Share Your Scam Tips and Stories Here.

The link below is designed to help inform people of scamming techniques, tricks and methods scammers use to get your money. Please take a look, have a read and give some input to help make this a safer place for all!

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Please don't list companies or names (without concrete proof) in this blog but rather techniques to stop scammers and warn people!

Dear all SaleHoo members,

I have previously made a payment, it was a small one by western union and I had been scammed for a promised mobile phone.

Do not make business deals with anyone. Make sure you gather the right information first.

My best advice:

- Get the full name of business and registration number of the seller

- Ring them to verify by company land line number or home land line number (avoid mobile phones)

- Avoid Nigerian and Romanian crooks. They operate undercover on the internet

- And my best advice ever - never make payment by western union and always use secure methods such as

*Escrow

* Cod

and

*PayPal Verified

Follow my tips and I promise you are 90% likely not to get cheated and you will forever have great business results.

Kind regards

Mr Sharaaz (, '')

Thanks for this information, it should be helpful to others out there :)

I've had a lot of potential scammers from nigeria send me fake money orders. Wait several days before shipping on money orders especially on nigeria residents. My bank took 10 days to find out the money orders were fake.

Hi everybody.

I bought 4 products from this company, 598bb.com and I didn't receive the products. I sent them emails but they didn't respond. And what's even strange is, I just went looking for their website and it's gone. Can anyone maybe help me?

You found a scam site that's probably selling counterfeit items.

Lets talk about counterfeits now and why it's easy to tell if someone is selling bootlegs.

For example: a Nintendo DS I found on DHgate.

I have spoken to the seller at length. He, Shanghai2008 admits that there is no certificate for this item, and you can buy the warranty as optional.

This is 100% proof he is selling counterfeits or low quality knock-offs. Not only that, Shanghai2008 has a powerseller rating of 50%!!!!!!!! 50% of the buyers who purchased from him, have been unhappy and complained!!! That seals the deal. He's selling bootlegs, and admits it.

If THESE WERE legitimate 'replicas', the BOX would have the OFFICIAL Nintendo sign.

They would have a CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY, which is further proof Nintendo authorized them to go ahead and sell.

Since they do not, you want to run from them fast.

ILLEGAL.

Shanghai2008 is the kind of seller/supplier you must always stay away from on DHGate or any wholesale store!!!

No matter what you do, you will get in trouble for selling his knock-offs. This is because none of them are certified. SHANGHAI 2008 IS SELLING BOOTLEG DS SYSTEMS!

You guys may find this useful too for spotting a scam...

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Please do yourself a favor..Stay away from this website. Scammers. Buyer Beware. I got scammed for a couple hundered myself.. Check who else did!! Google this site. They need to be shut down... :?
Comments

December 14, 03:28 PM DO NOT BUY FROM STYLE RUNWAY says:

Do not even consider buying from this company - they are running a dodgy operation where they will put low prices on the site then claim that your card was declined - up the prices and take the money anyway - if you don't believe me call them and no one will answer the phone - do not trust them please they are complete cowboys! You will not see your money or anything else.
December 14, 06:31 PM brandon says:

how do u know have you purchased from them
December 16, 11:34 PM Max says:

I'm about to purchase to Style Runway can you give me more details about this. My e mil address is Link hidden: Login to view. And by the way what is their phone number? Thank you.
December 17, 04:17 AM jennie says:

been waiting 6 weeks for an order still not arrived emailed just waiting for a response i am very concerned spent a lot of money with them for xmas presents
December 17, 04:18 AM jennie says:

also can i have the number to please
December 17, 11:51 AM Nadera says:

these people are crooks, if it sounds too good to be true, its probably is. I just cancelled my credit card and disputed the charges. they have not given me any response since dec 8. there is no order cancellation policy on the site, no nothing. this place is garbage, a lie, and they WILL cheat you out of your money.
December 17, 12:45 PM hans says:

it's true. I also ordered there and I didn't get any response to my e-mails. I saw on my credit card invoice that the money was written off, but I wait for about 4 weeks for the goods.
What can be done against this fraud?
December 17, 06:01 PM chris says:

i was going to order from here but i sent an email to ask how they can stock LV when only eluxury and LV themselves are allowed to sell online no one else to my knowledge is authorised to do so-never got a response i guess that says it all! has anyone heard of fashion district.co.uk? What about them? scammers or honest?
December 17, 06:13 PM joann says:

i also bought $500.00 worth of clothing that was in stock 4 weeks ago they said it would ship in5-8 business days.here it is 4 weeks their phone number has been disconnected and i have been waiting for 8 hours today to speak to their live chat.i to will be disputing my credit card charges.i sent them 6 emails and heard nothing.what a piece of s --t company well i hope nobody else evers orders from them again!!!!!
December 17, 06:39 PM mark. says:

iv been caught in the scam. 4 weeks no sign of anything no email response, phones cut off, online help now offline. TOTAL SCAM dont touch with barge pole
December 17, 06:44 PM joann says:

well there must be a way to contact someone about this company i just left them a email telling them that we are on to them.
December 17, 10:16 PM Ashley says:

