All things Shopify and commerce
I'm a Shopify store owner, Shopify has for my purposes been a fantastic product. However, as soon as I decided to purchase something from someone else's Shopify store, I was sorely disappointed by a scam website.
After looking into the site, Strouz, I found that the store owner is operating more than one scam site ripping people off for counterfeit phone cases (Vorus Men, Strouz). In my case, after a product did finally arrive after a month, it's not the same product as advertised, and it wasn't even functional. It arrived unbranded, broken and unable to be used with multiple manufacturing defaults. After attempting to get my money back as per the stores "refund policy", they refused and offered me only a voucher to purchase another case and now will not communicate at all. Upon checking their Facebook, there are only complaints describing the same issues I've had, and they won't allow comments on their Instagram posts for obvious reasons. I tried posting comments on their FB page that were promptly deleted by Strouz.
Why is there no way for us to report scam stores like this?
This kind of store should not be allowed to still be live, scamming more people as is evident by the new reviews on their FB page. Inevitably this kind of deceit only brings down all of the legitimate Shopify operators. Is there some advice someone can give me to have these stores taken down? I don't want more people to have their money stolen and time wasted.
I totally agree with you. I bought several Black Friday items from various Shopify stores on Facebook. I am sorry to say they were all frauds. ALL OF THEM. Most of the sites have been taken down, and they do not answer email. It is worth mentioning that PayPal will refund your payment if you buy through them.
This is giving a real bad name to China commerce. Shopify needs to protect its reputation against fake stores. It needs to protect consumers by providing a list of "malicious shops" the way Google keeps a list of malicious websites. Why not? The threat of legal class action (by thousands of cheated customers) may compel the owners of Shopify to do just that.
Shopify doesn't really care it seems. There are HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of scam sites on this platform now. AND Facebook allows then to advertise on all platforms. I'm seeing this more and more.
I got taken by a scam website hosted by Shopify. I have since discovered a 2nd Shopify-hosted website by the same scammers, each of them designed to look like discount clothing suppliers when in fact they're peddling household supplies, to take advantage of people during the coronavirus pandemic. "Lilifashions" and "Ssummers." Watch out for these people. They're based out of China & have been reported on other websites as sending out low quality, counterfeit merch. I realized they were scammers within minutes of placing my order. I have sent several emails asking them to cancel & haven't heard back. The phone number is fake and their main address is a phony London address. I have submitted a complaint to the FTC.
Shopify has lost my confidence and has no more credibility with me.
Well the good news is that the 2 scam stores I mentioned here have been shut down. The bad news is that several identical ones with new names are now open & being hosted by Shopify! These scam artists are undeterred. And clearly Shopify has a policy problem if it lets these people get away with this. The new ones, btw, are called "Kikishoees" "Onlyno" and "Faciboo." How they come up with these names, I have no idea!
I reached out to Shopify regarding these and other scammy websites, seems they are going to act upon. Let's hope!
How do you do that? Because in India I tried reporting but the order id is incorrect which i was shared by merchant, obviously and without that a ticket cannot be logged in
I bought some toilet paper from Faciboo the other day then today when I went to check my order the site was down. What should I do? I used paypal for the purchase is it possible for them to steal my information from there?
If you can't reverse the charge through your Paypal account, you should contact your credit card company/bank to reverse the charges. They'll sort that pretty quickly. Your other info should be fine, Paypal is secure and doesn't pass on any info, they just handle the payment.
Hi... I went through the exact same thing. I used Paypal & Paypal would not cancel the transaction. I emailed the seller multiple times & got no response. I then called Bank of America, explained the situation. They said I had to wait for the charge to clear, to see how much they actually charged, and then wait a week or so to see if I received any goods. If in 2 to 3 weeks time, I still haven't received anything, I should call them back and then they'd go after the seller for fraud. Problem is, they are almost certainly based in China & there's no valid contact info. These guys are making a killing right now!
Shopify - why are you not doing your due diligence?
this site (https://italiansmart.it) has been scamming users for months without anyone intervening, even shopify has been alerted but obviously it is not of interest
Another reported shopify scam scite.
