AIBU - I Think I've just been scammed by a fake Seasalt webpage

[ByUmberViewer]

I just placed an order on a seasalt webpage for some stuff they are selling really cheaply. When I looked at the order confirmation it said seasalts not seasalt for the company name. I did pay on my credit card.

what can I do to stop it going through. Can't believe I fell for this. Must be getting old.

I fell for it- then instantly realised and cancelled my card and reported it. Got an email this morning saying that my payment failed and would I like to try a different payment method

For many years we have been used to a decent regulatory regime for advertising - a hang over from the strict rules about adverts in printed media. We aren't used to US based companies like Facebook who don't give a shit about our laws or our consumers and take money from scammers with delight.

People imagine Facebook must have some decency about who they accept money from but they don't - and part of this is due to the US's different laws.

Thank you for the alert - I'll make sure to go on the actual site in future

I hope you get your money back

Facebook don't care - they get paid whether the advertiser is a scammer or legit, and no government is making them accountable.

@ByUmberViewer Was just about to share the same article as @listsandbudgets. That article explains EXACTLY what all this is and would foolproof people against this. It’s such a shame more people didn’t happen to see it. Plus it takes them seconds to set up a site. They’re just “scraping” info from the real site, and setting up 100s or 1000s of fakes at a time.

It’s not about the charge going through. It’s about stealing your data.

A vast majority of these charges don’t go through but you absolutely MUST cancel your card, and then, unfortunately, you’ve given them all the info that went with the card; they still know what type of card you have where you live, what your name is, etc. 99% of these scams come from China. So now you REALLY need to be careful.

NOW: if anyone calls you and tells you there’s a problem with your bank account or your credit card, you tell them you’ll call them back and you call back the official number for your bank or card.

And obviously, do not trust any unexpected emails or text messages. Look at the sender VERY carefully (address may not match ‘display name’), don’t pick up calls from unknown foreign numbers OR call any back.

There’s a lot more but Google can do a better job than me, I’m sure.

Good luck, OP! And you’re in good company with 800,000 other people who made a mistake.

And just in case we’re on a new page, here’s that article again:
https://amp.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/may/08/chinese-network-behind-one-of-worlds-largest-online-scams

I've just seen one of these, not somewhere I buy from anyway but it immediately looks dodgy because it's posted by a bloke called Ken with a profile picture of a very busty brunette!!

I also fell for this if it makes you feel better. Placed an order about 30 minutes ago and then had a weird feeling about it not being quite right. Just cancelling cards now. Old enough to know better at 37 but here we are, mistakes happen.

I felt for it too yesterday :(

My bank cancelled my card, but said that because it's gone through my debit card they need to dispute the transaction (despite it obviously being a fake website). And since they are still "pending" I have to wait until the money has actually gone before I can do anything and contact them first. Bank also told me they can try and set up a subscription etc with my card, even now I cancelled it (not sure how that works) and if that happens then I need to dispute that transcation as well. I emailed the obvious bogus website asking them to cancel the orders and refund me, but obviously not expecting to hear back (or get back excuses). Two orders of just shy of £100, feel incredibly stupid for falling for it and mostly worried about all my personal details they have :(

I've been reporting all the fake SEasalt posts for the past couple of weeks; Facebook doesn't care and says the ads are acceptable. Madness.

Another member of the club here – can't believe I fell for the Seasalt ad on Facebook today too. I'm normally careful to the point of paranoia and never buy anything directly on Facebook. One stupid click on an ad - aargh!

Slightly worried now after reading everyone else's replies where they've cancelled their cards. I phoned my CC issuer immediately after making the payment and realising what I'd done but they advised me against cancelling the credit card I'd used and got me to raise a dispute over the payment instead.

Thanks to this thread I avoided it! Something was so off, the availability of every size and no delete button once you'd put something in your basket. I originally clicked on Facebook, but then googled for the company to see if it was real (the sale, I mean, I know Seasalt is real). I'm going to have to clear my cache because all that comes up is the fraudulent verrrrry similar-looking site.

Thank you mumsnet. I was going to order loads of clothes this afternoon!!It was on FB .

Yes I noticed that all sizes available but didn't give it any thought. So glad I didn't get carried away this afternoon with my credit card!

