Walmart to Amazon Triangulation Scam Amazon Sellers Be Aware With Customer Messages!
Amazon Seller for 11 years now. I have been noticing strange customer messages as if someone is using a translator. Similar to past conversations with manufacturers on Alibaba. I have been noticing a pattern with these messages using the same or similar words and/or phrases. All customer messages were referring that they never received their package wanting a full refund regardless of what the tracking shows.
I started digging deeper in the seller forums. I was told that our Amazon listings get hijacked by a Chinese based company. That will copy the Amazon listing information to create new listings on Walmart Marketplace.
Essentially, what is happening is this Chinese based company receives an order on the Walmart Marketplace. They will then, I assume, create or alter an existing Amazon customer account using the Walmart customers name. They will place an order with the Amazon seller to have that item drop shipped to the Walmart customer. The chinese based company will then collect the funds from the Walmart sale and message the Amazon seller stating they didn't receive the package. Which based on Amazon's policies mean they are unfortunately getting a full refund majority of the time.
To prove fraudulent intent, I went ahead and placed an order on Walmart using my personal Walmart+ account from a company that I suspected was the cause for my product/customer issues on the Amazon side. 2 hours later I received an order from the fraudulent company using my name as the "customer" for my Amazon seller account. At that time it proved my hunch that I was correct. However, to take it a step further I fulfilled my own order in hopes the company disguising themselves as me would message asking for a refund claiming the package was not delivered. In which they did exactly that.
Here are examples of the patterns in messages that are supposed to be different customer but yet are same fraudulent company placing dropship orders.
"Hello, where is my order? i checked my surroundings and asked my wife's confirmation, they never saw any package left at my house. it has been several days, i guess it must be lost. these days extreme weather happens suddenly, I have no idea whether there are associated. could you refund for my lost package now? i no longer want it!"
"Solution! i need a solution! i am urgent and desperate please. i want my money back and i will not accept money paid without successful delivery, i cannot bear big loss. i hope you can understand! thanks."
"According to tracking info it seems delieved successfully, however, there is no any package left nearby. i tried my best to locate it and found out nothing there. now i hope you can just refund my lost package and i am thankful for ur understanding!"
"what's wrong with my order? i checked everywhere it may have been delivered, but the result is nothing I found out. i don't want to wait anymore, Please refund. i will appreciate your service here."
"excuse me, i want to ask why my package still not arrive, something happened? please help me with a refund, i still haven’t received the parcel."
"I confirmed there is no parcel left at the mailbox, also I have asked neighbors for the parcel of the order many times, no result. they don't care about it at all. Please refund. i can't bear the loss."
"Excuse me? is there someone who can help me to refund my order since i never receive it. i purchased it days before, i don't want to have them since it so long time and still not show up yet. i want my money to be returned please."
"i have checked everywhere it may have been delivered, at the same time i asked the neighbors, The result was nothing I found out. I wasted so long time for this matter. I don't want to wait anymore. please refund my lost order."
"this shopping experience is not good, i never get my item yet which has been accidentally marked delivered. for me this is not fair, i lost my money and i cannot bear the big loss. Please refund, otherwise i will report your shop for its worst shopping experience."
Walmart to Amazon Triangulation Scam Amazon Sellers Be Aware With Customer Messages!
Amazon Seller for 11 years now. I have been noticing strange customer messages as if someone is using a translator. Similar to past conversations with manufacturers on Alibaba. I have been noticing a pattern with these messages using the same or similar words and/or phrases. All customer messages were referring that they never received their package wanting a full refund regardless of what the tracking shows.
I started digging deeper in the seller forums. I was told that our Amazon listings get hijacked by a Chinese based company. That will copy the Amazon listing information to create new listings on Walmart Marketplace.
Essentially, what is happening is this Chinese based company receives an order on the Walmart Marketplace. They will then, I assume, create or alter an existing Amazon customer account using the Walmart customers name. They will place an order with the Amazon seller to have that item drop shipped to the Walmart customer. The chinese based company will then collect the funds from the Walmart sale and message the Amazon seller stating they didn't receive the package. Which based on Amazon's policies mean they are unfortunately getting a full refund majority of the time.
To prove fraudulent intent, I went ahead and placed an order on Walmart using my personal Walmart+ account from a company that I suspected was the cause for my product/customer issues on the Amazon side. 2 hours later I received an order from the fraudulent company using my name as the "customer" for my Amazon seller account. At that time it proved my hunch that I was correct. However, to take it a step further I fulfilled my own order in hopes the company disguising themselves as me would message asking for a refund claiming the package was not delivered. In which they did exactly that.
Here are examples of the patterns in messages that are supposed to be different customer but yet are same fraudulent company placing dropship orders.
"Hello, where is my order? i checked my surroundings and asked my wife's confirmation, they never saw any package left at my house. it has been several days, i guess it must be lost. these days extreme weather happens suddenly, I have no idea whether there are associated. could you refund for my lost package now? i no longer want it!"
"Solution! i need a solution! i am urgent and desperate please. i want my money back and i will not accept money paid without successful delivery, i cannot bear big loss. i hope you can understand! thanks."
"According to tracking info it seems delieved successfully, however, there is no any package left nearby. i tried my best to locate it and found out nothing there. now i hope you can just refund my lost package and i am thankful for ur understanding!"
"what's wrong with my order? i checked everywhere it may have been delivered, but the result is nothing I found out. i don't want to wait anymore, Please refund. i will appreciate your service here."
