Total money lost $159.74
Type of a scam Online Purchase
Following anti-fraud advice, the website appears legit in some ways (https security, accepts credit card payment, email confirmation upon order). But further research shows signs of the site being suspicious and fraudulent (lack of contact info, short history of existence, no reviews to be found online). Without doing much advance investigation, I foolishly placed an order for an item that was roughly $100 CDN less than other online vendors…another red flag. I got an order confirmation email, which included confirmation of a successful credit card transaction. After that, no contact. My efforts to reach the vendor go without reply. I should have tried contacting them before ordering and would have learned the site was incommunicado and fraudulent.
Insult to injury, the actual credit card transaction was more than the order confirmation stated…conversion fees from Yen to Canadian were applied. This contradicts the order confirmation saying $147.62 CA was charged. I feel so stupid. I’ve contacted my credit card company and will report to police as well. I will certainly be more vigilant in the future.