Caught in a Complicated Fraud Scheme and Didn’t Get It – How Scammers Get Goods in Exchange for Foreign Money

I got a letter from the bailiffs

Salesperson Simona (name changed – Delphi) Vinted sold Prada sunglasses on the platform for 99 euros. A buyer, as it was later discovered, a scammer, asked the seller for a bank account to transfer money for glasses. At the same time, the buyer Simona indicated the address of the post office and her first and last name.

The seller received the payment, but the payment was not made on behalf of the current buyer, but on behalf of someone else. This did not make her suspicious.

After payment, Simona sent the glasses to the specified address, took a photo of the check, which recorded the fact of shipment, and presented a photo of the check within Vinted platform buyers. A few days later, the buyer deleted the questionnaire. Vinted platform.

A few weeks later, the seller received a letter from the Šiauliai bailiffs about the debt at Citadele Bank. Simona, who was never in debt, was shocked and called the sheriff’s office. Coincidentally, the girl who worked as a bailiff got into the same fraud scheme, but she still did not know it.

“I rushed to call the bank. They informed me that I am not their client, they do not understand anything. Then I call the sheriff’s office, I hear the sheriff answering ask aloud if anyone knows who Mrs. Simon is. I am terribly nervous. Then the girl who works for the bailiff picks up the phone and says: “I transferred 99 euros to you for the furs that you sold on Facebook.” I listen hastily and say that I do not trade on Facebook, and I have not sold furs during this period ” says Simona.

The sheriff’s girl bought furs on Facebook, possibly from the same scammer, only in this case the scammer-buyer turned into a scammer-seller. The scammer told a sheriff that he bought imaginary furs from dealers Vinted (Simona) bank account.

The girl who worked in the bailiff transferred 99 euros to the sellers for the skin of Vinted, but did not get hair. Only then did Simona realize that she had received payment from this woman for the Prada glasses she was selling. In the event of fraud, the seller of Vinted (Simona) returned the amount to the girl who worked for the bailiff.

Simona checked the shipping code to make sure that the shipment had been tried multiple times but was unsuccessful. In this situation, sellers of Vinted the vessels were recovered and no one was injured in this case.

“I went to the post office, I paid 89 cents for a request to return the package, the glasses returned to me a week later. No one suffered just because the woman who bought the skin works in a sheriff’s office and immediately began to” move “To the scammer after the order. Apparently, she was scared and when she called from the post office she didn’t answer,” adds Simona.

Left skinless and moneyless

However, more potential victims of the same fraud have emerged. Gabrielė from Vilnius says she bought furs on Facebook for 150 euros, the scammer took the Gucci belt from another seller who sells money for the money she transferred. Vinted. The woman, who suffered a loss, went to the police, who launched an investigation.

“Facebook market the girl sold fur coats. I became interested in them and wrote to him. We agreed everything, she sent me an invoice, but the account holder’s name is male. I asked her, of course, why not at her expense, her husband said here, nothing terrible. So I transferred 150 euros to him for skins, but I didn’t get them anyway.

A week passed, then another. I kept writing to her, she kept making excuses, she didn’t have time, she had a little boy and so on. Since I couldn’t wait that long, I wrote a statement to the police for the person I transferred the money to and wrote about it on Facebook in a group of scammers. Seeing all this, he blocked me, deleted his Facebook.

The police called me because they found someone to whom I transferred money. And he showed all the correspondence on the Vinted platform, which a member of Vinted also wrote to him about my order (150 Eur), because I transferred money to him, supposedly for fur, and bought an original Gucci belt ”, says Gabrielė.

The victim was left without money or skin, and the fraudster bought a belt for his money. The seller of the belt did not suffer any loss, as the buyer of the imaginary skin (the injured woman) received 150 euros per belt allegedly at his expense.

“The man was in shock when he was contacted by the police because he is from a completely normal family, he works, he has no offenses and he has been accused of fraud and cheating. And it appears and deceives him.

I stay on the ice because I cannot find them in any way, I go to the post office with hoods, masks, the face is not seen, there is no name, the phone number is not used. Vinted – just email an email address that is also not used.

When I read this story (Simon – Delphi)I immediately realized that here is the same person because it works completely identically. The ATM is the same one where I wanted to receive the product. I really hope you find it, because it is a pity, I prefer to donate it to an animal shelter than to some scammer who would better go to work ”, Gabriel gets angryė.

Vinted the platform counts more than 100 cases of fraud

The Lithuanian Criminal Police Office reports that the police are aware of this fraud scheme, however, when analyzing events and reports, such a fraud scheme is recorded only in isolated cases.

According to police data, more than 100 possible cases of fraud have been monitored on the Vinted platform since the beginning of this year through factual analysis and reports, some of which have led to pre-trial investigations.

“Most of the fraud involves sending a false bank statement to the seller, various investigations into obviously counterfeit or poor quality goods received and other cases of administrative misconduct,” police said in a statement.

For individual areas (including isolated ones) related to fraud, no data is collected, but police report that last year the overall investigation into fraud was 60%.

Vinted apologizes to users

Vinted apologizes to members of the community if any of them have experienced any issues using the platform.

„Vinted the safety and trust of community members is our highest priority. We take any fraud case very seriously, including the aforementioned example, and treat each situation on an individual basis, with members contacting our support team.

Depending on the situation, we can remove the user’s ads, restrict the use of the platform. We have also constantly updated internal security tools that restrict previously detected fraudulent members from creating new accounts and continuing to use the Vinted platform.

We also encourage Vinted users to verify their identity through a dedicated verification system. Our teams constantly review their internal security policies and develop or develop new tools to help Vinted members trade safely, ”commented Vinted.

They encourage members to report fraud cases like these to local authorities, as Vinted can only share the information they have with officials and assist in the investigation once they have opened a formal investigation.

“We can confirm that we are still cooperating closely and assisting law enforcement agencies if they request their own investigations,” Vinted notes.

How to identify a scammer

“In general, it’s worth evaluating the seller’s rating before every purchase. Also pay attention to the warnings: you are asked to pay through third parties, in less secure ways, or to reveal sensitive data that is not necessary for the transaction, such as a credit card security code. In this case, or if you have the slightest suspicion of possible fraud, we recommend that you contact our support team and follow their recommendations ”, advises Vinted.

To maximize member security and reduce fraud on the platform, Vinted’s team plans to introduce new tools this year that will create a strong additional security barrier and help reduce fraud attempts by members who trade with each other.

Vinted members can find more information about security or how to block other members in the platform’s Help Center.