Scammer

[Love4ArtsByJack]

These people are driving me insane I’m new since December 5 this year I didn’t know it will be this bad.  The scammers are really bad.  Saying they are found Etsy saying that I have to give them my email or we will stop your shop so there will be no sales.  Only if you give us your email address and click the link I don’t anyways.  I just ask what is your name? Employee id? That I can reach you at since you are asking me this? And they change it up credit card information and bank information.  Who else is going through this crap? 

[AAANativeArts]

It's rampant all over the Internet. On Etsy they tend to target new sellers. Not much you can do about it except mark it as Spam and report them to Etsy, who will eventually cancel their account. I wouldn't even reply because their scam may be collecting email addresses to sell to other spammers. When you reply, you are validating that your email address is reaching somebody.

[UppNorthEh]

out of curiosity I just did a forum search for "scam" and got 5,000 results.

https://community.etsy.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?advanced=false&allow_punctuation=false&q...

[VintageRescueSquad]

Yeah, the forums are filled with scam reports. As noted, just mark them as spam and ignore them. Do not engage. It's most likely a bot so won't be put off by you "responding" as you have.

Remember: real messages from etsy will be in the "from etsy" section of your inbox. And when/if etsy ever needs info from you or there is a problem with your shop, it will appear on your dashboard.

[Amaradorn]

Sorry Jack, unfortunately they are targeting you because you are a new seller. It was never this bad before earlier this year. I've had a couple of these messages (there are a few different ones and they evolve/mutate) but I've heard that newer shops are getting them whenever they list new items - I'm not quite sure how they are tracking that but at least if you are expecting it then hopefully you don't get caught out.

Check your messages using a browser and see if they appear in the 'from Etsy' folder. If not, then it's a customer - so if they are pretending to be Etsy then you will know it's a scam.

Also those posing as buyers may ask for your email - also a scam.

Be vigilant regarding direct emails too. I've had a few that look like PayPal and Amazon.

Double check everything and don't click on links or scan QR codes (if you don't know where it's taking you). 

On the plus side you now know about the forum and can keep up to date on the latest news and get tips.