[HN Gopher] Fake Online Storefronts in 2021
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Fake Online Storefronts in 2021
        
       Lately I've come across quite a few online storefronts that appear
       to be fake. Mostly showing up in Google Shopping results. They are
       fully-functioning ecommerce sites, with a realistic inventory, a
       full suite of active social media accounts, but with a distinct
       tinge of...fraud.  Take this one, for example:
       https://homespacedecor.com/  https://twitter.com/homespacedecor
       Street view of their address in Houston:
       https://goo.gl/maps/fakpcpmGyytGRt167  Is it just me, or has this
       problem recently gotten worse? Are these organized carding scams?
       Has there been any good investigative reporting about it?
        
       Author : montag
       Score  : 4 points
       Date   : 2021-12-08 22:12 UTC (51 minutes ago)
        
       | samwillis wrote:
       | Out of interest what is it that makes you believe that site is
       | fake?
       | 
       | From a very quick skim it portentously looks like a fairly
       | standard drop shipping operation to me. (None of their own
       | photography, attempt at lots of seo text, somewhat strange
       | selection of products)
       | 
       | There is an explosion of drop shipping sites at the moment, I
       | think connected to lots of people selling courses on how to "get
       | rich quick" by drop shipping.
        
         | mtmail wrote:
         | Even Amazon started without inventory. The website was the
         | Ingram wholesaler catalogue, Amazon displayed 2-3 day shipping
         | and would quickly order the book from the wholesaler within
         | 24h. Only after a year of operation they started to directly
         | pre-buy from publishers (top 100 books). I used to work at a
         | similar company. As long as the sales margins are good and
         | support burden manageable it's a decent business. These days
         | dropshippers outsource shipping, returns.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | stolenmerch wrote:
       | In this case it might be a drop shipper, which is completely
       | legit. I've seen other fake stores, however, that scrape listings
       | from eBay and offer them on their "store". They somehow generate
       | valid USPS tracking numbers yet never send your item. They only
       | take PayPal because PayPal will not accept any disputed charge
       | with a tracking number.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-12-08 23:03 UTC)