How A Cute, Plushie Bat Scammed Me And My Friends!

Who would imagine, an innocent, little, tiny, felt, plushie bat could be used to create so much sadness and scam people who would love to ''adopt'' it! A toy, created by a Russian mother, with all her love for her daughter, would be ''taken advantage of'' so heartlessly to scam people around the world and fellow gothic lovers like myself!

Well, it happened to me and my friends! And i am here to warn everyone with my story.

Because we were looking everywhere for this plushie after coming across it, as a random google search about fruit bats on the Internet. And suddenly, this huge urge to have it and give it all the love it deserves, got born.

Our searches went in vain till the first of March a sponsored advertisement on facebook, offered to my friend, exactly what he was looking for.

This gorgeous, lovely, baby plushie bat. We named him Mister Nibbles and we rushed, all together, without checking, to purchase it, spending the rest of the day, happy, that our months-search had a happy end.

Our happiness faded hours after when one of my friends visited the store we were supposed to purchase it from, to find it shut down.

The store simply stopped existing.

And this is where the panic settles in, making me a couple of waiting days after, to take the issue personally and help everyone that loves this bat, find it and most of all stay away from internet frauds.

Long story short? The store we ordered from, got shut down several times, changed a couple of URLS and eshops (with the excuse of maintenance) , changed a couple of facebook pages (from gothic lovers on facebook, their new page is the animal kingdom) and despite our calls to paypal and our reports on the facebook ad, the advertisement is still out there, deceiving people.

HOW IT WORKS:

People steal a cute image online. Set up a fake eshop with a cheap and catchy domain name. They sell. You buy. You may or may not ever, receive something similar from other kind of sites that sell copies or very inexpensive kind of products. You feel deceived and voila! You are.

And the time from purchase till you claim a refund , has flown away along with your money. Run to paypal and claim a refund even months after the shipping. Only like this you will help fight the crime happening out there. You are not alone.

The cherry on the top of this whole scam, is the fact that the fraudsters provide everyone with a fake tracking number, so to prolong their safety under paypal wings. To make it even more noticeable and tricky, they run a fake code giveaway that will provide you a fake 10% off if you insert your email. Don't do that. Wanna try it out? put a fake email and see the 10 minute code, never working on any purchase on the site.

And of course we are not alone. People keep contacting us to help them and we are here to do this.

Please avoid any store with the name Valar Store, Deforts, Amde Store, Uredaka, Lucid Tiger, Kouinji, Gift Bias, Tiny Cute Stuffs and none knows how many more are we going to dig out and expose, in our effort to serve some justice. And we will keep fighting and submitting your fake addresses and phones where they belong: to the scam debunk-er pages.

How to protect yourself?

Visit Trust Pilot before any purchase from any random store out there. You might be surprised and thankful.

Google any phone number included on the stores contacts details. If they exist in a Who Calls me Page, stay away.

Be mindful when stock numbers in sales change. A stock number is not something infinite and shouldn't change as time counts down. Someone is behind this and resets it so the next one bites the bait and run to buy.

They have no rights to play with people hearts. They have no rights to use other people's work to gain profit.

And of course, all the credits for this beautiful hard work goes to Анна Ястрежембовская, this awesome Russian artist that helps us from day one.

Find more of her art on Instagram at yast.anna and on facebook at fb.com/yastanna

She has asked us to warn people and to keep in mind, there are no such plushies sold out there.

Be careful. Be mindful when you purchase from a store you never bought from before. Keep in mind that not all sponsored ads are legit ones.

Keep in mind that paypal will not help you instantly get a refund. Work with them with patience and all the proof you can get.

Have they gained profits from more artists via their stores? Absolutely yes. The Russian community is aware and Anna is not the only out there.

Help me, help her. Help me, help you and everyone deceived.

Help me give mister Nibbles the real homes he deserves.

Prevention is better than therapy, everyone.

i Do hope to have touched your heart and if by any chance you have been scammed also, by any of those eshops, feel free to contact me here or on my twitter.

Together we can do this. Takes one, to Care.

More info: Facebook