The jigsaw puzzle scam

is starting to really irritate me. Let me explain.

There is a group, it must be a group, of scammers out there who offer jigsaw puzzles that look good. The websites look absolutely legitimate. If you look at them individually they seem very professional. They offer "free shipping" over a certain price or a "three for two" offer but neither of these things are unusual in today's e-commerce world. Put together though they are a little different. The puzzles vary slightly - at the moment they tend to be Christmas pictures - but the pictures of people doing them are the same. The wording on the sites is often the same too. There is a street address and more. I might well have been taken in too - apart from that contact address. It was sheer good fortune that I recognised the name - and that only because someone I know in the US lives in the same street as the actress named. 
But research shows that a company supposedly registered in the UK (under the name Vankin with a legitimate looking address in London) is a scam. (Look it up for yourself.) They use all sorts of names - the two currently on my FB page are "gzuaemwo.com" and "nestruplo". I must have reported close to fifty of these to FB by now - as being "misleading or scam".

I first came across it when a young friend of mine (not MsW) thought it would be nice to buy a couple of jigsaw puzzles for a friend of hers who has spent months in strict isolation because of health issues. Young friend saved pocket money, did odd jobs and more. Then, with parental permission, went on-line and ordered two puzzles she thought her friend would like. It was a remarkable effort for a young girl.

The site she ordered them from seemed legitimate in every respect. There was an apparent address. There were references. The price she expected to pay (from her research) was about right. Payment was by various means, including Paypal.  

Her mother proudly told me all this and I thought it sounded pretty good too. 

    "Show me how you did it," I said. She did. I said nothing to her but when she had gone off to play I said to her mother, "Something's not right. Take a look at this."

It was the contact address. It was the name of that moderately well known actress in the US that gave it away.

    "Get on to Paypal now and put in a report to the Resolution Centre - ask them to halt the transaction."

 She did that - and Paypal did as asked. We left it at that, not sure if the money would be returned to the Paypal account but hoping that something would be done. I left Mum to tell Daughter - who was absolutely devastated and very, very distressed. 

I was so angry that I came home and did some research myself. Jigsaw puzzles are not something I know much about. I found out more than I wanted to know - not about the puzzles but about the scam. I am still finding out.  I contacted the "company" in question via the email on the site. It was a risk but I wanted to see how far they were prepared to go - a long way it seems. They were oh so apologetic...their suppliers in China....the volume they have to deal with....we are a legitimate company....proud of our reputation.  Eventually two jigsaw puzzles arrived. They were both damaged because the packing was so bad. The contents were something you might have bought for, at most, $2 in one of  cheap reject type shops - but only if you were desperate for something to do. Neither picture was one the child had ordered. She saw them and was hysterical all over again. The "company" was "pleased to hear" the puzzles had arrived - but not the right ones? Oh, so sorry - but do keep them and we will give you 10% off the next order.

Paypal had actually stopped the payment.

Paypal did return the money to the child - although they might not have been so keen to return it to an adult. There are many complaints about the fraudsters on their site and elsewhere. 

We looked up a bricks and mortar store. I had someone in the capital city in question check it (in order to show the child) and she will get jigsaw puzzles to give to her friend. Her parents are making her pay the $5:60 extra it will cost her - in order to help her understand the problem - but we got "free shipping" (I told the second company what had happened when I was asking about the puzzles she wanted and the owner tried to track that one down for her) and and the parcel tracker says they should be there today.

I have learned something from all this, she has, her parents have. But I have to say I am tired of reporting these scammers to FB - where they still seem to think I might be interested in giving them my money too.