I bought from them in November. They never sent me any shipping confirmation so I emailed them over and over and over. So I called my credit card comapny and they refunded my money and went after their bank. I just recieved the clothes today, and they are SO fake. And it was shipped from China, which proves it's fake. My money got refunded by my CC company, and I am sending the stuff back. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM.
December 18, 12:13 AM David says:

Glad I found this page before I proceeded with my order. I'm to lazy to but if your mad enough at them you can E-mail the serch engine companies i.e. Google and report the site. Often times these sites open accounts with 'search providers' to pay for placement..
December 18, 12:17 AM David says:

Just checked Google and Stylerunway.com'does show up as a 'Sponsored link' meaning they do have a Google SEM account!!
December 18, 01:17 AM Nicki says:

DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS WEBSITE!! the same thing happened to me, I am still waiting for my order.
December 18, 03:40 AM jennie says:

still not heard back from my emails , going to report this company to Google etc.. lets get them removed from the net ,lets screw them the way they have screwed us !! going to speak to my credit card company today and get a refund
December 18, 10:09 AM carolyn says:

wish i'd seen this before i ordered. no response to e mails or to their help line. have an awful feeling i've been conned. just about to ring my credit card company.
December 18, 10:27 AM SCOTT says:

I JUST GOT RIPPED OFF AT STYLE RUNWAY. NO NUMBER ON THE SITE, NO REPSONSES TO EMAILS, THEIR CHAT SERVER IS SHUT DOWN AND THE NUMBER GOES STRAIGHT TO VOICEMAIL. I URGE ANYBODY THAT IS THINKING OF PURCHASING HERE TO STAY AWAY. IT IS NOW A WHOLE PROCESS TO DISPUTE THE CHARGE. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT THING OF ALL; IS THE SITE IS NOT SECURE THEREFORE YOUR INFO IS UP FOR GRABS, CANCEL YOUR CARD ASAP IF YOU DID MAKE A PURCHASE. 1877STYLE11; CALL THE NUMBER AND SEE FOR YOURSELF.........
December 18, 10:47 AM SCOTT says:

Hey all,

Make a note to stay away from egoodstore.com - I bought a few items from them just before Christmas which were gifts and paid via Western Union (idiot me :roll: first time I ever used it) and of course I never got my goods. I then was blocked from MSN and have had no replies to my emails. So there goes $350 down the drain. I then had to go out and re-purchase Christmas items for everyone. This was one expensive year for me...NEVER AGAIN. :evil: :evil:

Now I also lost another $120 through paypal thanks to a reversal made 30 days after the transaction. A scammer bought up big on ebay and oztion and then paid through paypal. I was one of the lucky ones, other sellers lost over $800 in sales. This scammer then put in a dispute in and of course because her delivery address was UNCONFIRMED the seller was not protected. According to their policy if your buyer's address is unconfirmed there is no way you are protected against scammers. The problem is that in Australia, we don't have the option to have CONFIRMED ADDRESS for buyers. You can be Verified but you also need to be 'confirmed' - yet another leap hole in the paypal system. Buyers are protected regardless if they are honest or not. I have now decided to close all my paypal account but the downfall is that you cannot list items on ebay now without a paypal account :!: :(

Hi there, recently joined hoping to find reliable sites to buy from.

Got scammed myself a recently and walked straight into it even though my head told me to steer clear.

PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM: shopkaku.com

just like some other posts, when you e-mail them they reply almost instantly, even though I am in Ireland and they are in China, should have known they were to eager. Prices to good to be true, Iphone for 180 dollars. they talked me into sending my western union even though Paypal was a payment option, even gave be a discount. Then e-mailed me a photo of the EMS postal docket, I tried to track it but nothing showed up. in total over 75 email were sent between us. eventually they told me my package was being held up in customs and required another 37 euro, that was enough for me as there was still no tracking. at that stage i asked for a refund and was told when they get the package back i would get a refund..... yeah, likely story, have sent 4 e-mails since, got no reply.


Be advised.. if you think you are being conned you usually are, your head will lead you the right way.

