New Small Business Scam? Scammer Placing Many Orders In My Shop | Tips to Protect Your Account! 

I'm not (yet) running an Etsy shop, but have personal experience with people weaponizing chargebacks, disputes, and refunds against me. This is definitely a scammer who knows how to play the system. They either get free merchandise or refunds on money they never actually spent. I would reply to ANY order that matches these others (name, address, purchase) with a very diplomatic apology that Etsy has told you the address is involved in an investigation and you are not allowed to accept orders for that address.

If people spent as much time figuring out how to steal and take that time to work we would be a much better place.

This same thing happened to me. I think they are stealing people's credit card info and using it to buy items on Etsy. After like the 7th order I finally cussed the guy out and told him I knew he was a scammer and that I reported him to the FBI Cyber Crimes division with the TX address that was being used repeatedly. Did they do anything about it? Probably not. But it got the scammer to stop placing orders on my shop. Etsy support is useless and doesn't ever help or care.

I used to have a shop on Etsy, got tired of the scammers! I think Etsy needs to do more to protect their hop owners.

One scam we've been getting is a customer (scammer) sends you a message saying "that they're trying to buy an item, but they can't, they need your email to place an order" Don't fall for this, it's a scam!

It sounds like not only are these scammers getting your products for free by disputing the sale and getting their money back, they are ALSO SELLING YOUR PRODUCTS! That's why they keep ordering the same sign(s); they're selling them as their own.

This is so discouraging; entrepreneurs work so hard and scum-of-the-earth scammers come along and take it all away in a minute! I hope you get to the bottom of it soon!

Sounds to me like this is on Etsy. If all of the accounts are shipping to the same address; Etsy is being "willfully blind" to the fraud and not taking "reasonable steps" to address the issues with something simple, such as a warning when multiple accounts are ordering items to be shipped to the same common address.

Not all scams are scams. Sometimes its your competition. I've had friends with shops that were selling in the $1000 price range per item and had a guy order and then flag the order while it was in progress just to have the store shut down or assets frozen. Months later another shop propped up selling the same item for even higher prices since they have no competition.

Scammers are getting more and more clever. Like the guy who went from store to store taking blank gift cards and replacing them with his perfectly copied gift cards. When someone picked one up and purchased it and added money to it, bamm he would use the numbers he had already copied down to go online and buy things. The person who purchased the gift card got a big surprise when they tried to use it and there was a 0 balance. Luckily he's in jail.

I would like etsy to have a human that would be available to intervene sooner...waiting days for a solution is unacceptable to me.

Something to consider and to be fair I do not know if Etsy has this capability but for anyone who uses their own website and shipping is to select for delivery signature. Not only do I do this for my own small business but I work for a bank and this makes the dispute fall through.

It stinks that this is happening to you. Can you imagine this happening to someone who is not as organized as you? Good thing you are so on top of this! Prayers for this to resolve quickly.

I was considering opening a shop on Etsy. However, I've been surprised with so many people reporting Etsy scams! Since Etsy is apparently doing nothing to change that I decided not to open a shop and try safer e-commerce platforms instead. Thank you for sharing your story.

I had something similar happen to me. I make models and miniatures and I was asked to make over 300 of a product within a certain time. The time limit was impossible and the specs of the job kept changing. Turns out this person was selling what I made and kept changing the job specs to satisfy their own sales requirements! I cancelled the gig as I realised, luckily, after the first order what was happening

I just opened a 2nd shop with 0 sales so far and I've had an email stating they need my email to make the purchase. I responded with ,I'm sorry I don't know what you're asking and I didn't get a reply back. My conclusion is they were targeting me since im a new shop with no sales yet. It was very obvious it was a scam because their spelling and grammar were way off.

Sounds like they might be trying to use Etsy to test stolen payment credentials. I'm a web dev and I've mostly worked with retail sites. Occasionally you see a massive flood of identical orders with different payment methods and the same delivery address. The goal is to see if the transaction proceeds which confirms the stolen credentials.

Can't you block this acct/buyer so they can't order anymore? I understand that if they keep changing emails, you can't possibly know it's the same person. I actually did have something kind of similar just happen yesterday. I opened a 2nd Esty shop and right after I listed my first item I got a message from someone wanting to buy it. So I told them to place the order but then they said they needed my email, which I've never been asked for, but I had just set up the shop & they also sent a screen shot showing they were being asked for it. Now I have only had my 1st shop for a year so not that long. It seemed weird but I did the wrong thing & gave them my email. They sent another message saying they had just ordered it & to check my email. That's when I knew it was a scam. I reported the messages & the emails. when I looked at that buyer acct they didn't actually have an Etsy acct. Here is the important thing though- I was then sent another message that looked like it was "from Etsy" and another email "from Etsy" that said my acct had been suspended due to an issue with a pending order. When I clicked through on that email (which you should never do) it showed my dashboard with these issues!! It said it needed to confirm my credit card & bank info and then of course I knew. So I logged out & back in on a different device and my account was fine. There were no messages from Etsy. Sorry this is so long but it was scary for a moment because they showed me my own dashboard with the "account suspended". So please sellers, double check before giving anyone any info. Geez! I blocked that email & account and everything has been fine. But it was like they were waiting for brand new shop listings to swoop in there & scam the newbies. I don't know how they knew but they were definitely next level! TY for sharing your story!

