Blogshop woman jailed for cheating 37 buyers

More on Blogshop Scams:

Sun, Aug 16, 2009 The Straits Times Blogshop woman jailed for cheating 37 buyers By Serene Luo & Teh Joo Lin A YOUNG woman hawked branded accessories and handbags at bargain prices on her blogshop. But Diana Koh, 21, never delivered the bags, even though she pocketed over $1,000 in total from close to 40 women who responded to her online offers of bags, jewellery casings and make-up pouches. Yesterday, Koh was jailed for three months for cheating 37 victims in March. A district court heard how one of her victims had ordered bags from her via the website, k-sayuri.blog spot.com The site has since been shut down. In early March, the victim had been drawn to the website while surfing the Internet and ordered five bags. Koh promised to mail them to her home. The woman went on to transfer $87 to Koh's bank account but the bags never came. Her subsequent attempts to contact Koh were unsuccessful. When contacted, another victim, a 24-year-old who bought a handbag from Koh for $19, said other sellers had priced it at almost $50. She said Koh claimed she was selling it at a discount as she had to migrate to Australia soon. Asked if she had smelled a rat, the woman said: 'Yes, I did suspect at first. But human beings are greedy and since it's not a huge sum, I decided to try my luck.' Koh is not the only one who has been jailed for an online scam involving the purchase of branded goods. In March this year, the police arrested a woman who went off the radar after collecting over $30,000 online from buyers to make bulk purchases of branded Coach and Kate Spade handbags. She was later jailed. With Internet shopping becoming commonplace, individuals have started to sell goods through postings on auction websites or advertising on their own blogs. Online shoppers said not all sellers can be trusted. Ms Irish Ng, 25, was cheated a couple of years ago when she saw a blouse for sale at a blogshop. She transferred money to the seller's bank account, but the item never arrived. 'Back then, I was young and took it as a lesson learnt. But I think such cases are very common now,' she said. Irked by the prevalence of the scams, the private tutor started a website, www.safeblogshopper.com, to inform online shoppers about dishonest sellers. She compiles information she gets from Internet forums and identifies the dishonest sellers who have been named by online shoppers. She came up with the idea after seeing more complaints of cheating being posted on forums. 'I realised that different forums would talk about different scams, and they may not cross-reference them. It wouldn't be easy for someone to learn about other potential scam shops,' she said. Popular online payment processor PayPal offers those who use its service some form of insurance. It has drawn up policies to allow users to file claims against those sellers which they feel are dishonest, for example, in instances when the goods do not arrive. This article was first published in The Straits Times.

CASE on Blogshops Complaints in Singapore

This article on Safeblogshopper reinforces the idea that maintaining law and order in the blogshopsphere is main a task done by the participants as the authorities do not generally get involved.

From: http://www.safeblogshopper.com/2011/01/05/announcements/news-updates-blogshop-complaints-on-case.html


I saw this newspaper report yesterday on ShinMin regarding on CASE (Consumers Association of Singapore) receiving 41 cases of blogshops complaints. Let me do the translation on this article for you.

*Translation*:

Yellow Title: The rising trend of purchasing online

Purple Title: CASE received 41 cases of complaints against online sellers.

As more Singaporeans are shopping online, CASE received 41 cases of complaints against online sellers. The number reported is twice the number reported in 2009!

The complaints were mostly on sellers who did not deliver the items to the consumer or delay in item deliveries. Some of the consumers complained that they have received fake brands or damaged goods without any compensation.

One of the consumers bought a skirt costed $28 from an online shop last year June. After making the payment, the seller mentioned that the skirt is out of stock and requested her to chose another item. Despite that the other item that she chose was also out of stock after a month, the seller did not make any refunds.
The seller finally mailed the skirt to her after CASE was involved.

Currently CASE is resolving another similar case. As for the rest of the 39 cases, the consumers did approach CASE for advice, but decided to resolve it themselves.

The Secretary of CASE, Mr. Seah Seng Choon believed that there were even more people with these unhappy experiences. But they did not report to CASE as the money involved is not huge. "They may take this as a learning lesson and stop shopping from the online shops or websites."

