Spot the Ali scam - brazenly using the same name pattern? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2023, 05:44:46 am
content: Many months ago I bought a $20 mechanical keyboard. Yes indeed it was too good to be true, fake tracking number and all -- I called the shipping company and they told it was a code for some mannequins going to Melbourne. Got my money back from the platform, but it left me with questions (how on earth would they earn any money from a platform that escrows it?).The keyboard seller doesn't seem to be active any more:Note the very generic name.Today I came across these:Huh. Any of those stand out to you? Maybe they're just those annoying mutliple-choice item listings where they put an expensive device along side a $2 USB cable or something...Nope, not at all. $19AUD gets you 2kWh of battery shipped for free by DHL. NiceFeedback page:If you go through the feedback manually you'll find it's all from the same few days in January and every one of their sales listings have EXACTLY one piece of feedback. No photos or comment, just 5 stars.Theories(1) If you spam thousands of accounts, maybe a small percentage will reap a small profit before being detected?(2) Intentionally trying to harm Aliexpress (competitors)(3) Collecting some sort of "real purchaser patterns" data that can then be sold, all at little/no cost.(4) Delivering malware (eg through javascript/exploits on store pages ?)(5) Negative-testing/honeypots by Aliexpress on users (to detect bot buyers/users by waiting to see if they request refunds or not; also if they don't then Alix earns direct profit from the bots)I don't think you can make money by doing this with just one account, the escrow system would prevent that. Maybe a small bit of money leaks through at the start if you're lucky and no-one reports the items as undelivered.The blatant pattern of the username pattern suggests to me that it's not "normal" scam sellers trying to get a profit. Otherwise you would put that little bit more care into obscuring the bot script names.These bots (in their current form) would be super easy to detect. They copy-paste other listings, their feedback is perfect and their names are predictable. Yet they're not autodetected or removed (it seems).I think option (5) is the most likely. Alix probably dislikes user/buyer bots waiting to pounce on price-dropped goods automatically. Same for puppet users selling fake feedback, accounts which would need to look legit by purchasing a variety of (cheaper) products automatically. Alix going slightly to the dark side by making their own automated honeypot seller accounts could be quite successful in baiting both types.Thoughts?

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2023, 07:31:36 am
content: They rely on time, and that a good third of the customers will either file late, or incorrectly, so they get a good amount of money out per account. Small amounts, so the customers might miss them, but do it enough and it grows, plus they make multiple accounts every week, so they always get new orders.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2023, 10:52:25 pm
content: The username is just a auto generated result if you don't choose a specific store name. It doesn't guarantee a scam seller but means you should check their rating.Don't waste your time buying things that are absurdly cheap, you'll get burned eventually.You can get a mechanical keyboard off amazon for <$40, or maybe find a used one locally.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2023, 11:26:52 pm
content: (6) There was a ~2010scandalwith Alibaba - "gold suppliers" were fake, it was around 100 Alibaba staff that were involved vetting scammer companies.So it's possible Aliexpress staff are allowing some shady stores to exist.