Beware the spawn of fraudulent goods websites

[joem789]

I fell for a fake website called discountmerrell.com which pretends to sell Merrell footwear. They set up a California address and GoDaddy hosts their domain. But the registrar resides in Hong Kong. They use Paypal checkout, which functions like you'd expect. That is, unril the payment is submitted. It claims to redirect you back to the original website upon paymwnt submit. But never does. The payment ends up going to a <removed>. I tried contacting this "company" numerous times with no responses. I have even filed a Paypal dispute. But Paypal has not responded or followed up for days. I recently received this email from Paypal: "Wherever you buy from, PayPal is working hard to make sure your transactions are secure. Check-out with peace of mind, because at PayPal, your security is our no. 1 priority. Around the clock security PayPal’s 24/7 fraud detection and monitoring gets smarter with every transaction." I'd like to see them prove it. I feel as though they should've already know that website was a fake. Because it's contact form is sent to an email of a well known scammer as it turns out. <removed>

[kernowlass]

@joem789 

Chinese Web Sites or on Social Media ads easy to spot (once you know the below signs) so buyer beware.

Paypal would not be able to check every individual seller / merchant / company in over 200 countries worldwide that adds paypal to their website to accept payments.

So they give you 'some' buyer protection but the onus is on you to risk assess your transactions.

They do stop bad companies from using Paypal when enough claims start rolling in.
However as they are in China (mostly) then its easy for them to just start over with a new name, so stopping them does not really do anything.

The BEST thing is to not buy from them in the first place, to recognise them -

1. No return address on the returns policy. The site will look as if its in your country (where they despatch goods from) but they will ask for returns to go back to China (returns depot) at a shipping cost often more than the item is worth.
2. No contact telephone number. if you click on contact the most you will get is webmail or an email address.
3. Rarely company address information.
4. Great pictures of items at bargain prices that turn out to be tat.
5. Fake reviews.
6. Google and you can often see previous company names as they change them once enough claims roll in and Paypal stop them using their services and start over.
7. Send fake tracking numbers to win item non receipt of item claims.

How do I open a dispute with a seller when a purchase goes wrong?

You can open a dispute in the Resolution Centre of your PayPal account within 180 days of payment if:
•You don’t receive the item OR service
•You receive an item but it’s significantly different than the description on eBay or on the seller’s website (or you receive a totally different product).

By opening a dispute, you can communicate directly with your seller to work out a problem transaction.

If you reach an agreement with the seller you can close the dispute. If you're still not happy with the result, you can escalate the dispute into a claim. Paypal will review the claim and decide on reimbursement.

These steps apply to Personal accounts. If you have a Business account, please log in to see the steps that apply to you.

To open a dispute:
1.Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click on the transaction and use the resolve a problem option at the bottom of that details page.

Note:
•Generally buyers must wait at least 7 days from the date of payment to escalate a dispute for an item not received
•Where an item has not been received, please ensure you have given the seller enough time before opening a dispute

Do not close the dispute until you have a refund or your item.
If a seller states that they can't refund until you have closed the dispute don't believe them.
Escalate the dispute to a claim within 20 days (before it times out), if you need Paypal to get involved.

If you lose because the seller provides a fake tracking number then post back here for more advice.
If the item arrives and its not what you ordered / not as described then make sure you change the dispute quickly from non receipt. If the dispute times out before you can change it then contact customer services to open a second dispute for the new reason.

Activate the below link in case you have to return the item at Paypals request (or the correct one for your country as this is the U.S link).
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/returns

If that does not work then if you funded your paypal payment via a card then contact your card issuer and see if they will issue a chargeback.

[joem789]

Thanks. All good information.

Of course, it took me all of 15 minutes of searching after the fact to see what a scam a certain website is. Yet, Paypal has done nothing to block these people to prevent thousands of people getting their money stolen. This makes Paypal an accessory.

Here's an email I received from paypal. Ironic isn't it??

"WE'VE GOT YOUR BACK, ANYWHERE YOU SHOP."

"WHEREVER YOU BUY FROM, PAYPAL IS WORKING HARD TO MAKE SURE YOUR TRANSACTIONS ARE SECURE. CHECKOUT WITH PEACE OF MIND, BECAUSE AT PAYPAL, YOUR SECURITY IS OUR NO. 1 PRIORITY"

"AROUND THE CLOCK SECURITY - PAYPAL'S 24/7 FRAUD DETECTION AND MONITORING GETS SMARTER WITH EVERY TRANSACTION"

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

And then my dispute got denied over a technicality because I chose "billing issue" over a scam. Not that there was a selection that fit the case. Anytime a questionable transaction hits my real bank, they either block it, or call me and ask if its legit. And they certainly will NEVER allow an overseas transaction without alerting me. 

So, Paypal pretends to be on top of things like a real bank. But the many thousands of **bleep** off account holders say otherwise. Paypal is just itching for a class action lawsuit for making it easy for China to steal millions of dollars from other nations. So, who's really behind Paypal? Makes you wonder!