Jellycat? More like jelly scam! This small gift shop in Toronto got a blow to its sales in January due to an unexpected turn of events. What started off as a harmless phone order from a supposed elderly British woman turned into a nightmare.
There are several different ways scammers accomplish their missions. Small businesses are especially vulnerable to scams. Check scams are one common scam, according to Colony Bank. Fake invoices from suppliers are another challenge they often face. It can get hard to keep track of what your actual bills are. However, the scam Lemon & Lavender, a small gift shop in Toronto, experienced is a classic old phone call scam.
Jellycats are cute plushies that come in almost any object or food you can think of. They’re perfect for gift-giving since you can find a version that speaks to the specific person you’re buying it for. Hence why the gift shop Lemon & Lavender in Toronto, Ontario, carries them.
Lemon & Lavender is a small but mighty gift shop in Toronto that seems to specialize in adorable things. It sells tons of Jellycat plushies. Unfortunately, these adorable plushies were at the heart of a recent scam for this business.
“We received a phone call at the store in the heart of our busy season, Christmas,” the shop owner, Christina (@lemonandlavendar), explains. “And it was from an elderly British woman that said she’d like to purchase some Jellycat over the phone. My amazingly helpful employee answered the phone.”
She says her employee provided excellent customer service in helping the woman. She even texted her photos of the store’s Jellycat inventory to make sure the woman got exactly what she wanted. The customer bought an extra-large Jellycat for $1,400 and two large ones that cost $140 each. Along with the tea she added to her order, the purchase came out to $2,158.
A few days after the first order was already shipped out, the same lady called again and placed another order over the phone. This time, the order came out to $1,791.
“I was so excited to have such good orders come in for my small business, especially because we are just a small, independent, mother-and-daughter-owned store. And so I was really happy that somebody chose to buy those from us, an independent business, rather than a big box store,” Christina says.
A few days after the second order goes out, Christina gets a few notifications from Shopify. The notifications say that both orders have been disputed. Christina tried contacting the customer over the phone, assuming they may have initiated the refund claim by mistake, as they are older and may have forgotten about the orders or not recognized the charges. However, the phone number was deactivated.
“It’s all starting to come very apparent to my mom and I that this was one big, massive scam,” Christina says. “I am realizing that everything she told us, that she was just, like, [an] elderly British grandmother wanting to bring back these Jellycats for her grandchildren, was a way to kind of prey on my employee and make her feel like she was dealing with an honest, innocent person.”
Christina says Shopify informed her that the refunds would be deducted from the next orders her shop gets—before she even had a chance to appeal the chargebacks. On top of that, the company charged a $15 fee for each returned transaction.
Christina attempted to gather evidence to dispute the chargebacks, but she says the scammer knew exactly what not to do so she wouldn’t get caught.
The video has 3.5 million views and 132,000 likes. Folks have tons of advice for Christina and, unfortunately, share similar stories.
“We implemented a policy where we email a form to the customer authorizing the purchase with the credit card number, total amount and a signature. If the customer doesn’t send the completed form back the order doesn’t get processed. We haven’t lost a charge back case since. Sorry this happened to you,” says one commenter.
“Shame on Shopify for not investigating. Hopefully you find another source to sell your items,” says another person.
“As someone who has managed online stores, used Shopify and also been scammed, we had to place a rule that we couldn’t do any over the phone orders or orders over $1000 without identification,” says another.
In an update video, Christina mentions that they are filing a police report. Additionally, she says that several other businesses in Toronto have reached out to her, saying they also got scammed by an elderly British woman over the phone. Therefore, it seems like a trend, perhaps all by the same person.
“I will find this woman,” Christina says.
AllHipHop has reached out to Christina via email and TikTok direct message and to Shopify via email. We will update this story if either party responds.
@lemonandlavender We got Scammed This has been weighing heavy on my mom and I as we have been dealing with this behind the scenes. It’s time to share our story and hopefully get some help from our community and possibly some answers!! #jellycat #fraud #scam #toronto ♬ original sound – Lemon & Lavender
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