Scammed on Etsy by "theshoprestrons"

[MaxD12]

Here is the order:

Etsy Order #1805794251

Not Shipped

$150.12

Purchased from  theshoprestrons on Oct 18, 2020

• Price $139.00

Payment Method

Paypal

Paid to censored on Oct 18, 2020

Item Total $139.00

Shipping $0.00

Sales Tax $11.12

Order Total $150.12

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Here is what is happening in full detail:

The seller is a scammer operating a multi-state scam:

- He purports to have the listed item (Oculus Quest 2, 256 GB) on Etsy for $139 new, while the item retails for $399 new in stores.

- Etsy shut down his store the same day it was listed for fraudulent activity. As you can see, his store is no longer there:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/theshoprestrons

- On 10/20/20, he sent me the following UPS tracking number through Paypal’s system: 1Z895W710373391869. When you call UPS customer service and give a live person the tracking number as I did, they will tell you that the package was sent to a different address than mine, different name. Note that the package that was sent there weighed 12.2 pounds. The shipping weight of the Oculus Quest 2 is roughly just 5 pounds. It was also sent from Pennsylvania.

- When I alerted the scammer on 10/21/20, the scammer replied claiming he had made a "mistake" and that he was sending out another package to me by rush shipping. He lied on both counts. He neither made a “mistake” nor did he rush ship anything to me.

- On 10/21/20 the scammer sent me another tracking number for another fraudulent misdirected shipment, this time weighing 16 pounds: 1Z1WE1460372023594

This time, it was sent from Texas, and if you call UPS customer service and give a live person the tracking number as I did, you will see the same ruse again: he sent it to the wrong address, wrong name, and I was even told by UPS that it was sent by a "bowling company". Apparently, the scammer has a network of other scammers to help him in different parts of the country.

So the scam works like this: the scammer puts up a listing selling of an item he does not have, priced way below market value. The scammer generates a shipping label and a tracking number with UPS. The scammer sends the tracking number to the customer through Paypal’s system, and then has someone ship a box of junk to an address other than to the customer but within the same city knowing that Paypal will only go to the UPS website and enter the tracking number to see it was sent to the city and state of the customer, but not go through the very necessary steps of calling live UPS customer service and asking if the package was ever sent to the customer’s exact address. When the customer complains to the scammer, the scammer keeps replaying the scam and delaying the process (sending out another purposely misdirected package) buying just enough time to withdraw the money from his Paypal account, and then disappear. Etsy eventually got hip and shut down the seller’s store shortly after. Here is proof:

<removed, picture>

(^^^the picture was removed by a moderator. The pic was of my Etsy case file in which Etsy confirmed that the scammer had been shut down and banned from their platform)

Etsy did not shut down the scammer’s store and ban him from the marketplace by accident, nor would Etsy be advising customers to get a refund for a legitimate transaction. Moreover, I have to believe others have made the same complaint about this seller to both Etsy and Paypal since about 40 people bought the same item I bought from the scammer’s store according to the Etsy data.

This scam is one of the oldest tricks in the book! What the heck is PayPal doing???

[MaxD12]

So I filed a dispute with Paypal, and of course, it was DENIED. But in order for Paypal to have denied it, that means they didn't bother to call UPS with the tracking numbers and verify that the package NEVER reached my address. This tells us that Paypal is not properly and thoroughly investigating and its customers are not safe from fraudulent sellers. Anyone could literally do what the scammer did any day of the week and get away with it simply because Paypal will not pick up the phone and make a phone call to a LIVE UPS customer service rep that will take roughly 3 minutes.

It's also a matter of looking at this logically: what are the odds that someone from my small town of 35,000 people who are mostly not technologically current, would order the same product from the same store at the same time that was only up for a few hours on a single day? Yet, somehow the scammer just happened to send the package to a different name and address in my city than the one listed (mine) in the sales email two different times???

C'mon.

[DG_SF]

I too lost my dispute due to PayPal's inattention to facts. I think persistence is the key to getting it resolved. Hopefully someone from PayPal is watching this forum and can provide the minutes of attention to right this wrong. Good luck. Being scammed is infuriating.  

[MaxD12]

Here is the kicker: I attempted to reopen a dispute on the claim and it auto-closed the case and will not let me do anything else. What can innocent customers do when Paypal has decided to be judge, jury, and final executioner with no way for customers to appeal?

Isn't it something how these companies put more measures in place to protect scammers than they do the buyers that keep the system afloat?

Btw, someone has seen this from their side since the picture I posted in the original post was removed by someone: it was a case file pic from Etsy proving that the seller was shut down and BANNED from Etsy.

I just spoke to UPS and they are sending me an email verification showing that the package was NOT delivered to me. Question is, will Paypal even look at it? And I find it unfortunate that these company's fraud departments don't communicate more deeply. We should be able to have UPS or USPS or FedEx simply send an email to Paypal's fraud department with this kind of information, and boom, the proof is there and the customer is properly serviced instead of getting the kind of mistreatment I'm receiving right now.

[MaxD12]

I now have the final PROOF from UPS showing that the packages were NEVER delivered to me. In fact, the names are not even real. I have them in 2 PDF files from UPS. See, UPS actually HELPED me. What are you going to do Paypal?

Any Paypal staff reading this, please tell me who to send these UPS shipping and delivery documents to so Paypal can do the right thing and refund my money.

[MaxD12]

Can't reach a live person on the phone ever, online contact is just an automated robot. Bring up a dispute over the phone or with the online bot and the system just tells you "You already filed, have a nice day". Sending a message appears to be useless as well since it looks to only be handled by robots and not ever read by a real human being who can make a more intelligent decision.

"Have a nice day" says Paypal. Yeah, I'm having a real nice day when Paypal is allowing a scammer to steal my money even after I've provided indisputable evidence that the item NEVER reached me. I've now uploaded the UPS documents several times. Paypal is just letting robots handle it, no way to appeal. This level of indifference should be criminal.

[MaxD12]

As a customer for 21 years, I remember when Paypal actually cared about its customers and tried hard to help them. Now, we get shoddy investigations where the effort is obviously poor, and no way to appeal.

[MaxD12]

If no one from Paypal who is in a position to fix these issues ever reads these or responds, what good is this forum?

Maybe we need to start encouraging everyone to file BBB complaints and FTC complaints, as well as filing lawsuits in small claims court, because Paypal's way of doing business is de facto complicit with those who scam. At some point, if we file enough, Paypal will have to drop their apathy, make stronger efforts to collect and examine dispute information from buyers, and actually start working for the customers again rather than protecting the interests of scammers.