Last week I heard that cha-ching that notifies me on my ipad that I had a sale on Etsy. I was momentarily excited to see that it was my $650 collar. That is until I read the message that came with the order. Right away alarm bells went off. Here is the message- I have highlighted the parts that made me suspicious:
My name is Erica. Am looking for a good costumer that i will be buying goods from if you can be the one I'll be very happy to have you as my good suppler. Do you accept Check as mode of payment .... ? Because i can only make the payment through Check if you do i will patiently waited until the Check cleared the Bank. Please am looking for understanding and honest to deal with, hope we are going to be a good business partner if you are honest. I think we still have much things to talk about and i want you to get back to me on my email so that we could talk better there hope to read from you soon. Best Regards -Erica.
"Her" etsy store was "*****begodly"- nice touch-right? They had just joined Etsy the day before and had no feedback. I have gotten a lot of emails of this type in the past, but this is the first time someone put through an order on my Etsy site. I was almost positive it was a scam- but there was that slight outside chance that it was legit. What to do? I didn't want to reply directly to their email- I am not sure why, but I felt that would be tied in with this scam. So I replied through an Etsy convo:
Hello Erica,
Thank you for your purchase. I am writing through Etsy and not your personal email because there have been so many scams lately on Etsy and I am very cautious. Because of this, I need to receive your check within one week, or the item will be relisted. After I receive your check, I will not send the necklace until it has cleared the bank. I am sure you will understand- there are dishonest people out there and I have to protect myself. I will notify you when I send the necklace. If this transaction goes smoothly, I look forward to working with you. Thanks!
Thank you for your purchase. I am writing through Etsy and not your personal email because there have been so many scams lately on Etsy and I am very cautious. Because of this, I need to receive your check within one week, or the item will be relisted. After I receive your check, I will not send the necklace until it has cleared the bank. I am sure you will understand- there are dishonest people out there and I have to protect myself. I will notify you when I send the necklace. If this transaction goes smoothly, I look forward to working with you. Thanks!
I waited for a reply from "Erica", but there was none. Meanwhile, I reported this order as a suspected scam to Etsy.
I received this reply from Etsy:
Thanks for reporting this. I really appreciate your help in bringing this to our attention. This account and any accounts associated with it have been closed; the account holder no longer qualifies to be a member of Etsy as described by our Terms of Use.
This article from our Help page explains how to spot this kind of fraud in the future:
http://www.etsy.com/help/ article/336?utm_source= compass&utm_medium=email
This article from our Help page explains how to spot this kind of fraud in the future:
http://www.etsy.com/help/
It is really worth checking out this link and reading it- very informative! Evidently, there are several scams- usually involving sending a check or cashier's check for more than the purchase price, then asking for the seller to refund the extra. Meanwhile, the check is no good.
I have changed my Etsy settings so I will not accept checks or cashier's checks. I feel badly doing this- but I think if someone really needs to pay by check they can contact me and we can work something out. I know this will not solve the problem (read the part about PayPal and false PayPal payment confirmations in the link), but I hope it helps.
This scam is certainly not exclusive to Etsy. Anyone selling online should beware. We all need to spread the word and educate ourselves on how to protect ourselves. If fewer people fall for this, the fewer scammers there will be. Please share this wherever possible, and be careful! Fortunately, I was just suspicious enough. The internet is a wonderful resource for selling our products, but there are dangers involved. If you have doubt about any order- check it out!
I know I am not the only one to have dealt with this fraud. Please feel free to share your stories here. Have you ever fallen victim to one of these scams? How did you handle it? Do you have any advice? Hopefully by sharing your experience you can help others avoid loss.