Mr.Seah Seng Choon also said that it was difficult to resolve such cases as consumers did not have the contact name and address of the online shops. Some websites were even from overseas countries.

Advice from CASE: CASE advised consumers to meet the seller when purchasing items that are of high worth. Also, they must beware of websites which did not reveal any contact address or contact number.
Consumers should report to the police once they find anything amiss.

According to one of the marketing companies survey, Singaporeans spent $6,890,000 on online purchases last year. This amount is 15 times more than the amount reported in 1999. The most popular online items are apparels, shoes and electronic appliances.  ~ End of article

Note from Editorial:

I have personally called CASE before the report was out last month asking if they deal with complaints against blogshops. The customer service told me they do not deal with blogshops, except registered companies.

We all know the difficulties of nabbing online blogshops because of the lack of contact information. Therefore we need all the cooperation from the public to work together and form a strong community in defending our consumers' rights and pockets.

SafeBlogShopper already helped resolved over 7 cases and reported over 36 complaints and scam blogshops. We will continue with what we are doing even if is not easy to attain a perfect score.
We hope all shoppers will feel safe when shopping, knowing that we are always here to help. =)

Happy 2011!

With many loves,

Irish

Yet another blogshopper complaining about her blogshop experiences.

From the Ann Rant blog: http://annrants.blogspot.com/2010/09/hais-yet-another-unpleasant-blogshop.html

