More reports on the web at this site: https://onlinefraudalert.org/storm-media-fraudsters-and-thieves/?fbclid=IwAR0qV2joS9eN3CRduoyiX1RUslD5kxSu18RusyN2lHZVt7wt4nOFDRhvG68

There’s a Facebook Group with more than 200 members, all looking for help with Storm Media Ltd and Esfranki – the Facebook seller. There are now at least 14 reported cases of transactions completed without submitting the order in this group alone. All have lengthy delays and the dealings with Paypal are all tortuous.

https://bit.ly/2DIMhYY

I finally got the original seller of the thing I didn’t order in a Facebook chat. He explained that Storm Media Ltd was just their “Payment Gateway”. What’s more is that someone else is in charge of fulfillment. So they have these many little operations running their sales all of whom use this so called “Payment Gateway” in Hong Kong. I notice that it’s Storm Media that controls the Paypal account. It’s how criminal elements operate, they have cells so that it’s not easy to blow apart. From the diagram below, I think the “Merchant Web Server” with the abandoned cart is exploited and sends orders down to the Payment Gateway. I cannot ascertain where or how the questionable transactions originate. It can come from the Merchant or the Payment Gateway or thru some collusion.

I found this other post on the BBB site, there must be others out there. It seems they are able to force transactions thru one way or another.

Paypal’s last pronouncement in this saga is for me to write them and appeal the denial of the unauthorized access dispute.

PayPal, Inc.

Attn: Unauthorized Account Access Appeal   P.O. Box 45950  

Omaha, NE 68145

Dear Paypal,

Note the relevant information about the merchant below.

-300+complaints at the BBB with an “F” rating

-1,600+ reported cases on Paypal community forums

Instead of printing those 300+ complaints and 56 pages, I have provided the links in this blog.

Thank you

 

I have shared this story of a new trend in internet crime. It is apparently growing unchecked. You really have to do the right thing and weed out these elements, even if it does impact your revenue stream. There are more honorable ways to make money!

I don’t know the extent of the problem I seem to have unearthed. These criminals, probably all overseas, have found free money in our online pockets. There are trillions of dollars left unattended in abandoned shopping carts alone. The only advise I can give is not to click on any of those ads you see cluttering up Social Media.

Happy Hunting Ground for Online Scammers?

A friend shared this link with me and I was staggered by what I found there. This has been going on for far too long. Facebook and Instagram ads are the favored feeding grounds. I will never click on any of their ads ever again.  Look, there’s 56 pages of complaints already!

I was a vicitim too! Over 1,600 have indicated they have had this problem.

I guess I wasn’t suprised to find hundreds of complaints at BBB where they have an “F” rating – the worst I have ever seen.

I looked thru the complaints and even found one that matched what happened to me shown below. Three years worth of complaints, wow. Perhaps the fact that they run their scams out of HK keeps them out of the long arms of the law?

Complaints at the BBB

Here is were things started to turn unreal. I filed a dispute and the nearest category seemed to be “unauthorized transaction”. I provided as much information as I had with forwarded emails.

The next thing that happened was that my paypal account got locked down! I was able to open it back up, thinking this must be some misunderstanding.

To my dismay, Paypal summarily dismissed the dispute. I was somehow able to talk to a live person, and she said she would re-open it and take care of it in a few hours. The catch was that since the unauthorized access dispute was already denied, they had to categorize it as “item not received”. With a false sense of relief I hung up the phone, after all, in 19 years I never really had a problem with paypal.

Days went by and nothing happened, so I called them up again and now they said that they received a response from the merchant in the form of a tracking number. To add insult to injury I had to return the item – PP suggested refusing delivery. This is the only course of action available to me they explained. This was not a major purchase mind you, but the whole premise was more than disturbing.