Honestly though... this vendor. 'CHICV HONG KONG HKG' and 'CHICV UK' just spins up another site every 2-6 months and starts all over again.
Chekout the list of sites I wonder how many of these are / where shopify sites (below)
However...
if shopify added some mechaism to "verify" the merchant and log fraud complaints. They would be blocking a revenue stream.
Feels like Shopify may be a part of the problem.
Here's a list of sites by 'CHICV HONG KONG HKG' and 'CHICV UK
2SBest
Airydress – This scam site habitually steals photos from Lulu’s and attempts to pass them off as their own.
Annie Cloth
AreaLook
ArielAvenue – They have stolen photos AND scammed people by charging them for products they never actually bought.
Azbro
Balanla
Beachside Bunny
Beachsissi
Beaulite
BelleLily
Bellizo
BerryLook
BerryModa
Blongdays
Boho Beach Hut – Stole photos from Lulu’s and other retailers.
BohoLady
BohoFactory
Bonboho
BooBeauty – Stolen images from bloggers and other reputable stores.
Boots N Bag Heaven
Brielle & Co – Steals photos and deletes negative comments from people.
Callbeau
Carine
Charmeric
ChicBoho – I’ve added them to the list because they stole one of these photos from a blogger that features a dress from VICI, a reputable boutique, and used it on the front page of their website.
Chicbohodress
ChicHola
ChicKeep
Chiclila
ChicMe
ChicMolly
CHICNICO
ChicNora
ChicNowa
ChicPopo
ChicTale – Steals photos from bloggers.
Chicylook
Choco & Cream
Choies
Ckdress
Cichic
CICI lookshop
Colabingo
Comfyfree
Cucumoda
Cupseek
Dekorhea
Depway – Lots of stolen photos.
DressLily
Dresslim
DressLink
Dressshelike
DressTours
Ecochee (formerly known as Colabingo)
Elmily
EricDress
Eavah – Stolen photos from bloggers.
FairySeason
FancyWe
Fanysun
FashionMia
FloryDay
Shop FORGE – This photo was stolen from a blogger. It’s not actually a dress, but a top and maxi skirt paired together.
Fray – This photo was stolen from a blogger.
Girlish Avenue
Girlonstyle
Gracy Bee
HelloCloth
Hesimple
HeyJue
HiMrsCoco
IndieFit
Inslace
Jojocici
JollyChic
Joyshoetique
JudeDress
Jullymart
Jumia
JustFashionNow
KayaBop
Kingsstart
LacieLara
Launiq
Lemonapparel
Lemonbaker
Lemonscoca
LilliGal
LinkShe
Liviane
LookDora
LooselyStore
Lopezdress
Loracmoon
Lukalula
LuluLike
LuluNina
Luula
Luvyle
Milanoo
Milk And Choco – Added to the list because they stole this photo from the Nordstrom website as well as other photos from popular bloggers.
MissArty
MissingBay
ModCurvy
ModFancy
Moditown
ModLily
ModMiss
Mollyca
MollyStylish
MolyPretty
Momnava
MookyBoutique
MyBestHoney
My Complete Boutique
MyLadyStar
Nananova
Narachic
NastyDress
Neobeau
NewChic
Noracora
Nossa Vida
NovaShe
Oasap
Oflike
Orsle – This picture advertising a jumpsuit was taken from a blogger’s Instagram page. The actual jumpsuit is available for sale at Revolve for a considerably higher price.
OShopLive – This “boutique” features the exact same product images as ChicBoho.
Perimiss
PickMyBoutique
PinkClassy
Pinkinshe
Pinsdaily_us
Popgirlmart –
PopLuna
Popmira
PopPoly
Popzora
Romful
Rosegal
Roselinlin
RoseWholeSale
RoseWe
Rotita
Saletolady
SammyDress
Serengel
Shecici
Sherop
Soarswe
Souisee
StayBoho
StayingSummer – Stolen photos.
Streettide
StyleWe
Stylishmolly
Stylish Vovo
Summer Bring – Stole photos of this Lilly Pulitzer swimsuit and tried to pass it off as their own.
