After the Zalando trick, scammers found a new way to scam money on Vinted. The forums are currently full of entries about a very perfidious trick: as soon as the victims have ordered an item from Vinted and paid for it via the system, they receive a message just seconds later that the package has already been delivered.
A click on the shipment tracking shows the machinations of the fraudsters: The alleged package was sent weeks ago – before the order was even placed. Entering the zip code also spits out an “Invalid”.
Basically, Vinted orders via the system actually work like this: The customer usually pays the shopping provider via PayPal. In return, he receives buyer protection, which is offset proportionately against the amount to be paid. Now the seller has to send the goods in a row via the desired shipping service provider. To prove this, he gives the tracking number to Vinted. The money transferred remains with Vinted until the shipping service provider has confirmed the delivery. The buyer then has two days to confirm the delivery as well and to “activate” the money as a result.
If this two-day deadline is not met, the money will automatically go to the seller and the buyer will no longer have the opportunity to lodge a complaint.
This is exactly where the fraudster’s trick comes in: Since the date of the alleged delivery is usually several weeks in the past, the buyer can no longer respond with a complaint. The two-day period was, so to speak, annulled. There is usually no more feedback from the seller and the money is gone. Vinted’s buyer protection no longer applies.
A CHIP editor has also become a victim of this scam. Actually, she just wanted to buy a summer dress, then the wrong tracking number came. Afterwards, she noticed that the affected articles were subsequently relisted and that other accounts were also using the same product images. She then wrote to Vinted directly via the two possible complaint channels on the site. Both times, however, she only received an automated response. The deadline had already passed and she had not reported at the time. An objection is therefore no longer possible.
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The fact that reporting is not possible more than a month in advance was not addressed. But Vinted apparently reacted to a message from PayPal, as can be seen from several user reports. However, the users write that they were subsequently threatened with termination by standardized email. Customers should therefore withdraw the complaint with PayPal – otherwise the Vinted account is threatened with deletion.
Our colleague saw an e-mail to the address legal@vinted.de as the last resort – here too, however, only a standard e-mail reply has so far come. It is completely unclear whether she will ever get her money or the goods (back).
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The original of this post “New scam in the shopping app Vinted undermines buyer protection” comes from chip.de.
