Scam from Shoe seller in China

[A-Dog]

Has anyone else been scammed by http://www.rekhsob.com/

I know I have been scammed; I'm currently working with the Paypal resolution team for a refund.  After reading some of the other 'scam' postings, I'm wondering if I will be successful in getting a refund.  Here's how the scam worked so far......

I see a legit website selling shoes.  Place an order for $120.00 paid thru Paypal and feeling pretty secure about the transaction because the seller's website uses Paypal.  I receive a 14 cent plastic shower cap sent to me from China in a small padded envelope.  I was racking my brain trying to figure out what was behind this.  Why did I receive a shower cap from this company?  When Paypal said they would refund my money as long as I returned the item I was sent.  I could use any shipping company that has online tracking.  My first stop was the UPS store.  They told me it would cost me $90.00 to send it via UPS with online tracking (a .02 lb envelope).  So, there's part of the scam......now I have to pay an additional $90.00 to get my $120.00 back!   If I decide that's just too much money and not worth it, the seller wins and gets $120.00 from me for nothing (oh, the seller spent 14 cents for the shower cap and whatever the shipping cost was, I highly doubt it was over $5.00 to ship that junk to me, but I have to pay thru the nose to send it back to China).

My next stop was the US Post Office.  The price is around $12.00 for registered mail w/tracking, but I have to find out today if the tracking is the 'online tracking' that the Paypal email said I have to use. 

After reading some posts here, I realize that there might be more to this scam..........I saw  that when a buyer sent their merchandise back to China, it ended up sitting at a depot in China and the seller said they never received the merchandise back and Paypal didn't issue a refund because the seller never received the stuff.  I hope my claim doesn't end that way.

This dispute is not over yet.  I am currently working thru the dispute process with Paypal and I am going to try and send this cheap hotel give-away shower cap back to the address provided to me by Paypal.

I will never buy anything from China over the internet again. 

I'm surprised that Paypal still does business with a website that scams its customers.

Is there somewhere that a warning can be posted about scams like this (besides this forum)? 

Will Paypal discontinue dealing with a company that scams their American buyers?

[Thulle]

I checked the page on google (I thought) and placed an 102$ order. When there was no decent information after making the transaction I got a bad feeling and checked google again. I noticed that the "friendly google ads" showed me reviews and topics related to the somewhat bad "shoebuy" and not the scamming shoes365buy...

Anyhow - i logged into my account and the transaction was still not sent, so I cancelled it. Now it states that it was cancelled, but there is no money on the account yet. It was just an hour ago, so I hope it is fixed until tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted.

However - this page has been there for some time and the scam reports has been quite clear so I still wonder how PP can allow this?

[Nadia67]

The website Shoebuy365.com is the same as Shoes365buy. However, I do know about Shoebuy.com, thought it was a decent one, do you mean this one? Refunds from "decent" companies also may take a while, longer even now in these sales. I've, for example, only just received my refund from Aerosoles.com, from an order returned at the beginning of July... But when in doubt you may want to go ahead with the dispute. I waited 45 days, and submitted one. Today, one (!) day later the company refunded me.

[Thulle]

Shoebuy just had a bad rep on the market, but was not said to scam anyone with a shower cap. Sorry if I was unclear. As I had the time to wait for my order I just went ahead. At least until I saw the real review of shoes365boy that is..

[Badjuice]

How? Because sane people like me can turn rouge and scam you. >:-D

Just because services "allow" scammers/meanies  to join, doesn't mean they "tolerate" them.

Just because facebook allows anybody to join (multiple times), doesn't mean they won't be kicked off for bad behavior.

Just because paypal allowed you to join, doesn't mean they won't ban you for scamming and refund all your buyers.

Any person can be a good citizen and scam you the next day. Anyone like me. Mind you, I'm a verified paypal address..I have a valid debit #..and I have 100% feedback on my ebay history..but hey, stuff happens. I could decide to borrow* my neighbor's information and set-up some shoe-shower cap scam. Not that I did ;-P..

[shadetreezj]

I fell victim as well.

Call Paypal's customer service number.  Yell at the automated voice "Operator" Customer service rep" until a human answers.  It takes a few minutes.

I spoke with a nice guy named Allen.  Within 40 seconds, my $69 and change was refunded.  No questions asked.  They are painfully aware of these bottom feeders in China.

Do yourself a favor, and skip the automated Paypal system.  Skip the online dispute process.  Speak directly with a Paypal rep.

2 thumbs up to Paypal for taking care of this at lightning speed!!!

[amulet]

I had a positive outcome from Paypal eventually, who reclaimed my payment from the scammers, and I thank Paypal for that.

I would warn that the Paypal Resolution Center can be tricky as my experience proved: After the seller responded to my claim with a bogus postal tracking number, I was stuck in the automated resolution system, with an option to either cancel the claim, or change claim from Item not received to Item received different from that ordered.

