Scammed by gardenoflifego.com and PayPal sided with seller. Don't get it.

FCRES
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Contributor

I escalated a dispute with Paypal after I discovered Garden of Life (the seller) provided them with a false UPS tracking number for my order. The seller provided a tracking number for an order that was mailed out a full 6 days before I even placed my order! The seller never confirmed the order or responded to any of may emails requesting order status or clarification on the false tracking number. Furthermore, all the contact info on their website (customer support email, phone number) has been disconnected. Garden of Life never responded to the dispute, and I have not received the order. I think all this verifiable evidence made it quite obvious that I was scammed by the seller, so I was shocked when PayPal denied my case. Am I missing something? Do I have any other options? 

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16 REPLIES 16

JD4421
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Paypal is very unsafe for everyone.   Their consumer protection is really non-existent as you can open a Paypal account with just an email a fake name, fake everything then scam people and in a month take the money and go.  Since Paypal cannot get the money back they just deny the cases in favor of the scammer.   You are protected with real merchants but not from scammers.   Nor do you ever want to connect Paypal to your bank account because if a hacker gets into your system then not only get the funds in your PayPal account be all the funds from each bank it is connected to.  si much better to use a credit card when buying things.  It is much more difficult to get a merchant account but that sorts out the scammers from the real businesses.

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dante55446
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Similar issue happened to me.   The business Business Bureau even had an alert on it last December: 

 

Scam Alert: Tracking Code Trick Costs Holiday Shoppers
December 6, 2019.
 

This holiday season, BBB Scam Tracker has received many reports of a new trick scammers are using to steal from online shoppers. The con artists are exploiting a PayPal policy and deceiving online shoppers into paying for goods that don’t exist. 

How the Scam Works: 

You are shopping online and find a site with amazing deals, often brand name goods at a significant discount. The website and the products look legitimate, so you decide to take a chance and make a purchase. The site instructs you to pay through PayPal, which should provide extra security.

After checkout, you get a confirmation email that contains a tracking number from UPS, FedEx, or another shipping service. After a few days, you log onto the site and see that your package has been delivered. That’s funny, because no box ever arrived! You call the shipping company, and they confirm that the package was delivered… but to the wrong address.

When you try to correct the mistake, you find that the ecommerce site is either unresponsive or unhelpful. In some cases, the site doesn’t provide contact information; in others, they simply don’t respond to your emails or calls. 

Some scam victims report filing a claim with PayPal because their protection promise says you can open a dispute if your order never arrives. But because the scammer technically shipped the package and the tracking number marked it as delivered, PayPal rejected their claims. One consumer reported to BBB Scam Tracker: “PayPal denied my claim because the seller showed the tracking number as being delivered. I even had UPS send PayPal the proof that I didn't receive my package, but all PayPal required is a tracking number loaded and shows delivered.”  

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Hagai62
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I have a similar situation with a different seller. Seems to be a bug with paypal security system that allows sellers to send (empty box?) To an incorrect address in your zip code and pocket your money
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FCRES
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Thank you @Hagai62 for alerting me of this scam and this PayPal glitch. I am still disappointed that the PayPal disputes team didn't seem to bother to review the details of my claim. If a tracking number reveals the item was allegedly mailed out days before the order was even placed and doesn't specify any other delivery, that is clear evidence the seller provided false information. I feel I cannot trust PayPal anymore.

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Wantinganswers
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I had the exact same thing happen with this company.  I ordered 100 dollars of vitamin C, they said it was delivered the same day I bought it which is impossible.  THey said the box was 2 lbs, that is impossible.  Their phone number did not work, they did not send me confirmation of my order which was the first sign it was a scam.  Second I emailed them via their on line system and it bounced.  Their support email also bounced.  I opened a case and Paypal sided on their side.  2 lbs for 10 large bottles of vitamin C, this box should have weighed 6-7 lbs.  NO address confirmed on UPS for delivery, absolutely a scam and I am now out 100 dollars and Paypal sided with this company.  I went back to the company and the company is out of business, the website is dead.  Unbelieveable.  I am not going to let this die and you should not either.  Clearly a scam.  I am on the phone with UPS now to hear their side of the story.  I have RING on my front door and see all deliveries.  There were none at the time they said it was delivered so that shows nothing was delivered.  Such a scam.