"excuse me, i want to ask why my package still not arrive, something happened? please help me with a refund, i still haven’t received the parcel."
"I confirmed there is no parcel left at the mailbox, also I have asked neighbors for the parcel of the order many times, no result. they don't care about it at all. Please refund. i can't bear the loss."
"Excuse me? is there someone who can help me to refund my order since i never receive it. i purchased it days before, i don't want to have them since it so long time and still not show up yet. i want my money to be returned please."
"i have checked everywhere it may have been delivered, at the same time i asked the neighbors, The result was nothing I found out. I wasted so long time for this matter. I don't want to wait anymore. please refund my lost order."
"this shopping experience is not good, i never get my item yet which has been accidentally marked delivered. for me this is not fair, i lost my money and i cannot bear the big loss. Please refund, otherwise i will report your shop for its worst shopping experience."
0 replies
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
Use Amazon Buy Shipping to purchase your shipping label, and ship on time.
Then when you get the complaint, instruct the "customer" to file an A-Z for "Item not Received". A real customer will have no problem; a scammer won't do it, because after a few, they'll get flagged by Amazon.
Either way, you're protected, so at least you're not the one getting ripped off.
Seller_W6vNnb9Dv4v3c
Thank You for going into detail to explain the situation to us. Jessica Fletcher, really Angela Lansbury the Star of Murder She Wrote, would be very proud of you. Great Work!
Too bad Amazon allows this stuff to happen. Where is the Mod who is going to fix this????
Seller_HP0CuTSNvJvu9
We've been dealing with this person (or company) since October of 2021. Amazon continues to allow it even though they use the same copy and paste text in their messages and subsequent A-to-z claims. Most of them get denied the first time, so Amazon is aware...but they keep reopening it and eventually getting refunded.
Today however, the scammers escalated their threats and actually left a negative feedback. They've gone too far. It has to end.
Seller_HP0CuTSNvJvu9
This is good advice, and it's what we've been doing. There were a couple where we had to use outside shipping methods and unfortunately ate it, but our personal total losses over the years have been negligible all things considered.
HOWEVER, as I said in my other comment...when Amazon denies the A-to-z claims enough times, they now start leaving negative feedbacks. This WILL cause a loss for sellers, possibly more than simply refunding if you consider lost sales potential and possible termination of seller account.
This is a declaration of war.
Seller_yRkAvv95JyptH
This has happened to us numerous times as well, similar to how you explained it, but not all of our instances were from Walmart sales. We have researched some of the "customer" or "ship to" names (which never matches the account holder name) and found many times that person lived at the address years ago, is usually extremely old, are even dead, and some never ordered any product from any platform at all. Not sure what the ploy is in some instances (maybe using a stolen card to make purchases?), but we have provided GPS coordinates from UPS, Pictures of our item sitting on the porch that matches google images of the home, and numerous other pieces of evidence, and Amazon just sweeps it under the rug. No way to defend yourself as a seller, especially if you have better freight rates on your own. It's just incredible in today's age, that Amazon allows this by turning a blind eye with so much evidence of fraud on this site.
Seller_6piv3qIEVlgn8
Thank you for taking time out of your day to give a detailed explanation on this particular scamming method.
Seller_FeMbIu6qik1hR
Verify Addresses: Implement stricter verification processes for shipping addresses to ensure that orders are legitimate.
Use Signature Confirmation: For high-value items or suspicious orders, consider using signature confirmation upon delivery to reduce the chances of fraudulent claims.
Seller_WXN1oA05L0j9y
The problem stems from Walmart sellers' rights and policies. Walmart pays sellers before the order arrives, which is how scammers engage in fraud. The scam involves making a double dip in a short period until the scammer is caught by Amazon and Walmart authorities. The scammer receives payment from Walmart (essentially getting their money back) and then waits to receive money back from their investment on Amazon. There is a good chance that they will succeed because even if you purchased a shipping label from Amazon and Amazon does not refund the money, the scammer can still threaten you with negative feedback. According to Amazon's feedback policies, it may appear as if "this is a customer experience and this is how the customer feels about this transaction." Therefore, after receiving negative feedback, you may not want to harm your seller metrics. You WILL kindly ask the customer-scammer to remove the feedback in exchange for a full money refund and offer an additional $20 refund to address their dissatisfaction with the situation. And that's how the scam works.
Seller_GYBivd6QH6hzX
Thanks for sharing this - we too have seen this exact same script (literally to the letter) and while we do use Amazon Buy Shipping, so we haven't suffered a loss from it yet -though there have been successful A-Z claims- it's still infuriating to deal with these scammers.
...and yes, following your assessment of what's going on, we checked a few of the products that we've seen this script used on against WalMart listings and find the same thing, a random Chinese company or other (in one case, literally "shenzhenshiyuhekejiyouziangongsi") listing a gated product under a different brand name, with obvious screenshots of the real, authorized AMZ A Plus content, and with a roughly 20-day delivery time... which confirms that it'll be a drop-ship since there is literally no reason in the world that this product would ever take more than a few days to arrive from a properly authorized seller.
Not surprising in the least, unfortunately, but it's valuable to know that we're all being targeted by the same group of scammers - or at least the same script.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
Well, I've heard of some people having problems, but I've never had one not work as intended.
Besides, if it's a scammer, they won't file anyway.