Whether or not the company in question decided to send me a complimentary gift of a shower cap or a sample bottle of shower gel is irrelevant, I simply do not accept that this was in place of my original order and, therefore, not significantly different from the item I ordered! (Emu boots, btw). The simple fact is that I did not receive the item!!

I will be very cautious about using Paypal in future, on sites other than ebay and reputable businesses. It is a big shame that the reputation of good, honest small businesses could be damaged by this kind of scam activity, and I would like to know what Paypal intends to do to stop you or I setting up a similar scam??? !

Thanks for the Twitter tip, Olivia!

[Nadia67]

Amen to that, Amulet! I'll only use Paypal on Ebay and renown webshops from now on. And I totally agree that this huge scam should be handed over and investigated properly and globally, Alex

[PayPal_Olivia]

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@amulet wrote:

It is a big shame that the reputation of good, honest small businesses could be damaged by this kind of scam activity, and I would like to know what PayPal intends to do to stop you or I setting up a similar scam??? !

Thanks for the Twitter tip, Olivia!

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Hi amulet! Welcome to the forums! 🙂

Commerce can be conducted any number of ways. There are millions of microcosms of commerce if you think about it. You might buy lemonade from a child on a street corner, second-hand records from a garage sale, a brand new dress from a shop, some guy's boat that they advertised in a local newspaper, a house from a realtor, cleaning services, tax preparation, etc., etc., etc.. Every time one person or entity buys from another, commerce is conducted. In all of these scenarios, fraud can occur and can make customers more leery, even of dealings with honest businesses.

PayPal does a lot to prevent fraud, to protect the people who are victimized, and to make a safer marketplace overall. PayPal protects buyers, and PayPal protects sellers. In most situations, the use of PayPal makes a transaction safer than the use of other ways to pay. We want buyers to be able to shop confidently, and everything we do works toward ensuring that.

With this shoe/shower cap situation, the sales activity looked normal. People were buying shoes. Nothing suspicious, everything normal. The trend was not detectable until the claims started rolling in. Once it became apparent that we were dealing with a trend, we immediately took steps to stop the activity, and then we began addressing the customers who were affected. As you can see, we have a solution for folks who were affected. It's not built into the automated process because it requires a human being to evaluate the information and determine that it's part of this trend. Once a claim is brought to our attention as being part of this situation and we're able to confirm it, we get resolution for the customer.

You asked a good question about how similar scams are being prevented. There's a simple answer to that. We learn from every experience we have. Our security models become smarter, our processes improve, and we get better at spotting trends. Fraudsters are creative, but we're always working on keeping up. We also cooperate fully with law enforcement. We are as interested as you are in making sure that scammers are stopped.

I hope that helps shed some light on things, and you're absolutely welcome for the Twitter tip. 🙂

Olivia

[amulet]

That's all great Olivia, and I agree with you 100%... all commercial transactions have an element of risk.

I lived in Portugal, and for many years (the situation has improved somewhat recently) there was zero customer support , and absolutely no recourse for purchases of shoddy goods... A toaster whose temperature control was purely cosmetic, an avocado that had been microwaved to mush, to give a "ripe" feel to touch, you name it. And there was absolutely nothing you could do about it, other than shrug your shoulders and walk away, left with a, frankly, useless object fit only for the trash, and vastly inferior to that that you had paid for.

In the case of these online shoe stores... Well, haven't they got it made? These sites seemingly offer great deals on our favorite brands and, show me a woman who isn't a  sucker for shoes!  In all honesty, I accept that I may have received a knock off, in which case if I was dissatisfied, I may have filed a claim for "item significantly different than described". But, to not receive any shoes at all?, that is a clear and outright scam. Agreed?

So, here's the rub.... today I revisited the site, Fashion Shoes Mall, found my boots,  Emu Darlington Chestnut, size US7. I put them in my shopping cart, registered and went through the checkout process.

Guess what? I went through the order confirmation process, chose to pay by Paypal and, alarmingly, was forwarded to Paypal for payment.

So my question, Olivia, is to what extent is Paypal willing to rectify this situation?

You say "Once it became apparent that we were dealing with a trend, we immediately took steps to stop the activity ".

So evidently, as far as Paypal is concerned and as Paypal still facilitates transactions with this site, this site is considered to be a bone fide website, with its activity still endorsed by Paypal. 

So, I should be confident that I will receive the item I ordered and pay for?

Should I accept that my last order was a simple glitch in the system, and this time I should be confident that I will receive the item I ordered?

If I press the button, and then don't receive the order,  I will be going through the Resolution Center once again.

Your advice is sought!

Thank you Olivia.

[palpa]

I. too. just tested the above statement.  I returned to Rios-shoes and went through the order process and was directed immediately to Paypal for payment.  The payee was shown as Rios-shoes,Cheap Shoes & Sneakers F….  Seems to me that Paypal has not gotten the message and has not taken steps to stop the activity.  Had you, this website would have been barred from using Paypal