SunnyMeet
Swellshe
The Calibar Collection
TheStyleMode
Tidebuy
TopAbove
The Boho Boutique
TrendsGal
Villeio
Vivimuses
VeniDress – One of their dresses is being advertised with a stolen photo from this blogger’s Instagram. The actual dress is available at Forever 21.
VSChic – This dress they are advertising for $19 is actually a $158 dress by Eliza J sold at Nordstrom. I couldn’t find any reviews on them, as they appear to be relatively new, but many of their photos are stolen from other bloggers/websites.
Wanelo
Wish
Wotoba – Tons of stolen images.
YEEZIM – Has stolen images from several reputable online stores.
YOINS
YouKime – Tons of stolen images.
ZoeSweet
Zoyne
Thank you for the long list @pdescham49 ! That's exactly what I was talking about. One or a few companies spinning up duplicate sites and running the same scams. I hope your post comes when shoppers search for info about those companies.
@WmH2 It would be safe to take that stance, but there are companies on Shopify who are trying to run an honest company and don't have the budget for development of a custom site. I do wish that Shopify would take more of a stance against these scam stores, though, since it erodes trust with shoppers like you and could hurt their legitimate store owners in the long run.
Is there any Shopify employee looking at those posts?
What's the official Shopify position on this topic ?
Do they just ignore all reports of scam stores their solution supports?
Perhaps Shopify will start do something about it soon before they start lose the important customers.
Look what Financial Times wrote about them
https://www.ft.com/content/0280592d-0adf-4dcb-a831-4f8a85f414bc
21% of the shops are risk to the shoppers!
The Shopify itself is a bit scam overpriced.
I also think this is what Shopify and Facebook do with your customer data not only by the scammers.
Shopify has been one of the big corporate winners of the pandemic, with brick-and-mortar retailers rushing to the platform — which offers tools to quickly start selling online — as lockdowns took effect. But con artists have been just as nimble. Some shops appeared to be fronts for collecting personal data without any intent to actually deliver a product, FakeSpot said. It also identified a range of other issues including brand infringement and extremely poor customer service.
This one has popped up too - I've removed the hyperlink to prevent accidental clicks through. They've ran a sponsored facebook ad on the 23rd December going to this same link, which is a pretend article imitating a UK newspaper website. All links on the site go to the same place and the article is fake too. I've reported to Facebook, but shocked that Shopify have no reporting function for stores that I assume are breaching some T&Cs.
Hopefully me putting this here might provoke someone at Shopify to investigate further to ensure their reputation isn't suffering:
https://travel-bench.myshopify.com/apps/lpao/bsab/?fbclid=IwAR0JHWL6SVZ5sRJoYDTQacZc01uK_Kv9bPvLhqYmFLl-moj0OV6qJTsTK1I
Actually just as I write this there's now a redirect to http://ww6.ilovechaina.com/ from the above link, so the person behind this is likely still active.
Another one and seemingly no response from Shopify on this thread:
https://enprofrira.myshopify.com/products/singita-sweni-game-lodge?fbclid=IwAR0BxRDYzCOYugLdf3enTVc8tXzVjnDk7MohrZGQY_R7x1kEURFrq6XHaww
Ran on a Facebook sponsored ad (which clearly looked fake) and links to a fake Daily Mail article hosted on Shopify. This is harming the reputation of Shopify!
How about reporting shopify to the FTC or the Attorney General of the state their offices are located in. Since they are being notified of scam websites, they are ignoring it and knowingly allowing people to get scammed. That makes them an accessory. That's like me seeing someone getting robbed and I have every power to stop it and I just stand there and watch. I am just as guilty. As for the contract, i can GUARANTEE in their ToS it say they have the right to terminate any contract at their sole discretion. I have yet to find a company who DIDN'T have the power to end a relationship.
Seems like we are all being ignored.
I work in the Fintech industry and my company will never partner with this type of business.
I understand your pain. It's why I started this petition, which will go to the desks of the executive team once we reach a decent about of signatures. Please take a look here and share: https://www.change.org/shopifytransparency
Shopify - when are you responding to this post. I am interested in seeing your response. If this platform is not secure and facilitated scammers.