Thank you for helping the rest of us Etsy sellers out!!! really appreciate your sharing of this and your Etsy tips!!!

This is random but I recently learned about a scam going on with Amazon. Never give your phone number to the Amazon delivery people because there’s a loophole that allows the Amazon employee to access your entire account with your phone number and and some have been caught getting into customers’ accounts placing the item as a return and keeping the item for themselves and the customer won’t get their money back because obviously the package was never returned. I’m not sure if they fixed this issue or not but it sucks that this is happening as well.

I got a message from someone saying they couldnt finish their order unless i gave them my email and they got mad when i told them to contact support cuz i couldnt help them. But i asked for a screen shot of their screen, it was full of spelling errors and it was a gender specific prompt: "get seller's email so he can complete your order" and thats what definitely flagged the alarms cuz i am not a He and i dont remember entering my gender when i set up my shop.

This kind of reminds me of scammers who try to get the cashier tripped up by asking you to break up multiple bills consecutively. The whole point is to make the cashier miscount the change being given so the scammer walks away with extra cash. I've seen that before and had one show up years ago. He failed that time. The other thing is probably trying to bankrupt and shut down your shop by getting you to send out product while never getting paid for it or getting the product returned. If all the accounts are shipping to the same name and address, I'd suggest filing a police report against that person and address too.

A way scammers can get a login info is from compromised accounts on other platforms. Scammers buy lists of emails/passwords and then have programs that test the logins from different sites. So many folks use same password everywhere, so it makes it easy to get hacked unfortunately..

What I've noticed is people sending messages to make something for Christmas gifts but the links go to a google zip file which I never download. Of course when you go back to answer it's not deliverable since it isn't a known user of Etsy. Super annoying since Etsy expects you to answer promptly.

Thank you so much for sharing this. I opened my Etsy shop in July and I nearly got scammed few weeks ago with fake Etsy message. I will definitely be vigilant about this new scams. Thank you so much for the update video. 🙏

Something similar has been happening to me in Australia. Asking for my email cos they can't check out. The customers were from France, which is weird as I only ship in Australia. Be careful peeps.

Its sad that the world is in a place where there are so many scammers, porch pirates, retail thieves, etc. You cant do anything any more online or even get a delivery. I just dont get it.

My Canadian view is to contact the police local to the destination and discuss all this, including the address and names. This is a form of fraud in any version of this ' scam ' and people should be prosecuted.

The order had to have been paid before it was shipped. So I wouldn't have refunded them. I think they should have notified their payment source and disputed the charges on their account.

This is definitely a scam. I had a similar situation a few years ago. All products were being sent to an apartment which was actually a drop off location. The scammers had stolen credit cards, order a lot of products, actual owner of card filed dispute, actual owner was refunded money, but….. scammers had the products…. the scammers were reselling the products.

Thank you for this info. It's so sad you have to go through this. Scammers be gone!

I am so sorry this is happening to you, I would put your shop on a brief vacation until Etsy resolves this. Is there a way to block future orders for specific orders that have suspicious activity? If not maybe we need to push for this. It almost seems like these scammers are trying to knock out competition somehow to get you suspended.

Imagine the amount of time the scammer spends doing this. for all that time spent, they could learn a trade and go make money doing something they love.

Thank you for the information and all your advice! I hope they just leave you alone and like you said they will eventually be taken care of they way they deserve. As a new Etsy seller, I get quite a few scam messages on my inbox - I though I had completed the ''collection'' by now - but apparently after watching your video, there is still more ways they re trying to scam ppl.. Thank again , very informative 🙏

Thank you for taking the time to share this with us; truly you are a very caring individual.

I saw a video with an Etsy store owner. She said it is scammers using stolen credit cards. It is a little complicated, but it allows the scammer to get money into a bank account, through the dispute process.

Wow.. they're always at it! I worked for an home improvement store at home and we dealt with this all them time.. packages showing delivered.. Scammers call in and say they didn't get their package.. We check the tracking and it shows delivered and they'd have to dispute with bank.. The scammer would hope to be refunded and some even call in with multiple orders paid for with gift cards and try to get more gift cards and order more items and state they didn't get item or broken etc.. This is happening everywhere and sad to see!!! Fake websites and more.. Yes you all be careful of links, codes all that..

