Fake fashion store scams hit NZ buyers and genuine shops

Online advertisements for fake boutique clothing stores with New Zealand locations in their names have been surging, with hundreds of complaints to Consumer NZ.

An attractive photo of what looks like a designer garment can appear in your social media feed, taking you to a website for an apparently independent local clothing store.

In many cases, there is an emotional message about the business closing down, and all prices are on clearance sale.

David Wellington is one of the many fake stores, aggressively targeting New Zealanders on social media.

"Sadly, we are forced to close our boutique," it says at the top of the website.

"What began as a simple idea - a father and his daughter wanting to spend quality time together - grew into something truly special. For the past 20 years, we have poured our heart and soul into creating clothing that reflects warmth, care, and character.

"From shirts and jackets to trousers, dresses, sandals, blouses, and bags - each item was made with love, with the hope of leaving a piece of ourselves in every detail.

"We built our boutique to be more than just a store; we aimed to create a welcoming space for our community here in New Zealand. But as the cost of living has continued to rise, keeping our boutique open has become increasingly difficult - and now, sadly, impossible."

RNZ First Up staff member Jeremy Parkinson was a recent victim of the scam.

"We read the story, looked at the pictures and made a couple of purchases," he said.

When the garments arrived, he quickly realised they were fake.

"It was quite funny actually, because I opened them up and they were flimsy. Clearly not wool, really badly made, terribly made, and they just looked cheap.

"I just laughed out loud. It was just a cable knit pattern printed on God knows what sort of material."

It was definitely not worth the $240 they spent, he said.

"They've gone to scammer school and they came top top of the class. Initially they said, 'yes we are a New Zealand company' and blah blah blah, and then they offered a refund but we had to pay to send it back to China."

Luckily for him, he had made the purchase through PayPal, which tried to contact the seller.

"It came back with a refund through PayPal because the seller hadn't made contact with them. So that was good. We got the money back."

Others have not been so lucky. In the same week that Parkinson was scammed, First Up heard from an Auckland woman who had lost $80 when buying an item on the David Wellington website using her credit card.

She was not able to get a refund, but Sahar Lane at Consumer NZ said banks should be able to help.

"You can use a credit card or debit card. That way if things go wrong you can request a charge back from your bank," she said.

"Something else worth keeping in mind is that if you do go through (with) the purchase, you can act quickly to make sure that your bank details aren't compromised. You can call your bank and let them know that you've made a potentially dodgy purchase, or pause your card."

Unfortunately, she said it was very difficult to enforce New Zealand's consumer laws on such scammers.

"Under the Fair Trading Act, it is illegal for traders to mislead customers, give them false information or make misrepresentations, and under the Consumer Guarantees Act there's also protections. If the item is faulty or damaged when it arrives or doesn't match the description, but it can be really challenging to enforce rights against an overseas entity."

Online boutique fraudsters are also affecting New Zealand's real independent stores.

The Matakana Village Farmers Market said it has had a wave of visitors looking for items they saw at matakanaboutique.com - another fake online shop.

"We've had a wave of people arriving in the village looking for items they saw on matakanaboutique.com - many thinking it's a local boutique," the group said on its Instagram profile.

"Just to clarify: that website is not based in Matakana, and there's no physical store here connected to it.

"Several shoppers who ordered from the site told us their parcels arrived from China, nothing like the photos, and some said they felt scammed. This confusion has led to real, locally-owned boutiques like us, White Cottage, and Two Boutique, as well as the genuine matakanaboutique.co.nz, having to explain the difference - often to very disappointed visitors."

Sahar Lane said the best advice was still for the buyer to beware.

"Thinking twice before clicking on those links and ads in the first place. If it seems too good to be true, for example, locally made for cheap, it usually is."

She advised being skeptical of products or ads where there was pressure tactics like emotional messages involved.

"If you're also unsure whether it is a local business, you could look them up on the New Zealand Companies register to find out if it does exist in New Zealand before purchasing."

Consumer New Zealand currently has a petition open called Stamp Out Scams. It wants to put pressure on the government to introduce a national scam framework that holds businesses to account.

As for Jeremy Parkinson, he will be more careful.

"The lesson is to not make purchases in the middle of the night when you can't sleep. Really think about what you want and and actually just make sure if you think you're buying locally that you are actually buying locally."