Buying second-hand on Vinted can be dangerous. In an investigation published in Le Parisien this Friday, we learned that many buyers on the platform have received several death threats after rejecting a counterfeit product.
A user named “Stéphanie” shares that she bought a pair of UGG brand shoes sold as new for about a hundred euros. “It was really a good deal because in stores they cost about 170 euros,” says the young woman. A week later, Stéphanie receives the package and realizes that she has received a fake. She then decides to notify Vinted that the product does not comply and then she tells the seller that she wishes to “make a return and get a refund.”
Photos of the seller with a gun.
To intimidate the buyer, the seller sent several death threats, as well as photographs of himself carrying a gun. These worrying messages followed one another the following week, directed at Stéphanie but also at her own family. Like her, many users have shared similar facts on forums.
“I will start by raping you before killing you”, “Do you want to die first or have your family die first?”, “I will go to your house with a gun, I have your address”, we can continue reading Screenshots sent by several buyers.
“I only indicate the address of the relay point,” explains Marie, a mother who was also a victim of these threats after rejecting a pair of counterfeit Nike sneakers. So, when she threatened to come to my house armed with her teeth, I didn’t give her the address. “I’m not very afraid. I have family in the gendarmerie and they told me that most of these crazy people were abroad.”
Tatiana, another victim, filed a complaint at the police station and confined herself to her home for several days out of fear. “He had my address, which was shown once the sale was completed. He threatened to come to my house to kill me,” she says. “I was totally scared.”
Vinted “is not up to par”
These same women also believe that Vinted’s response to the problem is “not up to par.” After making a report, they explain that they only received an automatic email between 48 and 72 hours. “They told me to verify the origin of the product or ask for a receipt,” explains Tatiana. “Nothing about death threats, even though I had sent all the screenshots of the photos and messages. I felt abandoned.”
Only Vinted can decide to block a seller and threats can continue to be made until the platform has taken this action. “After a while, I got fed up and agreed to the sale to make it stop,” says Marie. When everything was finished, more than ten days later, Vinted sent me a message to tell me that this was not normal and that I should file a complaint “
Preserve the anonymity of buyers
For its part, Vinted admits to having observed these “death threats used as a means of scam,” while justifying its great difficulty in being able to immediately identify the messages in dispute. “We strive to rectify our mistakes,” the platform promises our colleagues.
The latter plans to tighten its control and prevent threatening users from sending other messages, even if they are carrying out a transaction in progress. “We have begun to explore additional solutions, such as anonymous shipping labels, that would not impact the quality and speed of deliveries while protecting the identity of the buyer,” he said.
In the meantime, buyers are encouraged to avoid buyers whose account has no ratings or comments or who deliver them to a relay point and to never reveal their address or phone number. “It’s a shame we’ve reached this point,” says Stéphanie. “After all, I decided to stop shopping at Vinted. I only sell.”
Source: BFM TV