Hais yet another unpleasant blogshop experience.. @ Thursday, September 23, 2010

I'm going to share with you all about my unpleasant experiences with blogshops. So far, out of 4 - 5 clothes I have ordered online, I have met with 3 unpleasant experiences already. So... for me, online shopping isn't really enjoyable. In addition, some clothes I ordered from online I only worn them once. Cos from the net, what you see and the actual piece is really different. May look good on the model, but when you wear ah... it becomes a piece of rag. PLUS, some may look perfect online. But you totally cannot wear them one. All about angle and hiding all the flaws! For example this: Very chio hor? Still comes with free belt and the outer jacket is attached with the top. So no need so mafan buy 2 pieces separately. Thought I had a good deal man. Then when it came, In front not bad. What about behind? Where got people wear cardigan and wear the belt OUTSIDE the cardigan one? Retarded much? And FYI, the cardigan and the top are TOGETHER as one piece, I cannot separate the two pieces and tie the belt under the cardigan. Damn it. And you see that little black thing protruding out from the left side? That's the end of the BELT which I cannot find any 'holder' on the belt to stop it from sticking out. Who the hell wears a belt around the waist but has the end sticking out like that? Which explains why I can't find any backviews for this piece of top. I feel so scammed. ): So people, please make sure you email and ask for more details/pictures of the top you're going to buy. If not you're going to regret. Blame it on me for wanting all-in-one tops. I figured it would be better if I shopped around more buying separate pieces... --- Next, the really mad + fucking pissing thing is that when the stocks are WRONG.. FIRST INCIDENT I ordered a dress from a blogshop, preparing it for CNY outfit. The blogshop was introduced by a friend because the blogshop owner was my friend's friend. So I thought okay no problem I can help her friend also ma. So just browse browse and look, hmm. A dress caught my attention! Told my friend to help me order so my friend just SMSed the blogshop owner directly. When the piece came, it was a wrong dress. I asked my friend how come it's not the one I wanted? She said she had no idea. I went on to clarify with the blogshop owner stating that it's the wrong piece. Her attitude was darn rotten and she told me she had sent out all the pieces to other people and this dress was the only piece left, therefore it had to be MINE. I told her it's not mine and that my friend helped me with the order through SMS, therefore no Black & White (email) to prove. She said she had deleted the SMS and so I had no chance to prove that I was telling the truth, EVEN WHEN MY FRIEND TOLD ME SHE ORDERED THE CORRECT DRESS. Man that sucked hell much, I gave that piece of dress to another friend who was interested, for free! Because I was so mad I didn't want anything to do with that piece of fucked up dress. And the blogshop owner posted my Handphone number in her blog saying that I'm in the blacklist lol. Had to threaten her with the law and posting of private information online to make her censor my last two digits of my phone number. I learnt that one shouldn't buy from a blogshop just because the owner is linked with you through a mutual friend. So don't think you're doing a good deed by helping your friend buy things, things get so ugly when problems arise. And please ah, DIE DIE MUST ORDER IN BLACK AND WHITE!! Even if the owner is your friend or your friend's cousin or friend's friend, BLACK AND WHITE. REMEMBER. SECOND INCIDENT ... which just happened today, is from a blogshop I saw through facebook, and it is quite reputable for it's name. I shall not disclose it but it looks almost like 'Vic____'s 5 cents'. Some people may figure that out but hmmm I'm not posting it. ^^ (can MSN me ask if you really want to know) I ordered this top online since mid July. Paid up and she responds quite quickly too. Told me that the top should be arriving by end July. So I waited and waited. Until end July still no news. I waited again till start of August. I messaged her and asked if the stocks are arriving. This time she told me mid August. I wasn't in a rush to get the top, so I'm okay with it and just waited. Mid August came and no news yet! I didn't contact her, I just waited and waited. Wait until end August! I messaged her and asked about it. She told me 'reaching soon, will message you when the stocks come.' I was quite happy. So I waited and waited. Until September came and there were still no news. I waited till MID SEP. I messaged her and asked. She told me 'Taiwan is having holidays now so no workers to deliver it here.. So sorry.' I'm STILL OKAY WITH IT although I'm abit unhappy. But nevermind since I'm not in a rush, I just wait. From July until Mid Sep she has been dragging and dragging. Being such a nice customer and not wanting to stress the owner, I just quietly wait and wait. Here comes today, 23 September. She finally messaged me. 'Hi ann, you've ordered a top from me. But the supplier give me the wrong stock. Can you choose within these 3 tops? Top A Top B or Top C?' Feeling cheated, because I waited 2 months plus for a god damn shirt and I just want that shirt, I replied: 'Huh... Is it possible for a refund? Cos I only want that Mickey Mouse top...' Do you know how hard is it to control my temper and not scold her and still REQUEST (not DEMAND) for a refund? Here's what she said: 'Sorry. Can't. Top C is Mickey Mouse too, but different style. Hope you can take that piece. Cos my supplier said can't refund. Really sorry.' Me said: 'But my size dun suit that kind of top. I think since this is not my fault then you should be responsible for it? Cos I really dunwan other pieces. I don't think it is fair for me to wait so long end up I have to choose a top I don't even like. If you were me, will you be happy?' I have to emphasize that I did look at the other top but I really don't like it. And I really don't think I should be the one suffering the consequences for a mistake which I didn't play a part in at all. Ok maybe the only mistake was ordering from her. Anyway, her reply: 'Really sorry, it is stated in my t & c that we are not liable to bear any responsibility for wrong item. Top C is freesize (: cos I've spent more than an hour at my supplier's to ask for refund. She insist there is no refund.' What to do? People t & c also state liao. Blame yourself for not reading la Ann. Make so much noise for what? People help you bargain 1 hour plus for refund liao you still want to stress people meh? Bo bian lor I anyhow choose a top and give my sister liao lor. If she don't want maybe I just hang it in wardrobe let it rot or I post online see who want I give for free lor. Lesson learnt: See more, buy less. Fuck blogshops.

RM26 Scams

Considering the size of blogshops and their transactions, scams are a major issue even if the amount under question is RM26... or RM10.

This blogshop owner (who is herself a customer) takes a couple of 'scammers' to task on her blog.  This is how they deal with fraud (warning: coarse language)

From: http://instocksforbabes.blogspot.com/2010/09/blacklisted-shame-on-you-btch_11.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blacklisted ; shame on you! B!tch.

