3 ms·

Fake Online Storefronts in 2021

9 points by montag 5y ago

Lately I've come across quite a few online storefronts that appear to be fake. Mostly showing up in Google Shopping results. They are fully-functioning ecommerce sites, with a realistic inventory, a full suite of active social media accounts, but with a distinct tinge of...fraud. Take this one, for example: https://homespacedecor.com/ https://twitter.com/homespacedecor Street view of their address in Houston: https://goo.gl/maps/fakpcpmGyytGRt167 Is it just me, or has this problem recently gotten worse? Are these organized carding scams? Has there been any good investigative reporting about it?

samwillis 5y ago
Out of interest what is it that makes you believe that site is fake? From a very quick skim it portentously looks like a fairly standard drop shipping operation to me. (None of their own photography, attempt at lots of seo text, somewhat strange selection of products) There is an explosion of drop shipping sites at the moment, I think connected to lots of people selling courses on how to “get rich quick” by drop shipping.
- mtmail 5y ago
  Even Amazon started without inventory. The website was the Ingram wholesaler catalogue, Amazon displayed 2-3 day shipping and would quickly order the book from the wholesaler within 24h. Only after a year of operation they started to directly pre-buy from publishers (top 100 books). I used to work at a similar company. As long as the sales margins are good and support burden manageable it's a decent business. These days dropshippers outsource shipping, returns.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
stolenmerch 5y ago
In this case it might be a drop shipper, which is completely legit. I've seen other fake stores, however, that scrape listings from eBay and offer them on their "store". They somehow generate valid USPS tracking numbers yet never send your item. They only take PayPal because PayPal will not accept any disputed charge with a tracking number.
mdrzn 5y ago
I've seen hundreds, mostly thru instagram ads. Either they are dropshipping or straight up stealing your payment info for later.

9 points by montag 5y ago

samwillis 5y ago

Out of interest what is it that makes you believe that site is fake? From a very quick skim it portentously looks like a fairly standard drop shipping operation to me. (None of their own photography, attempt at lots of seo text, somewhat strange selection of products) There is an explosion of drop shipping sites at the moment, I think connected to lots of people selling courses on how to “get rich quick” by drop shipping.

mtmail 5y ago
Even Amazon started without inventory. The website was the Ingram wholesaler catalogue, Amazon displayed 2-3 day shipping and would quickly order the book from the wholesaler within 24h. Only after a year of operation they started to directly pre-buy from publishers (top 100 books). I used to work at a similar company. As long as the sales margins are good and support burden manageable it's a decent business. These days dropshippers outsource shipping, returns.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

stolenmerch 5y ago

In this case it might be a drop shipper, which is completely legit. I've seen other fake stores, however, that scrape listings from eBay and offer them on their "store". They somehow generate valid USPS tracking numbers yet never send your item. They only take PayPal because PayPal will not accept any disputed charge with a tracking number.

mdrzn 5y ago

I've seen hundreds, mostly thru instagram ads. Either they are dropshipping or straight up stealing your payment info for later.