Drop shipping

Welcome back friends, to another Fraud Friday! Today on the docket, Drop shipping! Drop shipping is often started through an ad on websites like Facebook, Reddit, or instagram. They revolve around overpaying for cheap items. Although this is a simple scam, many people fall for it on a daily basis. These ads will proclaim something along the lines of "Get these cheese shaped D&D dice! FREE+14.99 SHIPPING!!"

The scam: The item will turn out to be very low quality and will take weeks or even months to arrive. Sometimes the item never arrives, and the store disappears or stops responding. The seller drop-ships the item from China. The item may only cost a few dollars, and the Chinese government actually pays for the shipping. You end up paying $10-$15 dollars for a $4 item, with the scammer keeping the profit. If you find one of these scams but really have your heart set on the item, you can generally find it on AliExpress or another Chinese retailer for the proper price. Certainly not as malicious as some other scams we have covered, but much like Three Card Monte, it's also still a scam to look out for.

After the three-page essay I wrote out last week, I do apologize for a shorter Fraud Friday. Dropshipping is a fairly simple con that is in a legally semi-grey area. Remember, just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's legitimate. Come back next week for another informative addition to our ever-growing list!

For those of you who counted my misspelt companies from last week, the total was nine misspelt companies! Arnerica, Netffix, Arnizon, Amazom, Facelook, Redbit, Twitler, Amizon, and Eaby. Did you find all nine?