Paypal couldn't assist with the situation but I was able to get a refund through my bank. Just contact their customer service line & explain the situation & they'll tell you what steps you need to do to get the ball rolling.
I got something 4 Valentine’s Day on Instagram and I’m still waiting and I am so upset about it because I wanted what I thought I was getting I go 2 website and it is gone it shows up Shopify now and looks shut down I’m so mad I can’t believe that
I am a victim of paying to https://goshopper.online/products/oppo-f19-pro-5g-fluid-black-8gb-ram-128gb-storage?fbclid=IwAR3wZ1u... through https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/coimbatore/search/?query=used%20mobile%20phones%20for%20sale and they have a commercial web page in Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Mobzia-e-Shop-103430751833486/reviews/?ref=page_internal. So am posting this on 23-04-2021 becoming victim on 22-04-2021. When I was searching used mobile phones in Coimbatore District, Tamilnadu State, India., through my Facebook Id by then I have crossed an advertisement sponsored about limited time offer for oppo mobile and clicked that it redirected to goshopper.online web page and I filled all my details and paid the amount of Rs. 6497/- INR through my debit card and the web page displayed as my order is confirmed and shortly I would be contacted or communicated about my order on 22-04-2021 but till 23-04-2021 no response from them so I tried calling their given Phone number 09411868082 on 23-04-2021 4 pm but there was a reply from the mobile service provider saying there is no sufficient balance in this number so no incoming or out going facility. Now only I have realized am a victim under this scam Then started sending recovery complaint to my bank authorities and local Police and National Cyber Crime Dept.
So pls be aware that scammers and fraudsters are everywhere posing them selves very genuine with proper websites and with the support of Facebook and Shopify they have easy way to swindle our money. Will shopify interfere in this kind of issue if shopify itself properly genuine.
I'm a new user here. I just want to report shattan.se.
Some details:
shattan.SE - is a Swedish domain, it's translated to Swedish by Google translate. Their so called support send messages through a Swedish name, but write in English only.
There have been other people that paid for watch pro 2.0 on their homepage. and also me, because someone else bought it.
They say their sending the products in 7-14 days - People have waited in up to 1 month. I have soon waited in 3 months.
They say that their support is good, if everything doesn't work like it should they write out their info@shattan.se email. BUT they don't answer on questions or why products is not coming or just ignore you.
People have paid for these watch pro 2.0, I know $49 is maybe not much for people here. But for me it's much. This watch pro 2.0 was bought from my mom to me for my birthday. And even if it's just $49 for some people here. I don't have the economy for things like this. I was so happy to get this watch pro 2.0.
Other people that have got these watch pro 2.0 have got damaged ones, or things that isn't even on the site.
You only get a tracking id which show you will get this watch pro 2.0 between date x and date y. And a progressbar which don't say anything. So I can't track where my watch pro 2.0 is at all. They say they ship directly from their suppler.
People can't send this back because of the tracking stuff. People get scammed and express that they want their money back and the only thing the idiots on this site says is sorry. And nothing more.
I totally agree that Shopify has done a **bleep** poor job of allowing consumers to report fraudulant or scam websites. I was scammed a couple of weeks ago out of $99 for a store using the name Shoptimized on the website but the address was different. The shop popped up as an ad in Facebook marketplace advertising a product I was interested in and for the most part, the website looked pretty legit in actual design (I realized later that it was using the Shopify issued web address and never had a custom domain attached). I placed my order while I was sitting at my son's basketball game and didn't think much more about it until it didn't arrive when they said it would. When I went to check, the entire site had been shut down and the information in the confirmation email was also down. A week later, I see the same Facebook ad for the same company. I click on it and it is the exact same website but with a different name. It was still a Shopify issued address name, https://voetxwpr.myshopify.com. However, there is absolutely now way that I can find to report this directly to Shopify so they can shut it down. At this point, Shopify looks like it is supporting these fraudulent sites by giving lip service to trying to prevent it but not actually building in the tools to be able to allow customers to report it. I have build several websites in Shopify and I expect much, much more from them as my past experience was fantastic. Step it up Shopify!
