Etsy New Seller Phishing Messages

RFW

I recently opened a new Etsy seller account and shortly after have received several phishing emails via Etsy's messaging system.

I was surprised by Etsy's lack of security, one sent me to a website with Etsy's name in and verification that asked for bank card details. It was a very well done phishing scam. My alarm bells rang when I had to input the balance available on my account. Apparently these scammers want a minimum of £300!

Googling suggests it's fairly commonplace on Etsy, I complained to them but just received a standard reply. It didn't leave me with any confidence dealing with Etsy moving forward.

I'm pretty sharp when it comes to phishing but this was close to catching me out, so worth a warning. The fact that it comes through their messaging system with no warnings makes it all the easier to catch people out.

soolin

RFW said:

I recently opened a new Etsy seller account and shortly after have received several phishing emails via Etsy's messaging system.

I was surprised by Etsy's lack of security, one sent me to a website with Etsy's name in and verification that asked for bank card details. It was a very well done phishing scam. My alarm bells rang when I had to input the balance available on my account. Apparently these scammers want a minimum of £300!

Googling suggests it's fairly commonplace on Etsy, I complained to them but just received a standard reply. It didn't leave me with any confidence dealing with Etsy moving forward.

I'm pretty sharp when it comes to phishing but this was close to catching me out, so worth a warning. The fact that it comes through their messaging system with no warnings makes it all the easier to catch people out.

That exact message is common on Vinted as well, it was always getting asked about on the Vinted forums.

For all it's faults ebay seems to tackle these infiltration scammers better than some other sites. 

ankrishu

I would recommend eBay or Shopify marketplace as better options for opening a seller account. This is because their security filtering is quite good and they have good customer service.

Spoonie_Turtle

One established Etsy seller I know seems to be getting these once every week or two.  She's very alarmed at how well done they are too (shares them on Instagram to warn others).

Debbie9009

Both myself and my Mum have had the same thing happen, the only info I could find on Etsy was something telling me not to report it as they don’t look into these messages and to just delete them, so both of us have now stopped selling on Etsy it’s just too risky.

RFW

ankrishu said:

I would recommend eBay or Shopify marketplace as better options for opening a seller account. This is because their security filtering is quite good and they have good customer service.

I do. I'm moving into something new and Etsy seemed like a good platform, if only as a gateway to a few more customers. I get a bit of spam on Shopify but it's easier to spot than the Etsy ones. Although now I know they exist I can avoid them.
Ebay used to get similar but generally it was targetted at buyers. That was more than a decade ago now, Ebay, as Soolin pointed out, have sharpened up their site and there's little possibility of messages like that getting through.

RFW

Spoonie_Turtle said:

One established Etsy seller I know seems to be getting these once every week or two.  She's very alarmed at how well done they are too (shares them on Instagram to warn others).

It's crazy. I'm ashamed to say I gave them my bank details but froze it within a minute and nothing happened thankfully.

It didn't appear to be bots either, I responded a couple of times and the answers were fairly specific.

soolin

RFW said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

One established Etsy seller I know seems to be getting these once every week or two.  She's very alarmed at how well done they are too (shares them on Instagram to warn others).

It's crazy. I'm ashamed to say I gave them my bank details but froze it within a minute and nothing happened thankfully.

It didn't appear to be bots either, I responded a couple of times and the answers were fairly specific.

Whilst most people do see this as a scam it is as you say slightly more official looking and certainly enough to catch you unawares if you are new to a site. The scammers do seem to have a way of infiltrating new sellers which is rather alarming.These aren’t just blanket scams, they are specifically targeted. 

 Vinted forums were full of it, it suddenly started a month or so ago in bulk, many many people gave a lot more than their bank details unfortunately. This type of scam was one reason I and many others were alarmed at the closure of the Vinted forums, there are a lot of younger people on there unused to online selling and this is just a more sophisticated scam but from a long line of scams targeting new users specifically.  A new user would post asking if this was OK as they had given over details and now ‘Vinted’ were asking them to top up their bank accounts to a certain amount and even supply card details, the regulars on there I’m sure saved newbies a great deal of money , goodness knows wehere they will go for advice now. 

This is the first mention I’ve seen of Etsy, but I’m not really plugged into their sellers very much, I do have an account with some listings, but sell very little so just keep it running as a back up site. Like you RFW I think expansion is the key to moving sales, don’t get into a routine of using just one site.