Reporting a scam store

[Hughgo]

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.   

[turbosmurfen]

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.

[NSRAJU1966]

Scam by GoShopper.online through Mobzia-e-shop Facebook.

[Trigger-Switch]

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!

[Veridexa]

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.

[Ninagt33]

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. 

[Jamesbtex]

Login to your account in the upper right corner click on the three bar box, scroll down in that menu, click on contact, then at the bottom of the next window click contact support.
Easy!

They were very helpful to me and took down the fraudulent website. Unfortunately a few days later there’s a duplicate site that popped up!
MAKE SURE YOU REPORT THESE SO OTHER CUSTOMERS DON’T GET RIPPED OFF!

I hope this helps you all,
James

[Drewskies1]

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. 

[Simonhoisington]

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....

[MozaikGal]

Some more new ones that have popped up - "Urdeno" and "tacey12AF" 

[fwjason]

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/

[Jamesbtex]

Login to your account in the upper right corner click on the three bar box, scroll down in that menu, click on contact, then at the bottom of the next window click contact!

Easy and they are responsive.
I hope this helps you all,
James

[pb-cat]

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.

[paulolima]

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.

https://beautytecnology.store/

https://www.sugatudo.shop/beautytecnology

[Jamesbtex]

Login to your account in the upper right corner click on the three bar box, scroll down in that menu, click on contact, then at the bottom of the next window click contact support.
Easy!

They were very helpful to me and took down the fraudulent website. Unfortunately a few days later there’s a duplicate site that popped up!
MAKE SURE YOU REPORT THESE SO OTHER CUSTOMERS DON’T GET RIPPED OFF!
I hope this helps you all,
James

[Melloone]

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.

[WmH2]

It has gotten so bad... I now assume that a Shopify company is a scam. If
it's a company that I now question, I will send them an email or call their
support number first to see how they respond.

[Robert77]

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

https://www.cyberbunkers.com/2020/04/smartgadtcom-reviews-is-smartgadtcom.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR25TS6K...

[Jamesbtex]

Login to your account in the upper right corner click on the three bar box, scroll down in that menu, click on contact, then at the bottom of the next window click contact!

Easy and they are responsive.
I hope this helps you all,
James

[Jamesbtex]

Login to your account in the upper right corner click on the three bar box, scroll down in that menu, click on contact, then at the bottom of the next window click contact!

Easy and they are responsive.
I hope this helps you all,
James

[Guerra01]

I order an item from veafafmyshopify.com on 4 22 20 and they didn't send me anything

[Jamesbtex]

Login to your account in the upper right corner click on the three bar box, scroll down in that menu, click on contact, then at the bottom of the next window click contact support.
Easy!

They were very helpful to me and took down the fraudulent website. Unfortunately a few days later there’s a duplicate site that popped up!
MAKE SURE YOU REPORT THESE SO OTHER CUSTOMERS DON’T GET RIPPED OFF!

I hope this helps you all,
James

[Jamesbtex]

Login to your account in the upper right corner click on the three bar box, scroll down in that menu, click on contact, then at the bottom of the next window click contact support.
Easy!

They were very helpful to me and took down the fraudulent website. Unfortunately a few days later there’s a duplicate site that popped up!
MAKE SURE YOU REPORT THESE SO OTHER CUSTOMERS DON’T GET RIPPED OFF!

I hope this helps you all,
James

[pb-cat]

@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!

[WmH2]

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.

[Mosaed20]

https://stibuck.com/

another scam. financially affected.

Regards

[pb-cat]

Hi everyone,

I just wrapped up a long chat with Shopify Support and learned the following things:

• File chargebacks. If a store gets a high volume of chargebacks, Shopify's Risk team will investigate. File a claim with your CC company whenever possible to bring the store to Shopify's attention.
• Report the store using Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy violation form. Shoppers can use the reason "Non-Delivery of Product" to report the scams. Sellers can report infringement with the reason "Intellectual Property".

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!

[WmH2]

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.

[RonelS]

Why is Shopify not verifying the company registrations.  If Shopify is facilitating these transactions then they are facilitating a crime.

[Skipiduweinau]

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. 

[Julien40]

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

[Melloone]

I wish shopify would pay closer attention to these bogus sellers like give them 6 months to prove themselves or in fraudulent stores ban them.I also noticed when they start getting bad scores and feedback they quickly change their names. That should set off warning bells right there to Shopify. Unfortunately I believe Shopify is more interested in the money the retailers give them than the people who use those retailers.

[Skipiduweinau]

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.

[Ninagt33]

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.

[WILLIE1947]

Ya no shit scammers

[Accountability]

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