My wife recently purchased gifts for our grand kids for Christmas from the following site:
Little Learners Corner (or toys)
Unbeknown to us this was a site situated in USA but all indications it appeared to be local.
The invoice totalled $117 however when I checked my Visa statement the amount was listed as $177.35 .
My wife emailed the contact address with a .com extension to query this price - that was about 3 days ago and to date no reply.
I did some research and found a site “trustpilot” with a list of reviews for the above-mentioned supplier. After reading some the penny dropped - these reviews mentioned that the site uses USD only but does not record this anywhere on the webpages!!
Anyway we’re hoping that we do indeed receive the goods before Christmas and want to pass on our warning to be wary.
I am usually careful to dig deeper on any ‘.com’ sites, because many of them are US based. You are correct in saying that there is no indication of the currency used for pricing - very poor, IMO.
It’s interesting that in the ‘Contact’ link, this is shown at the bottom of the page: (with no phone number available)
Hi @Rappy, welcome to the community. The following is just some basic information, which is concerning.
This is extremely common and applies to most Australian retail websites. They display prices in their local currency, or AUDs but don’t say explicitly this is the case.
And very concerning as it can be the mojo of scammers.
The other concern is the ‘Team’ appears on other websites such as:
This is also concerning. It could be one online shopping retailer operating under a number of names…or could be a cookie cutter website used by scammers.
The final concern is it has been reported as a phishing website:
with the following warning:
A Positive Match was returned from one or more of our partnered databases. Please use high caution when visiting this website or stay clear.
There is a very high risk that the website is potentially a scam website.
ASAP, I would be letting your Visa card issuing financial institution that there is a risk you have given your credit card details to a phishing/scam website. They hopefully will place a hold on the card and issue a new one.
It is also possible to ask for a chargeback. Whether this is successful is unknown. What could happen is it isn’t successful as the ‘website’ operators provide proof that something was posted, such as tracking information. It could be real tracking information without the goods you ordered.
The financial institution might also suggest waiting until the item is received. This will then allow assessment if a chargeback should occur. If the item you purchased is received, chargeback won’t be successful but, the website still potentially has your credit card details to onsell to other criminals.
These reviews are limited in number and very recent. Again this is concerning as they have a potential to be sham reviews by scammers. Being recent it could mean the website is catching victims before the ‘word gets out’.
You can call us as well from 9am to 5pm EST Monday to Friday.Our lines as very busy, so in case we do not reply please leave a message, we always call you back!
It is not an Australian number. I agree that not showing the currency or automatically converting (since they seem to know you are from Oz) is very poor form.
I hope you get your goods as the address seems to be a building site or Green Wheat Bakery depending on the imagery date on Google earth. Google could be out of date.
{edit} I just saw the post from @phb. I think you have done your dough.
While .com is a North American registration it only means the business domain is registered there. Without a web site being up front a .com normally means it trades in $USD as would a .com.au site be taken to trade in $AUD. Credible international sites offer the customer to set their currency and then shows prices in that currency.
Although they show an Australian address there is no obvious Australian business registration for ‘Little Learners Toys’ on the ASIC site, although there are a Little Learners ToyShop and a Little Learners Toy Store shown as registered but without addresses shown. ASIC, as with many government services (I use the term services very lightly) sells information rather than provides it as a service, so who and what is behind those registrations remains opaque.
From a Google 2021 street view image their [supposed] address is inconclusive probably being in this construction site as it was at the time. Accepting the imprecision of address location the group of buildings appear to be trucking depots and warehouses or workshops in an industrial area. There is no evidence the company have an ABN; their Australian address shows as being for copyright not business registration. If the address is real it could be a ‘mailbox’ location, the web developer’s office, or a business office although there is no evidence for the latter.
Some red flags include nothing about Australian Consumer Law; their phone number is +001 929-547-8108 that could be (not necessarily is) located in New York City USA. I write ‘could be’ because their terms include
The US phone number could be a VOIP service selling ‘+1’ numbers that ‘rings’ them anywhere in the world, be it Spain or anywhere else there is internet service. 9-5 but may be busy allows that ‘they’ may be ‘sleeping’ during those US EST hours (in Spain, or somewhere else) ?
Perusing their shipping information suggests they are possibly a drop shipper from everywhere to anywhere.
‘etc’ semantically includes all recognised countries not already mentioned.
I hope you receive them! If the toys are late, you start getting excuses, or you do not receive them in ‘2 to 6 days’ plus a reasonable time for shipping delays, chase them up and if there is not a crisp response consider lodging a credit card charge back.
Thanks for your post and your warning. Please update us when appropriate.
Not necessarily. Give it a few more days to see if there is any response from this company.
And if none, lodge a Visa chargeback with your issuer and see where it leads. A true dodgy company would not contest a chargeback and you would get the Visa charge reversed.
But I would go plan B @Rappy . Don’t wait in hope for Christmas gifts to arrive from overseas which could take weeks, or months, or never.
Not necessarily. A scam is for a parcel to be sent, with say a pencil instead of the more valuable purchase. The tracking details are provided as part of the chargeback dispute by the scammers. The chargeback is therefore unsuccessful. I provided a link in an earlier post to this scam.
Scammers are smart and use this, along with other methods, to try and ensure any chargeback is unsuccessful. They get to keep the money in such cases, and why they dispute the chargebacks with enough information to ensure it is unsuccessful.
The business in question has a history of disputing chargebacks as indicated in another link.
And I carefully used the terms ‘not necessarily’ and ‘see where it leads’.
A CC chargeback is not something that will always be successful. But a delivery of a pencil, when one has ordered an expensive toy is hardly going to work in the merchant’s favour, is it?
Thanks to everyone who has responded and given some great advice to my topic.
Just as a precaution I’ve placed a temporary hold on my Visa card.
I also spoke to my bank who agree that I should maintain a wait and see attitude and see if a delivery is forthcoming. Then depending on that I should contact the bank again and take appropriate action.
Really hope all will be well for you @Rappy, but just in case:
some excellent ‘what to do’ including protecting ourselves…how to tell if it’s a scam…what to do if things go wrong…and Choice members can access assistance through Choice Help.