Name: Loh Qi min
School : River valley high school
lohqimin@hotmail.com

Number : 97752462
Email : th-maximumhearts@hotmail.com

blogshop: http://clear-your-wishlist.blogspot.com
Current blogshop: http://your-shoppingchapter.blogspot.com

Personal blog:

http://hearts-.tumblr.com/

http://insanetear-s.blogspot.com/

http://chalkscribble-s.blogspot.com/

http://fadingtruth-s.blogspot.com/

http://99lithiumrose-s.blogspot.com/

Seriously, she is a kindhearted people but i dontknow how she ended up scamming!
Previously, i have bought some items from her and the items is OOS so she refunded me my money asap! Wow, after that, i trusted her as a decent girl. But who knows?

I bought a FBT and a cartoon tee from her. and wad the hell, both items' supplier ran away. Ok, at that point of time, i put alot of trust on her cos she is the one who msg me first about the status of the items, and yes, she promised to refund me asap.

Fine, i dont press her very tight, as i believed she needs time as well. However, after quite a long time, i msg her again when can i have my refund? She replied asap. Okay, so afterwards, we arranged a meetup at woodlands. I turned up and after waiting her for a freaking long time and spammed her with calls and smses, she pick up and said she just woke up?

Nvrmind, i told her since she is one who didnt turn up, she should come to my convenience. Yes, she agreed. We arranged the meetup few days later. I arranged the time around the morning, i turned up again and i was rushing to school. P/S: Its on a holiday! She said she is coming alr, but so long, yet i dont even see a single soul of her?

FINE, I FLARED UP! I asked her to mail the money thru concealed cash. She dont do bank transfer -,- Ok, she said she mailed out. Yet, i dont received a single cent from her nor the envelope?

She said its lost or either i've received yet i claimed i have not. If i have received, will i keep pressing you for the $26 like crazy woman liddat? and wads more, she said its mailed by her parents. Fine, so i said i demand a explaination from her parents. She said her dad is working till 11pm, from the morning as well as her mom.

HEH? EVEN WEEKEND LEH! SINCE HER PARENTS IS SO BUSY, HOW ARE THEY SUPPOSE TO MAIL YOUR "ENVELOPE THAT CONTAINED MONEY?" PLEASE WHERE IS THE LOGIC? THEN I FOUND OUT SHE SCAMMED ALOT OF MONEY FROM OTHERS TO HER.

KARMA TURNS AROUND, ONE DAY YOU WILL GET YOUR RETRIBUTION. DONT WORRY.

SHAME ON YOU ! >< Beware .

P/S: OTHER BLOGSHOPS HAD ALSO BLACKLISTED HER TOO.

Number two slut.
SHE IS THE OWNER OF THE HTTP://SPIKEMYNOSTRILS.BLOGSPOT.COM and http://xoxolullabys.blogspot.com!

NICHELLE LOW!

90050844 OR 82504654.


Its still operating and alot of people is buying from her.

However, the number of people who are waiting for reply is increasing well!

SHE SCAMMED MY $10. OK, I KNOW ITS NOT ALOT BUT STILL M.O.N.E.Y RIGHT?!　

I bought a white cardigan from her, then not long afterwards, i transfered the money to her bank acct. She said she is mailing out, ok i waited patiently. BUT WTH? Up till now, after 2 months, i didnt even get single item from her? She said her friend mailed to the address, not its return to them. SO SHE SAID SHE WILL MAILED OUT ASAP AND CORRECTLY! YES, SHE SAID SHE MAILED? BUT I DIDNT GET ANY SHYT?

She said she will refund money to me if i want, and she say its just $10, i do not need to keep rushing her until liddat? After that, she promised that she will transfer the money by 15th July.

@ 16July, when i msg and called her again, her phone number was not in service anymore? Guilty or wad? So changed your phone number? OK, then went to her blogshop again, she said that she changed her phone number. However, no matter how i spammed calls or smses to her "new phone number" , she refused to pick up nor reply to my msg. Wad does this show? You guilty bcos YOU SCAM MY MONEY.

Karma turns around , and will bite you back. Just wait and see. I will lodge a police report to you!