@IFellForThatToo I think I'd be going back to my credit card issuer and asking again for them to cancel the card. I'm almost wondering if they were understanding what you were telling them.

My bank were adamant I had to cancel as well as raise a dispute, not least because the fraudsters had kindly started a recurring payment on the card - effectively a subsription which the bank also cancelled. Like @zusje I'd used a debit card so had to wait for the payment to go through but I did get it all back

@listsandbudgets thank you for posting this, I've been dreading the recurrent payment since my bank said they might do it (so far nothing on direct debits or regular payments is set up), I now just have to wait until I can get my money back (if I do). I've been beating myself up all morning and feeling really stupid for falling for this (I'm 40 soon and in a professional medical role so really should know better) so reading other people's stories makes me feel less alone!! Damn Seasalt with their bautiful but (imo) overpriced clothes!!

@IFellForThatToo definitely cancel your card. I'm surprised the bank didn't automatically do that once you told them you had fallen for a fraud.

FB really don't seem to give a shit. I wish Seasalt and other brands that have been targetted by these scammers would just stop using FB.

I have ordered some stuff from the that seasalt site this morning and found it to be a scam. Thank you Mumsnet for alerting me. I phoned my credit card company as soon as I found out.

@listsandbudgets @entiawest Thanks for the advice - this is definitely bothering me. The CC company told me that I could either raise a dispute or cancel the card while on the phone to them. If I did the second, I couldn't do the first on their systems until a new card was set up, apparently. I definitely told them at least three times that I'd accidentally made a payment to a fake website after following link from social media. She did say that there were no recurring or future payments set up on the account but I'm concerned about the fact the scammers now have the 3 digits on the back of the card along with a load of other personal data... I think I'll keep checking the situation on my CC app today and cancel it tomorrow once the dispute is hopefully up and running on their systems. Totally kicking myself...

Nearly got me - and have to be honest, it was time not sharpness that stopped me going forward. Hope the credit card sort it out promptly for you.

I reported this yesterday to FB. I got to checkout and thought if something looks too good to be true it usually is, then absence of PayPal clinched it. It's a clever scam, because unless you've gone mad it's not a huge amount to lose. Ring your card issuer.

Their official Ebay outlet is really good, I bought 6 tunics from there recently for under £150. So much cheaper than in store.

I fell for it too and realised within half an hour what must have happened so rang the bank, cancelled the payment which was still in pending, cancelled my card and blocked the scammers.

I'd clicked on the website link, thought 'this is too good to be true', knew that I shouldn't follow through with a Facebook ad like this so I went to find the Seasalt website. What I didn't pick up on was that seasaltcornwalluk is not seasaltcornwall proper and I didn't notice and put the order through the scammer's site. The scam site appeared higher on my Google search than the real one, no doubt linked to the fact that I'd clicked the ad. I'm kicking myself.

I also rang Seasalt and they said they know about this and are trying to put a stop to it. Their own data has been lifted so the seasaltcornwalluk website looks like the real one. I wonder if, as soon as this scam became known, it would have made sense to put a warning out on their full customer email list. I know it wouldn't have reached everyone but it would have helped.

DH spoke to someone at Lucy and Yak after we were all served one for them. They say they report to Insta/FB every time and get it taken down but it is like whack a mole. Another just pops up in its place. It's sad and must be so upsetting for the smaller companies just trying to get by.

Hi everyone ! I’ve been scammed too by the fake sea salt website and I’m struggling with what to do and really need some help. I ordered a few bits and i soon came to realise it was a scam after I had already purchased. I paid with a debit card wanting to dispute/cancel this transaction, they said I have to wait until it has gone through as it is still pending. What else can I do in the meantime to stop this, the bank really wasn’t much help at all. Thank you!

Hi everyone ! I’ve been scammed too by the fake sea salt website and I’m struggling with what to do and really need some help. I ordered a few bits and i soon came to realise it was a scam after I had already purchased. I paid with a debit card wanting to dispute/cancel this transaction, they said I have to wait until it has gone through as it is still pending. What else can I do in the meantime to stop this, the bank really wasn’t much help at all. Thank you!