You know, I teach using this wonderful platform to create products and businesses. I am however shocked that it has become a tool for scammers. I was just swindled of £26 for a fictitious report on my car. The company calls itself TECHADOP and it is nowhere to be found either here or elsewhere. Does Shopify have any regulatory process in place to address this?
Topic summary
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Main issue: A community member alleges being defrauded by a merchant operating on Shopify and raises concerns about platform misuse for scams. They express disappointment given they teach others to build products and businesses on Shopify.
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Incident details: They paid £26 for what turned out to be a fictitious car report. The seller is identified as “TECHADOP,” which the user cannot locate on Shopify or elsewhere online.
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Request/Question: The poster asks whether Shopify has any regulatory or enforcement process to address such fraudulent activity. Tag context (“fraud-protect”) indicates a focus on fraud mitigation.
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Status/outcome: No resolutions, actions, or official guidance are provided in the post. The discussion remains open with the key question—how Shopify handles such scams—unanswered.
Hi @olu25
Welcome to the community but sorry to hear about your case.
There are a lot of scammers out there, and they constantly make new scams using whatever method or platform they can.
Could you explain a bit more on that report on the car? How were you contacted? Where you paid? Is it a store, and do you have a link to it? Even if it does not work now.
I posted the video and pictures of the car on Facebook Marketplace. Next thing, three supposed buyers started chatting me on Facebook simultaneously about buying the car. I even increased the price to see who would drop off, they kept telling me they wanted the car. Then they started asking for a criminal history report for the car. All three of them, directing me to sites. This particular buyer referred me to TECHADOP trading as getfinestreport.co.uk. Other buyers also directed me to two other sites at the same time. I made payments for two of them. Once I paid, they stopped talking to me till date. Instead I was mailed fictitious reports on my car. I gave them all my details in making the payment including email address, card details, residential address, etc. I have come to shopify to see TECHADOP is a merchant but can’t find the details even though it has a store on shopify platform. A refund of one of the payment has been done but the other £26 is still outstanding.
Shopify has a process for this
2 Likes
Yeahm like @tim_1 said you can report it there, but I could not find any info on that name and you did not add a link to the store on Shopify platform.
Note that getfinestreport.co.uk domain is just 13 days old, so clear scam and they must change it regularly. You should report that site all so to Google, Microsoft, Antivirus sites, and the domain registrar Namecheap. Also, they must have 100 similar sites.
And as you give them all your details, I would expect that you will get a lot more scam attempts in the future. Think there are some paid services that can remove you from those lists but research a bit.
Thank you for sharing your story, but be safe in the future.
Well it appears it is not allowing me file the report within 14 days. Am I supposed to wait till after 14 days?
FROM SHOPIFY
Thank you for your submission. Your message has been forwarded to the merchant. To discuss this issue further, please contact the merchant directly.
Meaning, go and sort yourself out. Evading liability!
This would be interesting for regulatory agencies in UK
Investigate from the angle of the merchant using your platform. You are aiding fraud!
Did you choose Fraud? In Shopify report.
I just tried on my end, and it went through. Hope it can help a bit.
And yes Shopify should find some way at least internally, to have some risk score, with red flag rules and close stores or just check from time to time.
That store is screaming with red flags, but to customers who are not from the Shopify ecosystem may not see them. ( myshopify domain, only one product, no contact info, default empty theme…)
If you have time check
This is worse for me. I have kept records. Shopify will allow merchants on its platform who carry out scams and say they cannot be located again?
Well, Shopify will close that store, for sure. But scammers will open a new one fast, or they already have a bunch. Opened be different people and verified. They could be more strict, but maybe that would cause more issues to regular people. Still, like I said they should have do more. But scammers are main problem.
I tell you the truth, Shopify is as guilty as the scammers. If there are stricter measures of onboarding merchants, even insurance, you will refund to unsuspecting customers. This is a new one for me and I intend to be on the lookout for redress
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This post is a reaction rather than being proactive.
You’re in a public forum. Saying to someone that they specifically are aiding fraud is pretty irresponsible. Shopify allows easy access and setup of stores. Yes. Shopify invites fraud. Yes. But these people have nothing to do with Shopify. They aren’t employees. They aren’t advocates. They aren’t affiliates. They are people just like you who use the platform. If you wnnt to blame Shopify, blame Shopify. I do. I think it’s bullsh*t that they don’t have background checks and strict policy.
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True, more strict for sure. You could even think they do not care; they still get their %, even from scammers.
But also, I think people should be more careful and educated.
But I will not say for example, “you are guilty as scammers” , because it would not be true nor fair. And what is a clear scam for me, for you looks like a legitimate site, plus it have shopify in the domain that sound trustworty. It is the scammer’s fault only.
But maybe I just watch too many scams on https://www.youtube.com/JimBrowning and similar profiles.
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Hello there @olu25 So sorry to see that this happened to you and thank you for reporting the name of the store on here so others can avoid. Are there any other useful details you can share surrounding the scam? Please feel free to do so. Also, make sure you open a report officially with Shopify Support regarding what happened.