This slut is also blackisted by :
1) http://thlady-closet.blogspot.com
2) http://cw-dinosaur.onsugar.com
3) http://jelliesandroses.blogspot.com
4) http://paperbags-avenue.blogspot.com
5) http://jelliesandroses.blogspot.com/search/label/blacklisted
6)http://stepabc.weebly.com/hell-of-shame.html

and more.

Spree Scam- $35,000 go missing

 Blogshopping is susceptible to scams.  Here is how it has occurred big time with a blogshop spree.

 From the Safe Blogger site: http://www.safeblogshopper.com/2010/04/03/announcements/35000-in-online-shopping-spree-orders-go.html 

$35,000 in online shopping spree orders go ‘missing’

April 3, 2010 by safeblogshopper  

Netizens file over 40 police reports and 2 online petitions against teen organiser.

By Liew Hanqing,
 

OLD-school shoppers don’t trust greasy-looking salesmen.

But with online shopping, you often don’t even get to meet the seller.

Naomi Kurashige, 17, had a good reputation for getting discounts from overseas suppliers for local buyers.
Most of her customers had never met her but they had no qualms about wiring her hundreds of dollars in orders.

Today, there are over 40 police reports against her because $35,000 in orders went “missing”.
Police said they are investigating.

People like Naomi are the middlemen in an online shopping method known as spree shopping.
Her job is to hook up with overseas suppliers and then send out alerts to potential buyers here enticing them with discounts.

Customers like shopping this way because they save on shipping.

That’s when things go well.

For a few months, Naomi made a profit. Then things went horribly wrong.

She claimed that after receiving money from customers here, she wired $35,000 to a UK supplier. But he went missing, and so did the money.

Ignored
She now has two petitions against her and has been flamed on several blogs on Livejournal.com and forums, including Cozycot.com and Hardwarezone.com.

Some online shoppers have accused Naomi of collecting money from them, but not delivering their purchases.
Naomi had organised numerous online sprees under her online nickname, Insert-itemname. In just a few months, she collected about $35,000 for the sprees.

Then her customers waited. But nothing was delivered.

One shopper, Miss Michelle Goh, 23, a project manager, said she paid Naomi about $600 in September for clothing orders from various online retailers such as American Apparel and Urban Outfitters.

She said: “Before I placed an order with Naomi, I did a search about her online. I checked feedback about her and it was okay at the time.

“I don’t know how things turned so nasty in just a couple of months.”

When nothing was delivered, she claimed she wrote to Naomi but her e-mails were ignored.

Miss Goh added: “I got worried. Then she started sending mass e-mails about refunds, but the refunds never came.”

Another participant, Miss Pearlyn Yeo, 23, joined another spree organised by Naomi last December and spent $60 on her order.

She said: “She organised a Topshop spree. I thought it would be a good deal, so I decided to take part.”
Unlike Miss Goh, Miss Yeo said she did not do any checks on Naomi.

She recalled: “I waited three weeks (for my purchase) but nothing came, so I e-mailed Naomi but didn’t get a reply.

“I searched for her name online and I found many complaints about her, so I immediately asked for a refund.”
Most of her e-mails, she claimed, went unanswered until several weeks later, when she got an SMS from Naomi saying her order was on the way.


Said Miss Yeo: “It never came even after I called and texted her repeatedly.”
Yet another online shopper, undergraduate Soh Cailing, 20, said she participated in three sprees organised by Naomi between July and September last year and spent $177.

When nothing came, she wrote to Naomi whom she claimed merely offered excuses.

Both Miss Yeo and Cailing lodged claims at the Small Claims Tribunal, but said Naomi never showed up in court for mediation.

Naomi does not dispute this.

Angry
So shoppers have turned to venting their anger online, warning others about Naomi.

One netizen collated a list of more than 10 police reports lodged against Naomi and also posted screen captures of e-mail correspondence with her.

The pressure finally got to Naomi.

In a mass e-mail sent to spree participants last October, Naomi wrote: “I have scheduled transfers for the next two weeks, with $500 being transferred every day… “I’m having a big family crisis with this going on, so I will settle these by the next two weeks.”

