How to report a fraudulent merchant on the Shopify platform

Shopify Discussion
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Hi everybody – there is a merchant on the Shopify platform (HRIBARCAIN) who has defrauded consumers of at least $3m USD through their “Coffeejack” project.

  • The “Coffeejack” project was promoted on Indiegogo and Kickstarter – listing HRIBARCAIN as the creators.
  • HRIBARCAIN collected nearly $1.5m on each of these platforms and has not delivered the products that were promised. (Comments on Indiegogo and Kickstarter confirm this.)
  • HRIBARCAIN continues to commit fraud while utilizing their Shopify-hosted website in order to establish credibility.

I hate to see Shopify suffer reputational damage by this type of activity on their platform, so would like to give Shopify a heads-up so that they can investigate and close-down the fraudster.

==> Does anyone know how this type of activity can be reported?

Thanks very much in advance!

1 Like
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Hi @iamdudley

Thank you for reaching out here, and welcome to the Shopify Community.

I understand that you have some concerns about a store that you believe is using Shopify. Thanks for providing the extra context. Have you placed an order on this website yourself and experienced some problems with it? Or are you hoping to be able to report the store based on other information?

I cannot confirm if a store is using Shopify or not, or provide any details however if you did place an order on the store we would always recommend contacting the store directly to inquire. We have some great information on how to do that here.

If it has been more than 30 days and you have not received the order or heard back from the store, then you can feel free to submit a buyer complaint using this form here which will be sent directly to the store. It would also be a good idea to contact your bank or payment provider to inquire about the options available to you going forward.

Shopify provides the tools that merchants need to thrive when building their businesses. Unfortunately, there are some people who will try to take advantage of our credibility. We take this matter very seriously and our team is constantly reviewing the stores on our platform to ensure merchants are following our terms of use. Reports can certainly help speed up the process of removing merchants who take advantage of our services, so we always appreciate feedback.

If you want to report the store, you can do so by reaching out to our support team here. Reported cases are investigated in order to verify whether the respective stores are on Shopify and, if they are acting maliciously, these stores are removed from the platform.

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Hi Rick

I reported Pure Cures at https://purecures.shop/ who do not ship products and have no legal company details or a valid working email address. They have taken my money and never replied or sent the products with a failed email and no trace of their genuine company details. I sent the order form request and they didn’t answer and reported them to Shopify legal with no reply. This is unacceptable and someone at Shopify must do something to stop hosting scam websites. Who can deal with this properly?

1 Like
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Hey @stargazer78 .

Thanks for reaching out.

Since Shopify does not manage or ship the orders ourselves, we are unable to view the specifics of the situation. As each business operates independently - it would be best to speak with the business that you made the purchase from. However, if you are unable to get in touch with the business, I would suggest speaking with your bank or credit card company (depending on how you made the purchase) and bring this to their attention. They will have additional processes aimed to retrieve your funds for the purchase.

Let us know what you think.

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Hey all,

Tbh this is not exactly true. I do believe shopify does have a responsible position stopping scammers using your software and stealing from people.

I also have another ‘dropship’ example from the company http://performancegymwear.com using a shopify store for fraudulent purposes. They should comply to the rules of Shopify, international trade and consumer rights. If not Shopify should halt the operations of that website.

I believe Financial institutions, internet and hosting companies, telco’s etc must conduct client due diligence, identify the beneficial owners, and take corresponding risk management measures. (Art. 15.) In addition, they must monitor abnormal accounts and suspicious transactions and take necessary preventive measures. (Art. 18, para. 3.) When carrying out such monitoring, financial institutions may collect clients’ IP addresses, MAC addresses, payment acceptance terminal information, and other necessary transaction or device-location information. (Art. 18, para. 4.) In all email correspondence between multiple clients and Shopify its probably often very clear to see such abnormal account activity, suspicious transactions and fraud, thus a crime globally but also in Canada.

Internet service providers likewise need to verify users’ identities before providing services. (Art. 21.) When discovering an “abnormal, fraud-related” account, they must re-verify the user’s identity and restrict or suspend the services. (Art. 22, para. 1.)

Its clear this has not been done in a fashionable manner.

Legal Liabilities

According to the law, the individuals involved in fraudulent activities are be subject to detention, fines, and criminal liabilities. (Art. 38.)

I do believe Shopify can make a global difference protecting consumers from ever growing scams.

Merchants like performancegymwear.com should not abuse your platform (this guy has 7 accounts and shops, scamming hundreds of.people that work hard)