Barryo

Has anyone had any experience with 'lowpricesforyou.com' ? I purchased a bulk lot from them early in November and have not received it. When I inquired as to why they told me that media mail can take up to 15 days. Just wondered if anyone else had this experience with them and really interested to find out if you ever received your order.

Based on BBB files, this business has a BBB Rating of F

Reasons for this F rating include:


Number of complaints filed against businessFailure to respond to complaints filed against businessBBB does not have sufficient background information on this business


Business Contact & ProfileBack to Top ID: 106693
Business Name: Video Games Etc.
Low Prices For You
Lowpricesforyou.com
Business Address: P.O. Box 348
Warren, RI 02885
See the location on a Mapquest Map
See the location on a Google Map
Number of Employees:
BBB Accreditation: This business is not a BBB Accredited Business
Type of Business: COMPUTERS-SOFTWARE & SERVICES
SOFTWARE LOCALIZATION
SOFTWARE PRODUCTS

Business ManagementBack to Top BBB has no information regarding Business Management at this time.

Customer Complaint History Back to Top
When considering complaint information, please take into account the business's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.

BBB processed a total of 10 complaint(s) about this business in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total 10 complaint(s) closed in the last 36 months, 3 were closed in the last 12 months.

These complaints concerned:

1 regarding Credit, Billing or Collection Issues
1 regarding Credit, Billing or Collection Issues

4 regarding Delivery Issues
3 regarding Delivery Issues
1 regarding Non-delivery of products

1 regarding Guarantee or Warranty Issues
1 regarding Guarantee or Warranty Issues

3 regarding Refund or Exchange Issues
3 regarding Refund or Exchange Issues

1 regarding Repair Issues
1 regarding Repair Issues



These complaints were closed as:

2 Administratively Closed
1 BBB determined the company made a reasonable offer to resolve the issues, but the consumer did not accept the offer.
1 BBB determined that despite the company's effort to address complaint issues, the consumer remained dissatisfied.

7 No Response
4 Company failed to respond to the BBB or to the consumer to resolve the issues.
3 Company indicated it will not resolve consumer issues through the BBB process.

1 Resolved
1 Company resolved the complaint issues. The consumer acknowledged acceptance to the BBB.

Thanks. The package finally arrived. It took almost a month and the products were not as advertised. I would not recommend this site to anyone!

It would nice to live near some of these clowns because a visit to give them a nice kneecapping is in order.

I have proof therefore I am naming Kentucky Dreams' owner Maurice Spaulding as a liar and a cheat, I am requesting do not conduct any transactions with this money monger.

Gomathi

Here is a trick you can do with companies asking for Paypal payments.

If you are unsure of the company or are doing a test order, when you get to the Paypal payment page opt for other payment methods.

Then pay with a credit card as Paypal is taken out of the loop in the dispute process.

If you have an American Express all the better because with them all you have to do is make a call to them and they reverse the funds immediately.

The other cards you have to go through a process but you will get your money back.

Further regarding Paypal. DO NOT buy anything from an individual in Asia through Paypal ever. That is the presently the biggest Paypal scam.

And of course never use WU or MWs. If a company won't except credit cards then forget it. The only exceptions would be well established corporations and with overseas mkae sure very well established corps.

Recently, I had a bad experience with DHGate and one of its sellers. The products I ordered were seized by US Customs. I sent an e-mail to the seller and informed him of what happened. He said he will check with EMS. He even assured me that he was an honest seller and if there is basis, he will refund my money. After several e-mails, he says that EMS will not answer for what occurred and that no refund will be made. I filed a claim with DHGate. It clearly states in their policy that if goods were seized, the seller should give back the money. After submitting all documents, pictures, letters, etc. DHGate decided to give the money to the seller. Basis was the weight was consistent with the advertised products. What has the weight got to do with this? Bottom line: I did not get my products. I had to swallow the $339.20 I paid for. Beware: don't deal with DHGate and it's suppliers. They're dishonest and do not live up to their policies.

I have never been ripped-off ever. Someone tried one time, on Liquidation.com, to dump a load of crap memory on me but I followed Liquids return policy to the 'T' and had my money back within the month.

I always, always wait until the next day, after I have slept on it. Something I learned from my father which has proven very helpful.

With that said, I have done some pretty wacky things which should have gotten me ripped-off.

I had a thousand dollars in a Paid to Surf program a couple of years ago and barely squeaked by on that one. And I have done about 5 freebie offers which I somehow managed to make out real good on.

