So I was recommended a ‘expert’ who can help me via social media They gave me the details of someone i could watsap. He said he had helped set up lots of peoples stores who have now become successful. We discussed everything and then he asked me to pay him via another platform he is on there as success profit - ecommerce marketing expert. I paid the amount but when I gave him access, he said to me ‘oh you haven’t set up you plan yet’ I said no i haven’t because I am in my trial period and whilst you are setting it up I don’t need my store live just yet. but then this got me thinking. If he could then see my plan, presumably I would have my bank detail there and alarm bells were ringing. I then went into the history on my shop and it said that someone from Ohio had logged in and updated something about the payment gateway or similar. straight after that I could see that he had logged into the shop. I never gave the person who I was speaking to on social media, my login details so, so I can only think he gave them to her. Because of this I panicked and locked him out of my account. I then also closed the other platform account and changed some passwords etc. then contacted him and said if he wanted to work with me he could do so as a collaborator and i opened a new store and sent him my code. (I now know that with collaborators, I can limit what he can access). What everyone’s thoughts on this please? Does it sound like a scam?
Hi @SaraMc2
I am sorry to hear that you have had these issues with an expert you hired. When you gave them access to your store did you create a staff account for them or did you give them your account owner login details?
If they had access to your account owner login details then this would mean they have the ability to change the payout details for your payment gateway. Your bank account and credit details are partially obscured in the admin, so they wouldn’t have direct access to those details.
I don’t recommend continuing with an expert you aren’t comfortable working with, but you are correct that using a collaborator account is the best way for them to access your store.
So if they change the payment details does that mean that customers payments could end up in their bank account or what would that mean exactly please?
Thanks
That is correct, if the bank account details for the payment gateways were accessed and changed then this would change where customer payments are sent to. Only users with the ability to sign in as the account owner have access to make those changes.
Yes, it sounds like a potential scam. The unauthorized access from Ohio, payment requests via another platform, and his reaction to your trial plan are red flags. Be cautious, keep your accounts secure, and consider reporting the incident. Always verify credentials before granting access.