Hey all, my 2 -cents worth: if you paid using a credit card, please request a chargeback for your product. Also remember that above 60 days (even less for some), cards may not allow a chargeback. If a merchant gets sufficient chargebacks, generally their account gets frozen - this is the best way to get back at them. There is less of a recourse with debit cards, but see if you have a business bureau or consumer agency that you can complain to (besides raising this up with Shopify).
Most payments in Shopify actually go through Shopify payments, so I'm certain they'll have an incentive to act if there are chargebacks.
I just dont understand how these fake stores pass the underwriting stage to get a Merchant Account for card processing!
Shopify is definitely not doing their job when vetting their customers.
Thank you for adding the tip for everyone to do a chargeback. I always buy with PayPal and always get my money back, but I'd like to not go through the frustration of being scammed.
Unfortunately, there are many stores like this. Just wanted to share a store that sells fraudulent product because I wish I saw this on a forum. The site is outdoorshopx.com who lures people in with fake Instragram contests to under the Username @Campingxx.
Products are nothing like what they appear. They delete all comments and posts where people speak on this and are riddled with fake profiles spamming positive comments about service. I did not receive a message for 3 months, and the product I received took that long to be received. By that time, I already called my credit card company are reported fraud. They are ordering from the cheapest warehouses in China and products are absolutely nothing like the products listed. That's why it took that long to receive a dollar store item. I reported this to my credit card company and hope this can help someone out.
I personally have gotten great customer service with outdoorshopx. I got product within a few weeks, got tracking, and even got a nice note saying “thank you for shopping with us” they take care of their customers and I will order more products in the future. They have way too many reviews on the instagram to be fake. They have over 200 reviews in 7 continents And they upload tracking. It seems like you didn’t know what you we’re getting because everyone seem to got what they ordered....
Some more new ones that have popped up - "Urdeno" and "tacey12AF"
Here is another one. Advertised on Instagram. Wife couldn't resist the "bargain" and next thing CNY643 charge on my card (about 50x to the amount she was supposed to pay). Just wasted 30 mins trying to find a way to communicate this to Shopify. Very disappointing to see they don't seem to care.
https://super.econewworld.com/
I'm also a store owner and wish there was a way to report fake stores. I keep seeing fashion sites pop up that steal images from other businesses and use them as their own. Who knows what they ship out.
Just doing a quick search for women's clothing, I found four copies of the exact same site. I'm just guessing by the content of their about us page, but they're stealing the same images from the same websites.
https://www.fashionser.com/pages/about-us
https://www.keagood.com/pages/about-us
https://www.gealoving.com/pages/about-us
https://www.blumdesigns.com/pages/about-us
The beauty of Shopify is that it allows entrepreneurs to quickly and easily start up a website for their business. The dark side is that it allows fakes to do the same. Shopify, PLEASE create a place where business owners and shoppers can report these scam sites.
Just contributing to the cause...
There are also these pages, there is instagram (beautytecnology), whatsapp (+55 31 99834-9528) and gmail (beautytecnology2019@gmail.com). I was a victim and I reported them several times, until I realized it was phishing. On instagram (facebook too), I found people reporting that they paid and did not receive the products offered. They are integrated with shopify.
I was scammed as well. The store....prettylittledealsstore.com
They took my money, sent generic response letters when I questioned them and wont return my money. It's been a month.. Shopify needs to dump or fine these scam companies and by the looks of these feeds their are ALOT of them.
Found this site on facebook, advertising a produkt so cheap it could only be, a cheap copy.. pay 199 save 520 dollars!! (dji mavrik mini fly more)
you can check for suspisious sites using cyberbunkers.com..
My site came up good, but actually lost some marks, just because it was a shoppify platform, so if this trend keeps on, with no way of reporting and getting rid of scam sites. Then I'll be going back to my wordpress or find a site which is trusted by cyberbunkers and google alike, and I think many serious webbusnisess will too.
Would be great to get a reply from shoppify on this subject! under you will se the link to what I belive to be a scam site... if you want to test your own just goto www.cyberbunkers.com
@Jamesbtex , can you explain the steps in a bit more detail? Do you find the three bar box in yoursite.myshopify.com/admin?
I also notice that duplicate sites pop up after you take the old one offline. It's like battling the Hydra!
