Online “ghost stores” falsely claiming to be Australian businesses are providing fake tracking numbers to convince payment platforms they have delivered goods that have never been sent, a disappointed shopper says.
Ghost stores are online businesses that only exist in a digital sense and do not have a physical storefront. Guardian Australia hastracked 140 such storesmasquerading as local businesses, which include those selling poor quality clothing and counterfeit labels, while others take customers’ money and fail to deliver anything at all.
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A 63-year-old Geelong woman, who asked not to be identified, said she had a “distressing” and “disappointing” experience seeking a refund fromPayPalafter trying to buy items from the Maison Canberra website in April.
She said she had been duped by fictitious advertising on Facebookportraying it as a Canberra-based boutique having a saleafter making the difficult decision to close.
Her clothing and shoe orders never arrived.
The customer said the seller had repeatedly submitted false evidence to PayPal of deliveries, and she believed the payment platform was siding with the business despite her “efforts to provide clear and legitimate proof to the contrary”.
Maison Canberra was built using Shopify, a Canadian multinational e-commerce platform. Neither Maison Canberra nor Shopify has responded to Guardian Australia’s repeated requests for comment.
On 31 March Guardian Australia bought a blouse for $69.95 from Maison Canberra. The site sent an email on 1 April saying the item had been shipped but it was never delivered. The site has since been taken down.
The Geelong woman spent $490.90 on two orders of clothing and shoes. After seeing she had been charged international transaction fees of $17.18, researching the site and realising she had potentially been scammed, she lodged a dispute with PayPal requesting a refund.
She said she had included “extensive documentation” including evidence of what she believed were “fake” tracking numbers.
In two separate emails seen by Guardian Australia, Maison Canberra claimed her orders were “on the way” but sent tracking numbers beginning with “UK”. Australia Post declined to comment on whether they were valid.
Guardian Australia looked up the tracking numbers on three third-party parcel-tracking platforms, all of which said the orders had been processed by a logistics company in China but had not progressed any further.
Consumer experts have said Shopify and Metaneed to take more responsibility for enabling these sites and allowing them to run false advertising but that payment platforms including PayPal also play a role by allowing these sites to use their services.
The Geelong customer said PayPal had denied her claim on 29 April and told her tracking information provided by the seller showed that the items had been delivered.
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The woman filed a formal complaint with PayPal on 11 May. But she said she hadn’t receive a refund until 26 May, the day after she told PayPal she would escalate the issue to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
She said PayPal maintained she had received items from the seller and that her refund had only been granted because they were “not as described”. The customer said she was “appalled by this misrepresentation”.
“I strongly believe consumers deserve better protection, and someone must be held accountable,” she said. “It’s so distressing and so disappointing and frustrating.”
She said PayPal should have a dedicated fraud or scam category in its claims process to help scam victims seeking redress.
PayPal previously said all Australian sellers were verified when applying for an account, before conceding that this may not be the case for online sellers based in countries with different laws and regulations.
A PayPal spokesperson said the safety and security of customers was its “top priority” and it invested “significant resources” into protecting them.
“Under PayPal’s buyer protection policy, we will refund the full purchase price plus the original shipping charges for eligible claims,” they said.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority declined to comment, saying it could not disclose information about individual complaints.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which has previously said it is investigating ghost stores, declined to comment.