Vinted in January 2021 and is very popular: With the app for Android and iOS or the browser, you can easily sell clothes, jewelry and other household items there. But the operators, and therefore also the customers, have a huge problem: A lot of fake accounts are currently appearing that offer non-existent goods and very cleverly circumvent buyer protection!
UPDATE July 7, 2022: Regarding the scammers on the platform, Vinted kindly sent us a statement, which you HERE can read.
A glut of fake accounts on Vinted
We put it to the test because many users complained in the Vinted forum . To do this, we simply searched for “cup” and favored some sales that seemed suspicious to us (strange username, no photo, price always 15 euros).
In fact, these cups were always sold within a few seconds. When we looked at the profile of one of the sellers, we discovered that a number of other sellers (strange name again, no profile picture, profile only a few hours old) were supposedly selling the exact same mugs:

Even more expensive items such as the Playstation 4 are offered with the same description and images at utopian low prices:

That alone shows that something is not right, but it gets even more insidious: the alleged sellers are circumventing buyer protection!
How buyer protection is circumvented by fraudsters
Trading on Vinted works like this: The buyer sends the purchase amount to Vinted via PayPal. Seller will send the tracking number to Vinted once the item has been shipped. Vinted is then still waiting for confirmation from the shipping service provider. The seller then has two days to confirm receipt or file a complaint. After two days, the money will automatically go to the seller.
Now the fraudsters' trick takes effect: The buyers are surprised that just seconds after the purchase they receive a message that the goods have been dispatched - and before the purchase! Since the goods were apparently sent days or weeks in advance , buyer protection is undermined: the fraudsters receive the money immediately, without ever having sent the goods.
So be careful when buying on Vinted!
At this point in time, the operator of the platform has not yet been able to contain the number of fake accounts, so you should keep the following points in mind if you want to buy something there:
- Pay attention to the name and age of an account: No profile picture, cryptic name, only a few hours or days old = Better not to buy
- When looking at a profile, also look at the other and similar items: With fake profiles, you can often discover that other sellers are also offering the item - with exactly the same pictures
- If something seems too cheap, such as a PS 4 with a lot of games for €130 or €75 above: stay away!
Even if it is sometimes difficult: Don't make impulse purchases, but if in doubt, invest a few minutes to check the points above before you perhaps never see your money again.
Also interesting in this context:
Did you buy something on Vinted but received a Zalando package?
Be careful: FRAUD! Zalando delivers even though the order was made via Vinted?
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