 

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Wantinganswers
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I just posted this on the forum as well.  Exact same scam.

 

Hard to believe this can happen in this day and age but I purchased 10 bottles of vitamin C from a website and as soon as I put the order in I did not get an order confirmation.  The Paypal ID to send the 100 dollars was a chinese name of some kind and red flags went up left and right.  According to the delivery report from UPS, the package was delivered the exact same day I ordered it which of course is impossible and the box only weighed 2 lbs which for 10 large bottles of vitamin C is physically impossible.  It was obviously a scam.  I called the company with the number from the website - out of service.  I then emailed them with their contact us portal of their website - it bounced back undeliverable.  I emailed them at their support email address, bounced back undeliverable.  NO way to call, no way to email.  I opened a case with Paypal and they judged it in terms of the scammer.  They said UPS said the box was delivered to my house the same day I ordered it.  On UPS you can not see where the package originated from which is strange right there as you can always see where it was shipped from and the route it took.  Paypal opened a case and declined my case because they said it was delivered.  If it was delivered I would have had a ring notification on the day it was delivered which I did not.  Now when I go back to the website I bought it from the URL is dead and the company is out of business.  I have never seen such an obvious case of a scam in my life and Paypal judged it in terms of the scammer.  I buy online all the time and have never had a problem.  This is such an obvious scam it is laughable.  Any suggestion on what I do from here?  THere is no way it was delivered the same day it was ordered, the phone numbers did not work on the site, both contact us form and email bounced back, the box is physically impossible for 10 bottles which have to weigh half a pound each that the size of the entire shipment was 2 lbs, that is just a joke.  Anyone have any ideas on how I get refunded for this?  If Paypal is going with the scammer can I call Visa?  The website is even dead now so that just shows it was a scam.  Unbelievable that Paypal did not refund this.  Any advice?  this was such a scam I just cant let the 100 dollars go.  You cant reward that kind of behavior.  

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Wantinganswers
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I am on hold with UPS now and I am hoping they will be able to ID the scam on their end.  The UPS tracking does not show point of origin, point of destination just my city and state with no other info than that.  The UPS automatic system said it was signed for by someone named Trevor, obviously there is no one here named trevor.  Ironically enough I work in the audit/fraud universe so this one is going to be fun.  Once I get the UPS team to confirm the fraud I am going to reach out to the info sec/fraud forensics team for Paypal via Linked In and introduce the case to them that way as obviously this group is not got the depth of the forensics and fraud experience to be able to sense and identify the scam.  I would suggest you do the same.

  

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FCRES
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Contributor

UPDATE:

I contacted PayPal via chat and I was transferred to a disputes rep. I provided her with the UPS tracking number, and she was able to verified that it was a fraudulent tracking number as it claimed the package was send days prior to placement of the order. She reopened my dispute case and this time they ruled on my favor. I recommend that you try reaching out to PayPal and chat with someone.

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Wantinganswers
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That is easier said than done.  I opened up the case again and I will see what happens.  It is quite the scam they have going on there for sure.  The scammers have managed to find a way to hack the UPS universe and send shipments without the addresses showing and this was enough to fool the Paypal team into thinking it was legit.  I have been on hold with UPS's fraud group for 2 hours straight now.  I am going to get them to give me confirmation of the scam via email and I am going to present it to the Paypal fraud executive leadership and the US head of their IT Audit department.  Whoever sided with the scammer on this one probably will change their tune when they get a call from their bosses bosses bosses bosses boss asking why this was done without the proper investigation.  I almost dont care about the 100 bucks at this point, I just dont want to see any other people being scammed particularly in this time of corona virus where everyone is very vulnerable and want to buy vitamin C and supplements and are being **bleep** by scammers like this while paypal does nothing.  Glad to hear you got it resolved.  I should be right behind you. Thanks for the update!

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