SCAMMERS

[Former_Member]

Dear Etsy 

How hard would it be to send out your ai bots to delete and ban any store that is using an Etsy logo/image for their own stores.  This is why so many people are being scammed.  The scammers use the logo and sellers think it really does come from Etsy.    Simple solution I think. Keep your Etsy sellers safe and kick the scammers out.  Scamming is so rampant sellers are receiving tons of messages each day and they don't feel safe any more.

[FancyTogs]

Why close shops?

The scammers are not shops, they don't need to be shops. The scammers are using normal buyer user accounts, with the Etsy logo as their user avatar.

Lawrence (Clare's other half)

[Former_Member]

If so Etsy can still ban and delete anyone using an Etsy logo/avatar.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

it's accounts, not shops,

they are unlikely to be shops, as that's harder to set up, why bother with all that

and they can tweak an avitar so it looks different for bots, and people don't really look

people don't look at the e-mail they go off etsy too, and they don't look at the account they authorise hundreds of dollars too

so they aren't going to pay much attention to a tweaked avitar,  .... some have even said the logo is blue, and that hasn't even stopped them carrying on.

especially as soon as they go off etsy, they will have all the properly faked stuff

....

if you get tons of similar messages a day, then you should realise they are scams

[CryzalisDesigns]

there were a couple of shops hacked last week and their logo was changed to the Etsy logo and name to Support, but most seem to be coming from buyer accounts

[CreativeBliss4U]

I have the 2-point security setup on my Etsy shop and receive a text message every time I try to make changes to my account.  I just assumed everyone did.  If you have the security setup does that help?   Too bad Etsy doesn't fix it.  It's easy to block those emails.  They need to higher better cybersecurity.   Their lack of security is allowing these shops to get hacked is unbelievable.  Bad Coding.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

2fa will help stop people hacking your account.
nothing is ever 100%

The e-mail's from etsy for the phishing scam, are only copies of what has been been sent to your messages on etsy
and anyone can contact you that way, it's what it's there for.

If you want to know if it's "From Etsy", then you have to look in the specific "From Esy" folder", if it's not there as well, it's not from Etsy

[FancyTogs]

Additionally a lot of sellers are being convinced by the scams because they receive them as an official email sent from Etsy's official email servers and covered in Etsy's official logos.  This is because the internal message from scammers is copied to the seller's email by Etsy.

Lawrence

[ZehOriginalArt]

This is the problem right here. The unfortunate sellers say, "but it is in an official Etsy email" because they do not yet realize how Etsy works.

[Former_Member]

Since setting up my new shop, 100% of the messages I've received were phishing related.  I'm a little puzzled why Etsy management isn't going after these folks more aggressively.  They should be contacting the Domain Holder's Registrar to inform them about their customer's activities.  At least that way the URL's in the phishing messages won't work anymore.

[ChillwolfArt]

It shouldn't be difficult for a tech company, which Etsy prides themselves as being. Shouldn't be difficult to put the "From Etsy" Folder on the Seller App (as well as the ability to Mark as Spam in the App).

Shouldn't be difficult to see FAKE Accounts with FAKE Logos with the words "Etsy Support/Staff/Stuff, etc." Look how many "Ambers" were found.
Shouldn't be difficult to put a BIG, RED, WARNING Banner in every Seller Dashboard (remember how long the Banner for the new Seller App was up there). Keep it there, Scammers aren't going away; they've increased tenfold. If Forum posts which contain verbatim Messages from scammers, can be quickly edited/deleted, surely bots can zap obvious scammer Messages at their creation. I can't even begin to put a dollar amount pertaining to funds that have been stolen by these scammers. And it seems to be easy for them over here for some reason.

ETA: And if by putting a big, red Warning Banner in every Seller Dashboard is too in your face drawing attention to the problem, well we are way beyond that. There is already enough negative attention, something nobody wants.

[AnnaLovesAnimals]

As a new seller last week, within 30 seconds of each new listing I put on, I got at least one email from various Etsy support scammers. Because it was so immediate I initially assumed it was from Etsy, but my caution made me read the banner help link about scammers and realised they were fake. i truly hope that their 'From Etsy' messages section is 100% safe from being hacked by scammers..?

[ChillwolfArt]

@AnnaLovesAnimals  I'm glad you realized it was a scammer. And I'm really sorry you experienced this as new Seller. Scammers often seem to appear after a Seller lists their first item/s.
Re: the "From Etsy" Folder. I received one in that folder this past year, and it was truly from Etsy. It wasn't about Verification or Notification of a Sale. It was re: an Etsy Pick. So at that time I knew it was legit due to the content. But I can see how with other subjects, Sellers could be fooled. Especially with rolling Re-Verification (due to the INFORM Act). Idiot scammers were zeroing on that too, for a while.

[AnnaLovesAnimals]

Thanks, yeah, they try and get you at your most vulnerable. I normally read through all help centre info as I did for other platforms, but didn't this time. I reckon even if I got a message From Etsy requiring me to click a link, I'd first ask on forum or the 24hr chat on website, which seems quite good - is it a real person? it seemed so - had a sense of humour.

[Former_Member]

Just a little update, I've reported about a dozen phishing URLs to their repective Domain Registrars over the past week or so.  I'm glad to report that the domains "approve-store.com" and "verif-card.com" have been shutdown so far.  With a little patience, hopefully the rest will go away, too.

[Former_Member]

By the way, if anyone would like to help out by complaining to the Domain Registrars, it might help expedite the removal of the phishing domains.  Be sure to include a PrintScreen of the phishing message you received.  Here's a list for you:

     Domain Name                                                 Registrar
------------------------------                 --------------------------------------------------
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]                      abuse@cloudflare.com, abuse@gmo.jp
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]                  abuse@netart-registrar.com,[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]                support@cosmotown.zendesk.com
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]       abuse@reg.ru, abuse@cloudflare.com
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]                                 abuse@cloudflare.com,[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]                          abuse@cloudflare.com, abuse@gmo.jp
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]                           abuse@cloudflare.com, abuse@gmo.jp
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]                               abuse@register.ly
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.] support@cosmotown.zendesk.com, abuse@cloudflare.com
[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]                        abuse@cloudflare.com,  abuse@gmo.jp

Many thanks for your help!!!

[Former_Member]

I just received three e-mails from the Domain Registrar that the following phishing domains have been shutdown:

[This content has been removed by Moderation. Do not share unsafe links in the Forums.]

A small win for Etsy sellers, but a win nonetheless.

[littledebskis]

Just received a message a few hours ago and deleted it SMH

[BagmakerSupply]

@littledebskis: "... and deleted it ..."  You need to make sure that you mark the Message as SPAM or it will negatively affect your stats.

[StarlifeShopByMario]

Yes! So many people are being scammed. I don't have any idea why ETSY could not get rid of these bad Guys and ruin our business. I did talk to the Credit Card Company and it seems that the argument will go a long way to go, till I can get some money back!!!!

[littledebskis]

Someone sent me an email stating that when you do delete the email mark as spam before deletion.

[FancyTogs]

You can delete the email, but that is just a copy of what is in your messages on Etsy.

Scoring for the Star Seller requires you to respond to first messages within 24 hours, or to mark the message as spam.

So you need to open your shop manager in a browser, and mark the scam message as spam.

Lawrence