Online ordering scam question

[Scott K]

My wife bought some jewelry from an online well known jewelry company, so she thought. Anyhow, the company she thought she was ordering from is a local US company, that ships worldwide. She ordered the stuff, then when she got shipping info, it said it was being shipped from China. When my wife informed me it was being shipped from China, I was curious right away. I had my wife call the main company, they informed her they were a fraud, and she was to contact her credit card company, and cancel payment, she did, and the credit card company said it would take 14 days to get a refund. The main company, also took the web site address. During this time, my wife tried contacting the fraud company by email, to tell them she has canceled payment, and why. On the HSOforum it says it takes approx. 5 days to get a response, and they didnt list any phone number to call. Well today the shipment showed up, we still havent gotten a response from the fraud company. So we went into the fraud HSOforum, and they since have changed things up on the site, it doesnt look anything like it did when she placed the order. Before it had all of the main companies Logos, and name even with copyright logos on it.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, what do I do with the imitation jewelry now? The fraud company hasnt contacted me yet, I dont want to pay to have it shipped back, I havent opened the package yet, although I am curious to see what the contents look like, and would like to bring it to a jeweler to have it inspected. How long do I need to sit on it, before I should open it?

[DTro]

Something tells me that the CC company might refund your money anyways, I would follow through with that.

Might be a tough one though, unless you got a screen shot of the fraud front.

[LightningBG]

dont open the package, wait to see what the CC company says.

Ideally you should have refused acceptance of the package, then it would get sent back at no charge. But you're past that now.

[CJH]

Credit Card fraud is the largest form of fraud out there nowadays. What happened to you is nothing the credit card company hasn't seen before.

Get documentation from the legit company if at all possible to CYA. I would hold onto the jewelry until things get straightened out and keep all the documentation from everybody, until you get your refund, and just in case this the fraudulent company tries going after you. (which they probably won't as they don't want to draw attention to themselves and what they are doing) The process of getting your money back is called a "charge back" and 90% of the time its ruled in the consumer's favor. This one sounds like a slam dunk.

Good Luck!!

[Scott K]

When I contacted the main company, they told me ALL orders go through there main company. They do not use whole saler's. So if they claimed it was new, then they would have bought it directly from the main company, at full price. The CS rep at the main company looked up the HSOforum I/wife bought it from, and they said, it is a scam. That they do not have any whole sale outlets, and all of their online orders go out of their main office on the east coast. They said they do not even have stores in China.

The HSOforum is still up, but they took off the copyright symbols next to the name, and didnt use an abbreviation for the name of the company.

I guess I really dont care what I have to do with the package, as long as I dont have to pay for the items, and as long as I dont have to pay to ship it back to China.

[LightningBG]

Can we hear the name of the company (w/o any links, etc)?

[Scott K]

I guess it wouldnt hurt, and may prevent someone else from getting scammed, it is Tiffany.

[jeffreyd]

was it tiffany central or tiffany period com? I noticed they have an offical tag next to their name, my wife orders from them time to time and never had a problem. sorry to hear about your issue.

[Scott K]

Well the main company is just the tiffany then the com, the fake site is tiffanyco.mn

[upnorth]

Dang the scammers are getting better all the time. I am always leery of ordering online and this is part of the reason why. They purchase Domain Names very similar to the real McCoy and then when someone does a web search, well guess what shows up along with the real one? The odds are a few are going to click on them too.

[CJH]

They are getting good and since most of these outfits are based overseas, there isn't a ton that can be done about it, unfortunately. You definitely should be careful and verify it is the authentic site, then its pretty safe.

Two things:

1) You are protected legally from fraud when using a credit card. Its part of the law that allows banks to issue these cards/credit sight unseen.

2) DO NOT use a check card, as you are not offered the same protection. Some banks will extend their coverage to it, but not all. Plus you never want to give out a number that is directly tied to your bank account, it could be wiped out before you are aware of what is going on.

[PierBridge]

So you got scammed but they sent you a product anyway?

[delcecchi]

Sure, fake product. There are tons of knockoffs of all kinds floating around and available on the internet. Purses, Jewelry, etc. People set up web sites, people sell the stuff on auction sites, and so on.

[Scott K]

So you got scammed but they sent you a product anyway?

I did receive the package, but it is not real, they are fake.

[PierBridge]

So you did end up opening it?

Also why send the fake merchandise does it give them some sort of leeway as far as prosecution?

[Scott K]

No I did not open it. I cant tell you what is actually in the package until I do open it, but what I do know is I intended on ordering jewelery from Tiffany, and what I found out is the site I ordered it from was not Tiffany, but a fraudulent site, and they are not affiliated with Tiffany at all, just a look alike site. The real Tiffany's even told me that.

I am pretty sure there wont be any legal battles, as it would be near impossible to do anything against a site from China.

[harvey lee]

The CC card should take care of the charges. I would keep the box unopened for a month or so to see if they ask for it back.

If they do not ask, enjoy.

[theoilman]

Do you feel the credit card your wife used is still safe?

I would recommend calling your CC company and have them reissue you a new card number which will prevent the fraud company any future access.

[Scott K]

Do you feel the credit card your wife used is still safe?

I would recommend calling your CC company and have them reissue you a new card number which will prevent the fraud company any future access.

When we called the credit card company initially that is the first thing they did, was canceled our cards and re issued new ones.

[Scott K]

Just an update, we got refunded by the credit card company, and they are going to do an investigation, and let us know how it turns out by 7/15/2010. We opened the package, and had it inspected by a jeweler, they are definitely fake. They are made to look like the real thing, but the quality isnt there, and the chain was very cheap looking. We also tried contacting the scam place that sold it, and they still have not got back to us, and doubt they will.

[CJH]

Glad to hear you got your money back. Definitely document everything and hold on to all paperwork/correspondence to cover your arse.

[Swimmer]

Though it sounds like in your case the company itself was fraudulent. What is also sad is that many US companies no longer even warehouse the Chinese stuff in the US any more. I ordered a computer from a US company and it came DIRECTLY from Taiwan. So our jobs are being outsourced and our stuff too!