How do I report a fraudulent website?

warehouse

Two weeks ago I purchased some camping equipment from an online site, and they took payments via paypal. Last week when nothing turned up I called them and they told me the website should have been taken offline because they had stopped trading, but the people who run it won't take it offline because the bill has been paid until end of July. They said they would refund my money via paypal, but they haven't so far so I've raised a dispute with paypal.

The website is still online and you can still order items from them. I tried to contact the host, (shown via nominet), but they say they don't host the site. I rang a number on the webpage of the designers and supposed hosts, and they say there's nothing they can do because the site owners haven't told them to take the site down, and because it's paid for. I explained that they were still taking money but not shipping goods, but the person on the phone couldn't give a monkeys.

Where do I go to stop others getting into the same situation as me? The site needs to be taken offline or stop taking orders.

maninthestreet

name the site, please.

fwor

It's a major problem that continues to tarnish the reputation of internet-based shopping. You only have to look at the long-running GCsPCs fiasco to see that a scammer can keep a website running for months after the police and trading standards have been made aware of what's going on.

However, one thing you can do is to go to the offending website, look at their checkout page and see what company provides their payment handling. If you contact them, either directly or via your credit card company, they will hopefully suspend the account. Although that won't take down the website, it will stop people placing orders.

warehouse

maninthestreet wrote: »

name the site, please.

http://stevesoutdoorsupplies.co.uk

fwor wrote: »

It's a major problem that continues to tarnish the reputation of internet-based shopping. You only have to look at the long-running GCsPCs fiasco to see that a scammer can keep a website running for months after the police and trading standards have been made aware of what's going on.

However, one thing you can do is to go to the offending website, look at their checkout page and see what company provides their payment handling. If you contact them, either directly or via your credit card company, they will hopefully suspend the account. Although that won't take down the website, it will stop people placing orders.

It's paypal, and yes, that's a good idea thanks.

bingo_bango

Contact Info.

Domain name:
stevesoutdoorsupplies.co.uk

Registrant:
Steven Parker

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
294 Ashby High Street
Ashby
Scu nthorpe
North Lincolnshire
DN16 2RX
United Kingdom

Registrar:
Heart Internet Ltd t/a Heart Internet [Tag = HEARTINTERNET]
URL: http://www.heartinternet.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 01-May-2007
Renewal date: 01-May-2011
Last updated: 03-Jun-2009

I fail to see why he would have renewed the domain if he was closing the business, but if he isn't delivering goods, then the game must be up.

Can you also report this to Trading Standards in Ashby / S!!!!horpe? They'll need to speak to him about the website in general. He has no physical address, and the returns policy isn't what I'd call loaded towards the consumer.
Also, selling non existent goods is a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008which is enforced by TSS.

I have reported the site to Heart already.

Purpledaisy_2

That shops still there & open...

durham_girl

What's happened so far with the dispute? If you haven't already done so, escalate the dispute to a claim immediately.

Widelats

bingo_bango wrote: »

Contact Info.

Domain name:
stevesoutdoorsupplies.co.uk

Registrant:
Steven Parker

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
294 Ashby High Street
Ashby
Scu nthorpe
North Lincolnshire
DN16 2RX
United Kingdom

Registrar:
Heart Internet Ltd t/a Heart Internet [Tag = HEARTINTERNET]
URL: http://www.heartinternet.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 01-May-2007
Renewal date: 01-May-2011
Last updated: 03-Jun-2009

I fail to see why he would have renewed the domain if he was closing the business, but if he isn't delivering goods, then the game must be up.

Can you also report this to Trading Standards in Ashby / S!!!!horpe? They'll need to speak to him about the website in general. He has no physical address, and the returns policy isn't what I'd call loaded towards the consumer.
Also, selling non existent goods is a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008which is enforced by TSS.

I have reported the site to Heart already.

How do you find all that info out?

fwor

It's mandatory for this information to be published by the authority that registered the domain, and there are many web sites that provide access to the data. For example:

http://whois.domaintools.com/

When registering a domain, you are permitted to ask the registering authority to withhold some of the info (e.g. contact details) if you state that the domain won't be used for any form of trading. This is often abused by scammers to make it harder for their victims to track them down....

yorksrabbit

Looks like it's off line altogether now.

warehouse

Thanks everyone, here's an update:

Escalated the Paypal dispute into a claim, reported the site as a scam site to paypal giving the paypal account that was receiving the money, contacted officially the company actually hosting the site, (not Heart strangely enough). I then rang the physical shop in S!!!!horpe, number obtained from old websites. It appears the shop is now a card shop, and when i asked the lady who answered the phone about the camping shop she told me they still had a little bit of camping stock left, and was I interested in any?!?

Yesterday afternoon an email arrived from paypal saying the dispute/claim was now closed, so I logged in and discovered that the money had been refunded. A lovely note was left by the seller to the effect that I shouldn't have been so impatient, all in nice capitals, website was still up.

Checked last night and the website front page is gone, but if you've already bookmarked a product page you can still get in and make an order, but at least new customers won't be caught out now. I shall keep an eye on the site for a month or 2 just in case.

Thanks everyone for your efforts.