Cocomaking

Victim Location 19143

Type of a scam Online Purchase

I purchased an item through an Instagram ad in December. The item depicted in the ad was a cactus-shaped cat cactus post, which included videos of the product. I placed an order and weeks went by and I had not received a shipping confirmation. The website, cocomaking.com, which was powered through Shopify, became defunct and was no longer available. Finally, a month later, I received a small bag of rope which did not match the item I had ordered from the ad. I filed a claim through PayPal and the best they could do for me was offer a partial refund of a measly $6 out of the $31 I paid, or send the item back to China for a full refund (the cost international shipping exceeds this). Luckily, I also disputed it through my credit card company and won the case. I did some research and it turns out scammers in China create fake web stores with Shopify and engage in fraudulent advertising and a bait-and-switch scheme in which the customer receives a different item at much lower value. The “company” also claimed to be based in Irvine, California, but the package I received was from Guangdong, China. They operate under other domains such as “borrent.store,” “greydragon.net,” and “animalhug.com” to name a few. There are several more. The Instagram handle is @goodsbibi250 which is still active. Hundreds of people had the same experience if you look at trustpilot.com. These scammers need to be reprimanded before the continue swindling other victims.