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?

[amulet]

Just to add that the seller was Fashion Shoes Mall, and payment was made to account holder "hong ***"... Another one to look out for! 

[18big_foot]

I did receive a shower cap today and the case was closed 2  days ago so I did open the case again and appeal for the full money back. I ordered 2 shoes and paid $62.51 from sport-shoes.mall.com and the name on paypal account is ruokai li

I took the pictures of the package. The front picture shows name of me and the tracking number that the same as they provided paypal and the back picture shows that the package weight only 0.013 kg.

I used the photobucket.com to save the pictures and give them (paypal) the direct link to the pictures.

Call paypal. Timothy was helping me and refund me full refund immediately.

Hope this would help, you do not have to pay a cent to send it back...

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi everyone!

palpa and amulet - Thank you for the report! If they have set up a new PayPal account, your report is the early warning sign that will help prevent other people from being scammed. You can always report fraud on the Contact Us page. Select Email Us, then either log in or continue. Choose the topic "Report Fraud/Prohibit Use," and the subtopic "High Risk Business/Prohibited Use Questions."

Badjuice - you're absolutely right. A lot of the time, the reason why scams work is the minor differences in the website URLs or names. These are easy to overlook.

18big_foot - Thanks for reporting your experience!

Olivia

[Nadia67]

Hi Olivia, You're quite right about the names. They often use renown webshop names (for instance, Zalando!) and integrate these in their own company name. Shoes365buy.com is, by the way, the same as mallagm.com. The latter already existing longer, the former just "on air" since May 20th. When I was scammed, there were only 2 complaints, now over 16. Some file it under Shoebuy365, others under Shoesbuy, and again others under shoesbuy365. There's also a 365shoe(s)buy, so it's all very confusing. But just a question: have you considered the option that all those shower cap companies might be set up by the same group of people? That's what's nagging my mind. Can't just believe some other group just encountered their modus operandi on one of the forums and started copying it. Alex

[amulet]

So, Olivia, are you saying that it is simple to open new Paypal accounts after one of your accounts has been stopped?

So, is this how it works?:  I could set up the same operation, perhaps call my site "showercaps4shoes.com". Then I create a seller account with Paypal, so I can use the Paypal payment method to accept payment for my shoes/showercaps. When I get rumbled by some dissatisfied customers, and Paypal closes my account, I simply open another account, and continue business as usual from the same website?

For sure it is far easier to open and close Paypal accounts, and use the new Paypal account on the same scam website, than it is for the scammers to create new commercial websites with new domain names, not to mention the inconvenience caused to the scam website company, by the time it might take for it to appear in search engine results... therefore slowing the scam business down somewhat.

Wouldn't it make a whole lot of sense to have a risk warning on the Paypal site, when a customer is directed to Paypal from a SITE that has been found to be engaging in fraudulent activity? A red flag or something similar, maybe with a short description of the WEBSITE's reported activity??

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi everyone,

Nadia67 and amulet - I understand your concerns and I want you to know that we're definitely working to proactively address fraud wherever possible. I'm afraid that I can't disclose the specifics of this fraud trend or the nature of our anti-fraud processes, because to do so reduces their effectiveness. In the interim, we are pleased to offer the Purchase Protection that allows us to reimburse those who've experienced this unfortunate situation.

There have been some great insights in this thread from several posters about items that caught their attention as earmarkings of a risky transaction. These are great things to keep in mind in any purchase, whether paying with PayPal or through other means. Sometimes there's a gut feeling that something's wrong, and you should always listen to it and investigate. Not all fraud is preventable on the front end, but being cautious and informed is the best way to supplement the protection that PayPal offers, and keep yourself much safer. 🙂

Thank you to everyone who has shared their experience and helped others become more informed as a result. You're all awesome! 🙂

Olivia

[jules4]

Agree with you amulet. Aug. 22 I was scammed as well via nycshoes.com. This has been going on for months. It is 9/12/2012 and this website is still up and running. Though I had my money refunded, I am very concerned that when I clicked the PayPal link to login and pay that it is possible these people got a hold of my password and account info as well as the money they took. Seriously considering closing my PayPal account. One can always purchase a Visa type gift card to use only on known major stores, i.e. Zappos, Macy's, etc. 

[jcl1]

Ordered frm "Sport Shoes" on 8/16/12.  PayPal payment was collected by "guoyun ****" with email address of seller listed. Have not received any confirmation of order from seller or any response from seller to my emails -- not even a shower cap!!  Have filed a claim with PayPal and a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Fayetteville, NC., where "AA Shoes" shares with "Sport Shoes" the address of <removed>  Somebody:  Shut down these suckers!!

[Gravellymeadow]

I just logged on to the Rios-shoes.com site and took an order right up to confirmation. They are still offering PayPal as a payment method.  How can this be?

[mistakenliz]

I just had an identical experience.  In order to return the shower cap to China, USPS tells me it will cost $38 for an envelope with a scannable tracking number.  They suggested that I try to submit the USPS Customs Declaration # instead, but I do not have the option of inquiring of PayPal if this is okay -- it is either enter a tracking # of cancel the claim.  What did anyone else do for this?  i.e., how did you mail the worthless gift back to China in order to recouop what you spent on your shoes?