In the e-mail, Naomi said she would not entertain any phone calls nor reply to any more e-mails.

She added that once she had “settled” all outstanding orders and refunds, she plans to stop organising sprees for good.

The spree participants just want their money back.

Said Miss Soh: “We gave Naomi so many chances, but she’s disappointed everyone so far.”

Miss Goh added: “I asked her to return me $200, but she insisted she was really broke, so I didn’t want to push her and waited.

“True enough, I got back nothing – and now, she won’t even reply to my texts.”

Teenage organiser : I’m a victim too

THAT’S what Naomi Kurashige told The New Paper.

The teenager said she had placed orders worth about $35,000 on behalf of spree participants with a UK-based supplier, who also runs a handphone business.

She claimed he disappeared without a trace in October last year. v She said: “I found this supplier online and he was offering big discounts on several popular brands – between 30 and 70 per cent – so I decided to try ordering from him.”

She said that between June and October last year, she organised a number of sprees and placed a few mass orders from the vendor worth “a few hundred dollars” each time.

She said: “For four months, it worked really well and I managed to make a small profit too.”

Naomi said she would buy the items at a discount from the UK supplier and then resell it to the spree participants at a small profit.”I admit that I got greedy, so I started placing larger and even larger orders. But one day, the site disappeared and I could no longer contact him,” she added.

“I am underaged, so I don’t have a credit card, which meant I couldn’t pay the vendor through Paypal.
“I had to make payment with a money order so I just mailed the vendor the money.”

She added that she did not know she could have insured the order.

She said: “I wish I had known about it. I didn’t even know there was a chance of this happening. I just knew that it was fast money and that I liked doing this business.”

She said she had done some background checks on the UK vendor and they had been favourable.

She said: “He had a verified Paypal account, so I thought everything would be okay.”

She claimed that she has given refunds totalling about $24,000 to some spree participants.

“I’ve had to pay the refunds out of the money that I made earlier. Now, I am broke,” she claimed. “It’s my fault. I started with small orders but I got greedy and I have lost tens of thousands of dollars.”

She said her family knows about her predicament and has “already helped as much as they can”.

She added that she has been told by the police to pay back all those who have placed orders with her.

“The police said I have to pay everybody back, or be prepared to go to jail. Even if I do pay people back, there is no guarantee that they will drop the charges against me,” she said.

“I have to find a job that will allow me to save enough to pay everybody back.

“I am trying my best. I just didn’t expect things to get so big so quickly.”

Case: Exercise caution

THE Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) received 11 complaints related to online shopping, blog shops and sprees last year, compared to 20 in 2008.

Mr Seah Seng Choon, Case’s executive director, said consumers should exercise caution before carrying out any online transaction.

He noted: “Should there be a dispute, a consumer may be unable to take any action against the seller, especially when there are no contact details, or if the seller is from another country.”

He said there are several precautions online shoppers can heed:

Do research about suppliers before making any purchases.

Be wary of companies which do not reveal their address and contact details.

Shoppers should try, as far as possible, to deal with registered businesses or businesses that are certified to be trustworthy. Shoppers can check if a business is registered by using the online directory on the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority website,www.acra.gov.sg

Always get contact details of the sellers or spree organisers and suppliers.

In cases where bulky items such as bags are purchased from blogs, ask for a meet-up to receive the items and pay the remaining amount on the spot rather than paying in full upon ordering the items.

If consumers suspect something is amiss, a police report should be lodged.

Consumers should transact with accredited sites, such as those that show the “TrustSg” Trustmark or the CaseTrust Trustmark as such businesses are assessed to have met a set of required standards.

Figures from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore’s website show that, of Internet users aged 15 years and above who have used the Internet in 2008, 36 per cent shop online, an increase of over 27 per cent in 2004.

PayPal said the volume of online PayPal transactions made with overseas-based stores by consumers in Singapore has been growing by over 70 per cent annually.

Source: http://www.digitalone.com.sg/news/article/11058