Online Purchase January 26, 2024

Scam Type

Online Purchase Scam

Business Name Used

Thermos Cup Sales

Date Reported

January 26, 2024

Postal Code

97008

Total Dollars Lost

$ 71

Scam Description

I was searching for a specific brand of travel mug (KeepCup) and found a website (thermoscupsales.com) that claimed to sell a wide range of thermoses at wholesale or discounted prices. I found the cups I wanted at a slight discount and decided to purchase them there. Before purchasing, I did check out the website. I noticed the email on the contact page looked suspicious, but it was a gmail. They had a mailing address in Alabama, and no grammar issues that clearly indicated a foreign presence, so I figured they were US-based. Then I got a popup claiming a customer in Idaho had just purchased a product, so I felt reassured that other US shoppers were using this service. I ordered 3 travel mugs by KeepCup through the website using my Chase Bank debit card. I never received an order confirmation email.
A few days after this purchase I noticed a charge on my online bank statement titled “wallet.sm DOGANA 12/30 Euro 62.36 X 1.108741 (EXCHG RTE)” for $69.13 and a separate charge for $2.07 titled “FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATE ADJUSTMENT FEE 12/30wallet.sm”. I did not make the connection between the website and these transactions, but I knew I had not authorized any foreign transactions, so I immediately reported them as fraud and cancelled my debit card. Chase opened an investigation and refunded the money while it is pending. As far as I’m aware it’s still pending.
About a week after I cancelled my card, I received an email that simply said “Your order has been shipped!” with tracking number AM217230003CN and a link to track this through 17track.net/en. I had no idea what this was but saw something coming from China on the tracking number. I realized this must be the mug order and these two things must be connected. I decided to wait and see what happened. I placed the order on December 30th, and received the tracking number on January 4th. I received the package in the mail on January 22nd. When the package arrived, it was not a box but instead a small padded mailer. Inside was a red cardboard box with a cheaply made necklace that had a plastic stone and an Asian motif flower. I emailed the address that sent me the tracking number (dendrebozier@hotmail.com) on January 23, 2024. This email is different from the email on the website and I have received no response.
I re-visited the original website, and now each page gives me a pop up showing a KeepCup saying the exact same product was “just purchased by [Insert American Name] in [Random US State].” It’s very obvious that the website is using cookies to generate pop ups to reassure me that other Americans are using this website.
Now in hindsight, I believe this company is accepting American orders and fulfilling them with an unrelated, very inexpensive to produce and ship item. By doing this they pocket nearly all of the money paid by consumers, fulfill orders, and then do not respond to customer requests for help. Customers perhaps believe there was simply a warehouse mix up and this company just has bad customer service.

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