Stay away from this website that selling all genuine brands like Apple Ipod, Nintendo wii, Playstation 3 and all famous brand. They have PayPal logo but when you check out with your purchase item you'll realised that you can only pay them by Western Union, Moneygram ot by TT to them, pure characteristic of a scammer. This is a website from China . STAY AWAY FROM THIS WEBSITE.THE PRICE FEATURED HERE IS UNBELIEVEABLE BUT AGAIN, YOU SHOULD SENSE THAT THIS IS A COMPLETE SCAM WEBSITE !!!

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Thanks for bringing that one to everyone's attention, but you don't even need to go to the trouble of trying to check out, we keep saying this over and over and over again here ...........

Branded Product + China = FAKE or SCAM

They are the only two options for anyone who chooses to buy branded products from China!

I'm going to suggest that we put a BIG flashing sign on the home page......DON'T BUY BRANDED GOODS FROM CHINA! lol

I know half the world believe that China is the ultimate source for these products...I have no idea why they believe that personally, but they do, and most hate to hear that they are wrong for believing it..........but I have bad news.........if you believe it, you need to change your mind before you do something stupid and loose your money people!

TWO WEEKS AGO I WAS ON TRADEKEY.COM, YOU KNOW HOW THEY ADVERTISE THE WORLDS LARGEST GLOBAL TRADE MARKET, WELL I FOUND A SUPPLIER ON THEIR AND THE WEBSITE TWO WEEKS AGO WAS iphone3gsupplier.com, does not exist now, BUT ANYWAY BEFORE I SENT THEM $350 WESTERM UNION PAYMENT FOR NOKIA N97 WHITE ME AND THE SUPPLIER HAD BEEN TALKING GOING BACK AND FORTH BECAUSE I HAD A LOT OF QUESTIONS, THEY MADE IT SEEM SO REAL AND TRUSTWORTHY, AND LIKE A DUMMY I SENT THEM THE MONEY FOR THE PHONE AND WHEN I WOULD EMAIL THEM TO CHECK STATUS OF ORDER I NOTICED A DELAY OF RESPONSE ALL OF A SUDDEN, TILL NO RESPONSE AT ALL, THEY DID SHIP THE PHONE, IT WAS A FAKE NOKIA N97, IT WAS BROWN NO SLIDE OUT QWERTY KEYBOARD, CAMERA YOU ONLY SEE YOURSELF, IT WAS JUST A BIG HEADACHE, TRIED TO FILE A COMPLAINT FOR FRAUD AND THE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND FRAUD DEPT DI NOTHING, THEY TOLD ME THAT I NEEDED THE COMPANY NAME, I GAVE IT TOO THEM AND THEY COULD NOT FIND THAT COMPANY AND DID NOTHING FOR ME AT ALL. BE AWARE OF TRADEKEY BECAUSE ALL OF THE SUPPLIERS ON THEIR, EVEN THE ONES WITH 3 TO 4 THOUSAND TRUST POINTS ARE SCAMMERS AND ARE NOT REGISTERED ON THEIR SITE, SO HOW CAN THEY ADVERTISE? HUH THATS THE BIG QUESTION, THE WHOLE WEBSITE IS FRAUDULENT IF YOU ASK ME, IF ANYONE ELSE HAD ISSUES WITH SUPPLIERS FROM TRADEKEY I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOU STORY...

Four major points about your unfortunate experience.

1. You tried to buy a branded product from a Chinese supplier. This can't be done, despite what the seller will tell you, it will either be a fake, or a straight up scam where you will get nothing at all.

2. The payment option. Never wire money to a Chinese supplier, it's the quickest way of waving goodbye to it because you have no recourse for a refund.

3. You mention Trust Points, these are in fact not earned buy a supplier on the site, they are purchased, so anyone can buy their credibility.

When dealing on these sourcing sites you should read about becoming a supplier, it will give you an idea of the standard that suppliers are held to on the site.

4. TradeKey is a sourcing site, the same as other sites such as alibaba and DH Gate and so on. When dealing with these types of sites you have to always remember that you are dealing with independent suppliers who are selling there.

No one should ever simply rely on the site owner covering their purchase in times of conflict, no mater what their policy states. You should always carry out your own research on the independent business you are dealing with yourself.

One point that you didn't mention, but I am willing to bet is that the supplier used a free email account, hotmail, gmail, yahoo and so on.

You need to look at all of these types of factors when dealing with Chinese based businesses.

1. Selling branded products
2. Western Union payment option
3. Free email account

The first point is an indication that you shouldn't be dealing with them, but when all three points are in play you are looking at wasting your money if you proceed.

Hey guys,

I've gathered and put together the various tips and ways to help you avoid being scammed in this post - Link hidden: Login to view so do check it out. Cheers!