A company called Simple Mart Home Essentials states they are located in Sydney Australia but there is no phone number or address, only an email for contact. I have emailed them three times regarding non delivery of an item and get an automated response stating a team member will be in touch soon. They are ghosting me, and I’m concerned they take people’s money and then there’s no way to effectively get a response or refund when the goods do not come. Has anyone else been impacted the same way by this company? I’m unsure what my next steps should be. I’ve paid by credit card via the SHOP App.
Simple Mart Home is a scam website. It has been reported as being a fake e-store set up to steal one’s personal information (such as payment details) and/or money.
Some internet security software blocks this website to protect its users. Norton is one such example where it blocks access to the website:
Scamadvisors has it as a potential malware website:
Along with Gridinsoft.com:
Thank you for identifying as making a post may prevent others being scammed by this website.
As you have used your credit card, it is important to monitor for unauthorised transactions. Also report to your card issuer that you may have inadvertently given the card details to scammers. They should issue you with a new credit card. This is particularly the case if you entered details through popups when making payment through the website.
Also, change your SHOP login password.
It may also be worth reporting the website to SHOP as well, if they are using their payment system.
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Malwarebytes scam protection does not block it as a site that tries to steal information, but that is not the same as a scam business. Shop likely was effectively a firewall between your card and simplemart’s systems. Watch the card for unexpected charges but would not be overly concerned and summarily cancel my card unless there is a bogus attempt/charge made.
Norton could be right on the money and I accept we do not all react the same way or with the same pre-emptive cautions but Simplemart is not returned as a scam site by scamwatch. It might be in future noting Simplemart is probably a drop-shipper not a business keeping inventory and Malwarbytes, as with other similar protections, often blocks sites for ‘possible malware’ that is a questionable call in many cases.
Businesses using Shop are usually trustworthy, but not always. Shop also provides tracking for their customer, the business. It is one of the most intrusive ecommerce apps imaginable; most who have used it know and it is increasingly pervasive as more ecommerce sites sign up for its services.
Shop should be you first point to lodge a dispute for non-delivery.
This reddit discussion will be relevant for what to expect from Shop.
and on the Community (Shop was previously called Shopify)
If that does not result in satisfaction lodge a dispute with your card issuer for non-delivery. Since Shop was essentially an intermediary processing platform you might(?) need to confirm you had already contacted them.
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What is very concerning about this website is the privacy policy. It is worth reading. They admit to harvesting personal information and payment details when one makes a purchase or attempts to make a purchase. Collected details includes credit cards. Such information should not be collected if the payment system was secure and/or not monitoring a consumers keystrokes.
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This website is a scam. A scam is defined as an action 'to deceive and defraud (someone)'.
Your own experience is one of being defrauded. namely, making a purchase and never receiving anything. There are numerous reports online of consumers being defrauded by this website.
This website allows meets ScamWatch’s definition of a scam website. That being a website, namely ‘a deceptive trick or scheme designed to steal your money or personal information’. As you have found out, your money has been stolen as you paid for something which wasn’t sent. The website also collects personal and detailed payment information - some which should bot be recorded by trustworthy businesses.
There are also reports online of additional unauthorised charges being made to payment methods used on this website.
This is why it is a scam and has been reported as a scam to independent scam advisory organisations and some internet security organisations. These organisations are interested in insuring more consumers aren’t scammed.
Contact your card issuer (bank) and request a chargeback on that specific transaction. NB: You must do this within X days, so best not to delay.
As to whether the card needs to be cancelled in its entirety, that is often quite inconvenient, so your starting point would be to identify any automatic (legitimate of course) charges that are occurring on that card, what their timing is, … but in any case you will need to contact your card issuer to cancel the card if that is the direction that you go in.
To protect your own interests, you should identify to the card issuer that your card details have been provided to that specific web site. They may take the decision out of your hands and cancel the card whether you like it or not.
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I often chuckle at how banks respond. While their training and protocols were well intentioned one of my experiences…
They usually respond to a report by replacing the card with a new number, although in today’s world those so endowed with even minimal technology will have a new digital functioning card in minutes that can be used with terminals that accept wallets, or online.
As you indicated, those pesky recurring bills need to be updated as some have quite a few while others may have none. It can be unnecessary pain although might be best practice to protect the account.
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Thanks you both for the information provided. It’s really helpful. I’m hopeful the SHOP secure payment system has blocked the seller from access to my card details. I’ve since been contacted by the seller apologising for the delay and my order is in process at the warehouse. It may be a stalling tactic and if I receive nothing in the next 7 days I shall dispute with SHOP and request a full refund. If no joy there I shall make a complaint to the Dept of Fair Trading, and notify my bank of the fraud, but would rather not have them issue a new number due to the hassles attached to that. Otherwise I expect I may receive delivery anytime between tomorrow and next Christmas!
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