To tell you about this scam

[blubberball]

Posting here for traffic. I was having a bad day and feeling quite upset, and impulsively bought some clothes online. I must have clicked on a Facebook ad called Gothnrock. I ordered in large and extra large. The stuff has come, but the clothes look to be like a UK size 6 or 8. I'm more like a 16. I emailed them about returning the items, and I got an email back saying that I would have to ship the items internationally at my own cost. They said as this is quite expensive and time consuming, they can instead offer me a 40% discount code on another order. I said What's the address for a full refund, and they sent me this address in China

Building 4, 4th floor, 58 Baiye Road Dongguan, Guangdong province Zip code: 523000 China

When I googled the address, it's a known scam. I'm going to my bank to report it tomorrow. The stuff wasn't even cheap. It was $99 for 2 items. I paid in pounds, but it says dollars on the email.

Just wanted to obviously warn people, and see if anyone else knows about this address, as it seems to be an umbrella company for several websites, not just "Gothnrock"

Well in my situation the products that arrived looked nothing like the ones advertised.
The sizes and measurements didn’t match the size guide either.

Not sure that counts as a scam.

Surely you paid online by credit card so can get a refund through your card issuer?

If you buy clothes online, you expect to be able to try them on and make a decision as to if you want to keep them or not. You expect to be able to exchange or refund them smoothly. You don't expect to be told that instead of an exchange or refund for the products you do not want, here's a 40% off code so that you can order more of our shit that's no good to you. Oh you don't want to do that? Then send the clothes to China, even though we shipped them to you from a unit in London, at your expense, and by the way, we're going to charge a random $6 fee for processing your refund. You don't think that's a bit on the scammy side?

Going to the bank tomorrow to see if they can help

The items weren't even cheap like temu or shein or something. They were about £50 each item

I work in fraud and our advice is never click on an advert you see on social media website. You just never know if it is taking you to a legitimate website.

If you see sometime that peeks your interest when scrolling, don't click on the link. Find the genuine merchants website without clicking on links and check trust pilot reviews.

OP, you can raise a dispute and look to get your money back that way if they will not accept your returns.

It’s always best to check the trust pilot reviews as others have said & make sure you read the returns policy. It isn’t that uncommon to have to pay to return items (although returning at a high cost to china isn’t reasonable).

Sorry that happened... I don't trust any clothes off FB unless I have checked they are the real deal. They are either scams or they are stealing designs from smaller makers and creating badly made rip-offs. Anything cute, original or alternative looking that's advertised cheap on FB is always the latter I suspect.

But we've all had unguarded moments when we've fallen for it... during COVID I gave my card details to some random site when someone replied on an online event page that we had to pay to access a streaming service. As soon as I put the details in I realised and immediately cancelled my card - couldn't believe I'd been so dumb, I knew the people running the event and this was just some random person replying. They must have run that scam a lot during COVID. I blame having had a couple of drinks beforehand!

So sorry this happened to you @blubberball. There was a helpful Scam Secrets episode about this. It's a great series which has helped me keep alert to scams. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002h40x?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

That’s crappy, OP. I’m sorry this happened to you.

Don’t buy of Facebook ads, most are scams. That said, I did buy something of a Facebook ad many years ago, but used PayPal to pay and after unsuccessfully communicating with seller, and fortuitously I had taken screenshots as I ordered the stuff compared to what they sent me, they reimbursed me all my money. Not sure if PayPal is as good as it used to be. Another rule of thumb, if the address isn’t on the website, it’s probably a scam.

I do the same after getting scammed by a 'uk' fb page with a game . Ordered 2 cost £30. Absolutely crap, nothing like the advert, tried to claim back through PayPal who refused saying I had to send it back as company were saying they WERE as advertised, would have cost +£30 to return but would not be given postage costs.
I now check everything on trust pilot.

Yes I was going to quote the knitted cardigan scam too. I fell victim to it and got a full refund by threatening to contact trading standards if they didn’t refund me the full amount.

The scam involves taking your personal and bank details though so cancel the card you paid with as they’ll be selling that info on to other criminals.

@blubberball you should definitely cancel the card you paid with, and check activity up to time of cancelling it.

This type of scam isn’t about the clothes - it’s about getting your card info, then using it to set up things like subscription payments and other charges.

I got caught out like this over a pair of shoes. Advertised as suede with a cork wedge...
Took weeks to come....the suede was fake and the cork was literally a sticker along the side of the shoe....never even wore them
Return was to China at my expense. Have never bought from Facebook or Instagram adverts since.

You can probably just dispute the transaction in your internet banking and do it all online.

That’s what I did. The money was back in my account within a couple of days.

If you are buying on Amazon, always check the address of the seller before you buy anything. A lot of the time they will have a “normal” looking name but when you click the address details you will see they are located in China.

That's really good. The lady in the bank cancelled my card, and they've issued another one. Just said that I need to chalk it up to experience, and won't be getting my money back. I might just try to sell the clothes on, as they were fine other than being tiny. Might be someone out there they fit