'Scam clothing website uses my home address for its returns'

A man says he's receiving parcels and up to 10 calls a day from people who've bought items from a scam clothing website.

Scott Wicks, from south-west London, says he was "shocked" to discover scammers had used his home address and phone number as their website's public facing contact details.

An investigation by BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme has established a pattern of those behind scam clothing websites using the delivery details of people who shop there as their own contact information.

In Mr Wicks' case, we linked it to his recent purchase of some boots from a similar site.

Convincing-looking clothing websites selling poor quality items are a widespread scam targeting online shoppers.

The items are sent to customers in the hope that receiving something in the post will prevent people complaining to their bank and the police.

But there's a vast difference in quality and value between the item advertised and the one that eventually ends up with the customer.

Now, we've established that in an apparent attempt to look more convincing, several of these sites are lifting the addresses and phone numbers of people who buy from them.

This means people's home addresses and phone numbers are being bombarded by people trying to return the items they've bought.

As a result, Mr Wicks, who lives near Wimbledon, says he has been receiving between five and 10 phone calls a day in the last month - as well as several packaged-up pairs of orthopaedic shoes in the post.

"It's escalated as the weeks have gone on," he says.

"I was very shocked at my address being on their website. And when I looked up the site and physically saw it at the bottom as the contact details, I was like 'this is awful - this could get quite awkward'.

"If people are buying things and not receiving what they want and they live locally, there's a possibility they could turn up at the front door."

The electrician was unaware how the scammers had got hold of his details – until we established it was linked to his recent purchase of some safety boots from a website that we know is linked to the one now using his details.

We've found the same tactic used on other sites, and have spoken to other people whose personal details have been listed.

We're not naming the sites involved in order to protect the details of the people whose details are still listed on there.

Martin, who lives in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, has also been receiving calls from people about their trouser orders – since buying his own pair of waterproof trousers.

He says he hadn't seen the company before but for the price of the trousers, he thought it was "worth a gamble".

"I paid the money, got the trousers, no problem. About two weeks later, I started getting phone calls from people asking where their trousers were."

Martin adds: "I did ask one of the guys, 'how did you get this number?'

"He said, 'oh, your number is listed on the website'. I thought he obviously made a mistake and called the wrong number, but it turns out that my number is on this website as the returns number."

Rachel, from Kent, who works as a doctor, says she had to stop using her voicemail because it is swamped by phone calls about the website using her number.

She says: "After a while, I decided to ask somebody, 'can you please tell me what you've bought and where you bought it?'

"And they gave me the name of a website, which I then looked up and I was very shocked to discover that on this website my phone number was down as the contact number. And we've tried in many, many ways to stop the calls, but we haven't been able to."

She adds: "When I pick up the phone - if I do - I've got quite quick at saying, 'I'm so sorry, but the website you're on is a scam and this is my private number'.

"And then they're usually very apologetic and sweet about it.

Mike Andrews, the head of National Trading Standards' e-crime team, urged anyone affected to report it to Action Fraud, and said the use of people's personal data in this way was also a matter for the Information Commissioner's Office.

"The tactic of using real UK consumers details on other websites is a new, and quite frankly, a concerning issue for us," he says.

"Not only has the consumer been defrauded in what they think buying a high quality item and either they get nothing at all or a box of tat, they then find themselves at risk of having their details used on another website that is then going go on to defraud many other consumers."

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