Thank you for sharing, and all the other commenters sharing different scams. I’m new to Etsy so I’m absorbing all of this

I've been getting odd offers/messages for large orders. I have not addressed them because I figured they were scams.

I'd just continue to cancel any orders from that address & be done with it. I wouldn't even worry about it.

I am getting something similar on eBay, lots of orders from the same person, all going to one address in Mexico. They will order the same item every couple of days, paying expensive shipping. Instead of ordering all together under one shipping fee. I can almost guarantee they will be looking to do chargebacks. I am not sending to that address and they will be getting refunded, eBay have been notified but do not seem too bothered. After some research it is near impossible to get proof of a delivery in Mexico, so eBay are almost guaranteed to give them the money back. If you are unsure send the customer a message to see how they respond. The person I am dealing with ignores messages, which is another redflag.

I'm sorry this happened to you! I hope things get straightened out quick. One of the best ways anyone can protect their account is to not use the same password for all of their accounts. People do this for convenience, but once one account is hacked, all of your accounts could be hacked. Use a password manager and create unique, strong, and long passwords for each of your accounts.

Sorry that you're going through this. I hope they get it figured out soon. Thanks for the warning.

Just had someone place an order on my old navy account. I looked and I couldn’t find a charge on any of my credit cards, so I think they used my account to order and they used probably a stolen card and had it shipped to an address I didn’t know. Wonder if that could be happening on Etsy also.

I'm definitely going to make stuff that wouldnt make sense to order multiple times

Thank you so much for sharing! We want to launch our business on Etsy, so I’ve been watching a LOT of videos about Etsy. Thank you for this warning! This is a different type of scam that I’ve watched so far. Thank you very much for sharing this experience. I am subbing to your channel so I don’t miss how this is resolved. I hope it is resolved QUICKLY for your sake! I can feel your stress and I am so sorry this has happened to you. Remember to stop and take several deep breaths in, hold it for a bit and exhale. Sending love light 💫and blessings to you and your family!🙏🏻💕🕊️✨

basically the way the scam works is they use a stolen card to purchase then after you sent it out its too late they dispute it, get your item for free and then they sell it. watch out cuz drop shippers are starting to do it too.

These scammers are going after buyers, and sellers pretending to be Etsy support, asking for verifications, taking over Etsy accounts, and, or, draining bank accounts. It's been going on since around July of this year. Looks like this one was doing some holiday shopping.

People have too much time on their hands to mess with people who are trying earn some money. Shame on them!!

Well that sounds fun! Sorry that you are having that happen to your store. Hope Etsy shuts them down soon so you don't have to deal with it.

This happened to me and my daughter on Amazon and Ebay. People would order books/stickers, ask for a refund and keep the items. We stopped selling because it was happening so frequently and we both were losing inventory and money. Hope this stops..

Good going Sallie. You're obviously very smart and diligent. Boy, there are a lot of rotten people out there! Thanks for the heads up.

My guess is that it could be a competitor trying to screw you over

So sorry this is happening to you. I hope somehow these scammers get caught. I got scammed last year for a few hundred dollars and it was not a good feeling….

Yes I did yesterday. I did give information to them. I hit myself in the head and called my bank and canceled my credit card…..it looked so real. But when I got a message from a suspicious person trying to order, saying my account needed to be verified, I knew! These are sick people. Good luck in the future. Thanks for the video.

Omg how awful. Sending prayers this gets handled. How frustrating!

This video was very informative and I’m sorry that you are going through this. Could it be a competitor who is trying to get your shop taken down by creating multiple fake disputes? 😢

Thank you for sharing your experience ❤

I received larger orders last night - 3 large orders total from same address but one is a female name and one is a male for 2 orders- russian names to an address in Portland Oregon. The orders all came to $350 - eeeek

Etsy has been sketchy. Someone messaged me about buying my shop for $3000 bc I had good reviews.

Thanks for sharing your experience on YT. The more information people get about different scams the faster scammers may be convinced it’s time to get real jobs. It looks like the scammers are trying to develop a refund scam. I hope you don’t have any problems with your reputation on Etsy.

I just got an email from someone asking for my Etsy email address which I use for my shop. She said she is from Etsy technical support team and wanna make sure my account is valid. I tried to block this person or report spam, but I don’t see any option on Etsy side to do that.

Can you require a non refundable deposit to cover your costs in case the order is a scam and state it in this listing? This is crazy. So they can’t order then scam you.

Thanks so much for sharing!

I'm sorry this happened to you. Thank you for telling us and best of luck with all of this.

Thanks for sharing this information!

