ECC Sweden (Konsument Europa) is occasionally contacted by consumers who have bought a product, usually some kind of home electronics like a laptop or a cell phone, from what they believe is a European company, but the product has not been delivered. These products are usually offered through websites, e-mails, social networks or internet forums, at a very low price (usually half the price or less, than what the product costs in the consumer’s country).
Instead of delivering the product, “the trader” comes up with several excuses: There’s been a problem with the shipping, the package has too many products in it or it is stuck in customs. The solution offered by the trader is always that more money has to be paid by the consumer, usually with the promise that the consumer will be compensated in one way or another. The product is however not delivered even if the consumer pays more money.
When reaching this part of the process, it becomes fairly obvious that this is not a sale at all; it’s a scam. These types of scams have several names like the Advance Fee Fraud or 419 scams. The conmen might have claimed to be working for a company that is actually registered, which has given the operation the appearance of being legitimate. It is however the conmen who claim to be working for the company, while the actual company might not be involved at all.
Since the conmen are demanding that payment is made via a third party, usually a well known payment services provider, the money is more or less impossible to trace. The same goes for the conmen which means the consumer most probably will never get the money back nor the product delivered. After a while the conmen are impossible to reach.
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