Specialisms
Payment was made at once, delivery never arrived – and the site has since disappeared.
A fake shop barely differs outwardly from an ordinary online offer. It has a legal notice, payment symbols, reviews and a functioning order process. It becomes conspicuous only afterwards: the goods do not arrive, the replies stop, and a few weeks later the site is online again under a different address with a different name.
Circumstances
Clarify the context
Evidence
Preserve documents
Deadlines
Explain any urgency
Approach
Discuss the next steps
Immediate steps
What you should arrange now
The sequence is deliberately chosen: first the payment, then the evidence, then the criminal complaint. All three steps make sense even if the amount is modest.
Stop or recall the payment
Contact your bank, your card issuer or your payment service provider immediately and expressly ask for a recall of the transfer or a chargeback of the card payment. Different deadlines apply to these procedures depending on the payment type and they can be short; the request should therefore be made on the same day.
Document the site before it disappears
Secure the offer, the shopping cart, the order confirmation, the legal notice, the terms and conditions and the payment page as a recording with a visible address bar, date and time. Such sites frequently go offline within a few weeks; after that the content is hardly still capable of being proven.
Fully preserve communications and payment data
Keep emails with full headers, chat histories, order numbers, tracking numbers as well as the recipient name, IBAN or wallet address and the transaction reference. Do not delete the user account with the provider – the order history and message history regularly disappear with it.
Do not make any further payment for customs, shipping or release
After the first payment, demands frequently follow for alleged customs charges, shipping insurance or release of the consignment. These demands do not lead to delivery, but only increase the loss. Do not respond to them, but do document the message.
File a criminal complaint
File a criminal complaint with the police and include the domain, the recipient account and the payment reference. These details make it possible to link your matter with other proceedings in which the same account appears. Banks and platforms regularly require the file number.
Use buyer protection and platform reporting
If the purchase ran through a platform or a payment service with its own protection procedure, report the matter there within the prescribed deadline. These procedures run independently of legal steps and are bound to their own, sometimes very short, reporting deadlines.
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How fraudulent online offers are structured
Fraudulent shops today are built from templates. Product images and descriptions are taken from genuine merchants, the legal notice names an existing company that is not involved, and the reviews come from the same template. Prices sit recognisably, but not absurdly, below market level – low enough to attract, high enough to remain plausible. Such sites are designed for a few weeks of operation; after that, the domain and payment details are changed.
A second variant does not target the shop, but the payment. The order process runs normally, but the payment page is a replica or the payment route is diverted at the last step: instead of going through the displayed provider, a transfer to a private account is requested, or a platform’s buyer-protection function is bypassed through a payment to “Friends and Family”. For those affected, this diversion is barely visible at the moment of payment.
The third variant plays out on sales and brokerage platforms. Here the actual contact is moved off the platform, often with reference to an alleged shipping service that sends a link for payment or reimbursement. That link leads to a replica page on which a payment is not received, but triggered. Sellers and buyers are equally affected.
Recognising the signs
How a fraudulent offer can be recognised
The following points can be checked in a few minutes before an order and often explain afterwards what went wrong.
- At the last step, the only remaining payment method is advance payment by bank transfer, even though several methods were shown earlier.
- The recipient account is in the name of a private individual or of a company in a country other than that of the provider named in the legal notice.
- The legal notice cites a register number that cannot be found in the public register, or not in connection with this offer.
- The domain was registered only a few weeks ago, even though the site advertises years of experience.
- Contact is possible only via a form or a mobile number; a landline number or an address is missing or belongs to another company.
- You are asked to send the purchase price as a payment to “Friends and Family” in order to save fees.
- An alleged shipping service sends a link through which you are supposed to enter your card details in order to receive a payment.
Possible measures
Possible measures
Whether further action is worthwhile depends on the amount, the payment route and whether a tangible addressee stands behind the offer. We will tell you if that is not the case.
Identifying the actual provider
Legal-notice details, register data, domain information and account holders can be cross-checked. Sometimes a real, albeit misused, company stands behind it, sometimes a structure without a tangible vehicle – that is the first question to be clarified.
Asserting claims against payment service providers
We draft the chargeback and reimbursement requests, observe the applicable deadlines and set out the grounds in detail. A right to information against the payment service provider may also come into consideration in order to identify the recipient of the funds.
Contractual claims against a tangible provider
If the provider actually exists, withdrawal, reimbursement and damages may come into consideration, for consumers possibly combined with a place of jurisdiction at their own residence. Whether this route is economically worthwhile we examine with you in advance.
Reports to platforms, registrars and hosts
Fraudulent offers can be reported to the services involved. That does not lead to repayment, but it can disrupt the structure and produces documentation on which later proceedings can rely.
Criminal complaint with a structured payment trail
We prepare the facts so that accounts, domains and dates are traceable for the investigating authorities, and we coordinate which civil-law steps make sense in parallel.
Prospects
What can be achieved and what cannot
What is decisive for the prospects is where the money went and who still holds it. A card payment or a payment through a service with its own protection procedure opens different routes from a transfer to an account that has since been closed. A particular outcome cannot be promised in any of these cases, and we will not do so even if the facts appear clear.
Some routes close within days: recalls and chargebacks are deadline-bound, platform procedures have their own reporting deadlines, and the site itself usually disappears faster than the proceedings begin. Other routes remain open longer, particularly where a real provider or an identifiable account holder exists. Which situation applies becomes clear only after the documents have been reviewed.
For smaller amounts, the honest answer is often that the rapid steps – chargeback, platform report, criminal complaint – make up most of what can reasonably be achieved. Further foundations on evidence preservation and payment tracing are summarised in the Fraud & Scam practice area.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions on online fraud
The answers set out the general framework. What applies in your case depends on the payment type, the provider and the timeline.
Related specialisms
Patterns that often overlap
Fraud rarely follows just one pattern. If your case only partly matches, related specialisms may help you understand the connections.
Fake websites
Counterfeit brand and government sites – evidence preservation, reports to registrars and protection of your own brand.
Find out moreFake Invoice
Manipulated invoices and changed bank details in the payment run – recovery, liability questions and process security.
Find out moreInternational fraud
Cross-border constellations involving several legal systems – jurisdiction, applicable law and enforcement.
Find out more
Related information
Related information
- Fraud and scamsWhen fraud is suspected, payment routes, correspondence and timing are important starting points.
- Recognising signs of fraudUrgency, secrecy and extra payments before a promised withdrawal are recurring warning signs. A single feature does not replace examination of the facts.
- Fraud patterns at a glanceForged invoices, fabricated relationships and manipulated investment platforms follow different patterns. Explore how they work and possible next steps.
- Contact usDescribe your matter in a few sentences. Include only what is needed for the initial contact. Documents can be requested later through a suitable channel.
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Describe your matter
An enquiry does not establish a client relationship or responsibility for monitoring deadlines. If a deadline is approaching, do not rely on this form alone.
- General information. The legal assessment depends on the circumstances of each case.