Denby Fawcett: My $54 Lesson In Social Media Scams – Honolulu Civil Beat

A bipartisan bill pending in Congress would require social media platforms to first verify a company’s business credentials before allowing it to advertise. I was scammed by a company advertising on Facebook as Hugo & Rose Charleston. It appeared to be a well-established, family owned boutique with a brick-and-mortar store in South Carolina. I later learned I was far from alone. After paying $54 with my credit card for what I expected to be a beautiful red blouse made of high quality material, a month later I received a thin polyester shirt in a weird color with crooked stitching, cheap buttons without a store label or care instructions — nothing like the photograph in the ad. Only after a deeper online search did I learn Hugo & Rose Charleston was a company with no verifiable street address in South Carolina. My purchase had been processed through a merchant account in the Netherlands, and the blouse had been shipped from China. The company’s website domain had been registered just seven weeks earlier. When I asked for a full refund, the company initially offered 10% of the purchase price if I kept the blouse, with a full refund promised only if I mailed it
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