Thank you and I'm very sorry this happen to you. This video is very helpful. 💛

They're reselling your items after getting them for free. Don't fill any more of these orders, and once a person disputes a charge, don't sell to them anymore.

It’d be nice if banks started limiting chargebacks or causing people to pay for chargebacks if they lied

If you think it could be helpful consider also contacting the apartment manager for your buyer's apartment to verify identification.

I love your shop!!

Had a scam on my ordering. Showed orders shipped by fedex, false tracking number, sent wrong picture of my house, charged my credit card, all same person with different accounts, morocco, india, hit me for over 200.00, then disputed..i filed misused complaint, was credited everything, the scammer removed their site. Didn't know etsy had chat line.

Thank you....I'm going to double check all my info right now.

Thanks for the tip. I never used Etsy, never liked the vibe. I use word of mouth and its enough for what i can handle (custom 3d printing and modeling)

I just got a repeat order from someone before the first is delivered. I’m curious how that’ll go. Hoping it’s just a true repeat order and Not a scam

Thanks for sharing!

This is crazy! I can't believe this, if you didn't get that email from your buyer, you could have sent out a bunch of orders!! Thats so wrong!!! Shopify gives you warnings if an order can be fraudulant or not.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Ugh!! I have been selling on Etsy for a while now and these days it seems like people are talking about a new scam every week. I'm going to be trying to move away from the platform for various reasons in the new year as much as I can.

This is flat out Sad! Why would anyone want to do something like this. Hope this all gets taken care of.

Thanks for sharing... sounds like a nightmare..

New to your channel. I’m sorry that this happened to you, I am a new Etsy shop owner and I had a lot of emails saying they loved my items and needed my email address because they could not use there Etsy gift card. But they sent email like this e.mai.l and I had multiple people with different name saying that they loved my items and can’t buy anything without my email. Your content helps a lot thanks.

Omg, this happened to me. Accounts and emails deactivated. Multiple same custom orders with same mail address but different user names/accounts. Most were cancelled by Etsy within a few hours of the order coming in. A few I manually cancelled. I suspected it had to do with disputed charged since Etsy kept canceling the orders. Ive had 2 "customers" one in maine and one in cali. Smh. I think they were making fake accouts and just disputing their cards or using stolen cards.

If theyre disputing their 'bank'.. are they using the same card or how were they paying? because if theyre using the same bank.. i think their bank would also be suspicious of what is going on. If they are doing something illegal then thats terrible. The scamming is really rampant these days

sadly cancelling an order negatively impacts the seo of the product, and ultimately the shop. you can get flagged by etsy as a risky account and they will put a reserve on your payment account.

i keep seeing, that i have a sale, however when i look into it, from the platform i don't see anything, how are you notified if you have a sale?

ive been getting a few spammy msg. I simply redirect them to contact etsy then trash the message. I dont want to waste time

So sad to hear about this i hope it grts resolved

Well done Sal

if your shop has a no refund or return in place is this still an issue?

This could be money laundering too. A lot of times when I worked in banking and credit cards, we would get calls like this from people who were disputing charges and it was a way to clean the money.

Yea similar thing happened to me! Where an order went through I shipped it! And then I got an email saying that they did not order the item and will be disputing it, the person sent the message was different from the one that shipped!

Thank you for the insight and the lovely video. If I may say if you would invest in a lapel mic, your sound quality will be so much better.

So one item was received but they are saying they didn't order it and want a refund. Did they return said item?

Thank you .

They will tell you that they didn't place the order even though they did they report to their bank which will pull from you plus they're asking you for a refund. They get the item plus double the money

Ummmmm..... Just my 3¢... BUT two things that I take issue with in regards to Etsy... The big one is shop owners having to send an email for support and having to wait days to get a reply from them!!.. not to mention that the response is No help or give ease of mind to the shop owner. It's fair to also guess that the chat option is probably not an actual person either.. But then the second thing is in regards to things Etsy says to keep your accounts secure... " Know who your talking to!!" Well if they don't show you any information about who you are talking to or dealing with, or don't give you any of this information ounce you report a problem... How do they actually expect anyone to "Know" who they are talking too?!?! I have bought plenty of stuff off Etsy and it has Always been a good experience!! But have seen and heard too many stories of issue and problems had my shop owners that are crazy and handled poorly by Etsy... I can't see why anyone thinks the are a smart and viable option anymore?!?!

I listed 4 items on etsy as a test. The same day.. scam emails. Good thing I am an ebay pro, otherwise it would have been easy to scam me as a newbie excited seller.. I've come across all kinds at this point. I hope you get this sorted out.

There are eBay buyers who do that -- they do it as a means of getting a free item, claiming they never ordered it.

I have got an email from Etsy support in the last 1 month. Asking from some info then I check the profile is gone next day.