Obvious scam, but how do they manipulate the dashboard?

[Mandalavium]

Hey,

I just got two mails around "confirm your order, click here, blah blah" with some "gbcOPuTEs @uzhgvcder.in" (or so) sender address. The click-here-button points to some [This content has been removed by Moderation. Please do not share unsafe links in the Forums.] (or so) destination. All of it screams SCAMSCAMSCAM as lod as possible. Parallel to it there's a notification in my inbox from some generic "margaret" saying something around "Excellent news! New order: // Details Shipping #36423" and so on with no Etsy badge in the subject line. As much suspicious and SCAMSPAM as well. So far so bad. Ignored everything and will report that message. No danger here.

What i wonder is: My dashborad statistics says "Orders: 1 // Just Now" and the "view all" gives me a "Visits:3 // Orders: 1" statistics. The "orders" Tab nevertheless gives me a 0, as expected. In parallel I got some brand new "seller" badges that would underline the happening of a real sale.

I only have one item in the shop and no sales until today. I'm basically still in my "new here and looking around" phase.

How did those scammers manipulate my statistics to make me believe that scam is not scam?

[weekendjewelry1]

Yikes. No idea - someone here will have more help. I just wanted to say, big kudos to you for being careful and paranoid enough not to jump on this and fall for the scam!   

[funkydreamsmosaics · Accepted solution]

I think you are correct about the emails being scams.  But your dashboard should be accurate.  I've seen some posts from other new digital sellers about orders taking a while to go through.  There is also the possibility that it was automatically cancelled.  

[BigXStudio]

When you click links in those scam emails they often take you to a fake site that looks exactly like your shop dashboard. And if you enter any information, passwords, etc. while on that fake site, it is going straight to the scammers. They often clone not just pages but entire sites, right down to all the graphics and logos. Some are VERY convincing.

[ArtDollsbyJD · Accepted solution]

The person may have tried their card and since digital is automatic there may be a capture that later is denied because the card is declined by the payment processor. 

Not sure what you mean be seller badges.  You are not eligible for any and it is a separate system that keeps the stats for star seller.

Anything from Etsy has to be in the folder marked Etsy.  If not in the folder it is a  scam.  If you clicked on anything in the message that might have generated false information.

[ButterflyFeetDigital]

Scammers tend to target new shops.
Things to read:

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Announcements/Protect-Your-Account-From-Scammers/m-p/143158945#M1882

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Managing-Your-Shop/How-to-Spot-a-Scam-No-a-Buyer-Doesn-t-Need-Your-Ema...

https://community.etsy.com/t5/Announcements/New-From-Etsy-section-in-Messages/m-p/143722497#M1899

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000343128-How-to-Handle-Spam-and-Suspicious-Messages

If you receive an actual order, you will see it in your "Orders and Shipping" section and you will receive an email from Etsy notifying you that you have a sale, and there will be a notification in your dashboard as well.

[EneArtStudio]

I also have received several Etsy emails, saying I have a order sale, and when I try and email them back, it doesn’t allow me to type anything. Apparently these are scammers. Group stated, that they target new shops, we’ll that’s me. In the last months I have had oner a hundred lookers, but no sales. Fine Art is a tough sell. 
thanks all

[UppNorthEh]

There have been other forum posts reporting the sale showing on the dashboard and then it disappears.  No true answer what is going on.  A lot of speculation.

[PillowDetails]

I posted this a while back for New Sellers to know what to expect when they get a sale - I hope it's helpful

When you get a sale, you will get a

* transaction email from Etsy

* A "cha-ching" on your mobile app, if you have the notification settings enabled

* a red number over your shop icon on the Etsy home page

* a notice on your Dashboard

* a red number on your "Orders" tab

* the order details will show in your Open Orders

* under Finances - Payment Account - the order will show your fees and remainder to be deposited (or to offset your negative balance)

* You will see a sales number on your shop page - which everyone can see - you currently have no sales

All these things are pretty much instantaneous - so there are lots of ways to check if you got a sale.  Normal Buyers should not be contacting you like that - never, ever click any links, or answer off of Etsy, like a private email.  Mark these messages as SPAM, and ignore.

*  And by the way, YOU, the Seller, provide the tracking number to the Buyer when you purchase a label, or mark the open order as completed.

[BootifulLabels · Accepted solution]

The scammer may have tried to place an order (or someone else did by sheer coincidence) and Etsy's filters picked it up as fraud and cancelled it immediately.   Sometimes there is a lag with stats changes so the " ghost" order hangs around a bit.   

[Mandalavium · Accepted solution]

Just to close this up - when looking now, my stats have been cleaned up. No "sales" any more. So in fact the scammers might have tried and gone into the sales process and later abandoned it or used a false payment or whatever, as suggested in one of the comments. So everything OK now.

Additional note regarding the moderation remark in my OP: The link I mentioned was completely made up by me and non-operational and meant as a sample of the real link, thus my comment "(or so)". There has never been an unsafe link here.

One of the question regarding badges: It seems I referred to the community notifications shown on https://community.etsy.com/t5/notificationfeed/page - there's an entry “You ranked up to Etsy Seller” which correlates in time exactly to the scam messages. That's what I was talking about.

Thanks everybody for feedback!