I have tried to report a website back in Sept of last year when an order I placed in July just vanished (Neluger.com)... I went back and forth with support. They were more interested in protecting the scammer than to help me get my money back.
Now, I am a victim of yet another scam site, (sawexpert.net)... I had stopped do any kind of business with anyone hosting with Shopify... I was given the platform another shot when I placed the order in May, bam... got suckered again.
Mean while, I am advising another friend who place an order through another shopify site to get his money back from his credit card company.
The platform is just a host for scammers... I would be one thing if they helped people get their funds back... but as they don't seem to care, I will never buy anything through them again.
Hi everyone,
I just wrapped up a long chat with Shopify Support and learned the following things:
I'm not sure how many chargebacks/reports are required to trigger a review by Shopify, but hopefully those points are a resource for shoppers and storeowners. Please report where you can and hopefully these stores get taken down!
Pb-cat, when I reported the 3 or 4 companies who were scamming through the platform, Shopify never once said that there was a formal process to report them. Even though the stores were still open and still taking live scans... even when I presented the invalid contact information on their shops, they did nothing... even when I presented them with invalid tracking numbers for items that were supposed to be in transit, they did nothing. Shopify's policy to protect their scammers has been proven time and time again. I now consider anyone using Shopify a scam PERIOD.
Why is Shopify not verifying the company registrations. If Shopify is facilitating these transactions then they are facilitating a crime.
I pay about 100-200€ to Shopify every month as they take 2% of commission. We who try to build some honest business there is lots of Spam shops out now from Shopify. Why do they should care when they get commission of all the scams as well. No verification process has not been made that business is legal and the owner as well.
Same thing happenned to me, I've been robbed by a Shopify website that's supposed to be hosted in France but it's in Canada.
A site that clearly claims to be located in France (French flags everywhere), supposed to have 7/7 Customer service through tchat and email.
The payment worked well but I never received my order and no responses to any contact request.
The site is: https://mon-horloge-murale.com/
I wish Shopify (as a leader in the industry) would do something about it, it's just umbelievable that anyone can create such a fraud site on such a big platform and there is almost nothing you can do about it.
Julien
But they get benefit from this even the scams are paying customers so of course they welcome the extra money. Same shit is at Facebook marketing. They not care the scam ads when they get the money.
I just ran into same issue.
This store Justincase LA is scamming people trying to sell phone cases.
SHOPIFY - How are you allowing these people to create merchant accounts with you guys.. I will trust no store hosted by you guys ever again.
Ya no shit scammers
I've created a petition that asks Shopify to take greater action on spam prevention. Please take a look here and share: https://www.change.org/shopifytransparency
https://www.shopify.com/legal/report-aup-violation
This link seems to do some reporting of scam sites.
That link does indeed report scams, and other problems.
Now provision some evidence these 'reports' are acted upon. As opposed to attempting to fob off people with a templated response that offers only empty assurances.
There seems to be a lot of evidence to suggest that Shopify knowingly leave such internet facing, presumably to keep cashing that cheque.
I can also provision evidence this is a long on-going issue, implying no intent to modify behaviour.
If I was you, buyer or seller, I'd be taking my business elsewhere.
I can help you with that.
Expect this post to vanish when someone who doesn't like what it says reads it.
Unfortunately, I recently had this happen, and when I tried to point this out to Shopify, including the abrupt lack of communication that started on the day I was "guaranteed" to get my order. I pointed out all kinds of red flags, including the fact that their "Contact Us" page was lifted directly from a pet food site (The products on this page were not related to pets in any way). Also, the website and the FB page were both about 3 weeks old, and despite supposedly being a US company, were curated from like Pakistan.
All Shopify would say is that I needed to wait 4 weeks after shipping. they ignored the fact that it had been "shipping" for 3 weeks at that point, and the company stopped responding to emails the day that my promised delivery came and went. Neither FB nor Shopify care at all about consumer safety, and they also have realized that they don't need to care about their brand, so neither one is going to do anything. And I'm sorry, but knowing how many Shopify sites are scams (A BBC investigation found about 21% were dangerous for consumers in one way or another), I can no longer use Shopify. I'd recommend another platform for your store.