about this and grabbed it and thr envelope from the trash and promptly sealed it in a ziplock bag and put it to the side because "you never know".
Fast back forward to yesterday after they closed the case and I thought wait when did they say it was delivered? 2 weeks ago,! So I grabbed the ziplock bag with the item we didnt order and checked tracking. Sure enough there is the tracking # on it with contents stating card holder and a price of $5. It matched the tracking number they have paypal! PayPal immediately reopened the case and are waiting to hear back from the seller of the fake store asking for proof that the item they shipped us was for a $70 storage unit.
Thank goodness for my paranoia , my husband hates it but it sure saved this transaction. The money is really nothing compared to the huge scam this is.
If you have got or get something weird in the mail after being scammed , keep it, that's part of how they're getting away with it!! A$$holes!
Hope this can help some of you, good luck!

[fit4alltime]

Yep. I ordered from one named SeniorGem. They have scammed myself and many others. They pick a different address in your city since USPS does not have your actual shipping address on the tracking history. They just pick a random address in the same location and send a 1 ounce dummy package so it looks like it shipped to you. The BBB, FTC and FBI have been been informed with documentation. They actually use paypal to pay the fictitious company. The address and phone number on the site is also fake.

[ermaps]

ive been a  victim of a fake store just now.. i ordered a salomon shoes.. but i recieved a shoes that i don't know what brand it is.. i tried to email the store but i got no reply from them..  i tried to use another email and placed an order and they automatically responded that order has been approved and just waiting for shipment.. he does not reply to any concern you have about wrong item but automatically respond to new orders.. i found out that its not just me who was scammed many of us who ordered from Facebook ads were all scammed by this store.. he used different name in posting the advertisement through the Facebook ads.. he used different email in his store.. and he used different email during order confirmation.. this is definitely a big scam and shopify should  be alarm on what was happening and should take any actions. 

[Pensarmy87]

I AGREE COME ON SHOPIFY DO SOMETHING FOR THE PEOPLE THAT ARE WHO ARE SPENDING THE MONEY.

THIS IS ANOTHER SCAM. THIS GUY WAS UP AS EARLY LAST WEEK AND BACK AGAIN. U ARE JUST GIVING CRIMINALS A BANNER TO HIDE BEHIND AND YOUR LOOSING YOUR CREDITABILITY 

https://7c069f-d3.myshopify.com/?utm_source=shop_app&list_generator=link_to_storefront&context=shop_...

[chatty]

Hello,

I came across another scam website. The only mistake they did was say it openly that they will not refund my order. This is the first time this has happened to me 🙂

The website is https://hebronnutrition.com/

 The total I paid was £190.00 GBP. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.