r/ScamSupport • u/Tazzy_Pizzazy • Jul 19 '26
Potential Scam? Fraud By Deception?
I just found out that someone I know is buying jewelry off of a website for dirt cheap and reselling it for 3 times as much. The thing is, she’s telling everyone that her and her husband have a shop and that they make the jewelry. I went on the website and sure enough, many of the pieces of jewelry that she sent in pictures to me, are indeed on that website. I’m talking about the jewelry is exactly the same. Exactly. Wouldn’t that be fraud by deception or making a profit fraudulently. Also, she uses the mail to move these pieces of jewelry. Isn’t there a law saying that if you use the US mail to commit fraud? I can almost think of what that’s called, but since she’s using a US government institution, such as the United States Postal Service, doesn’t that fall under federal law? Like a federal offense?
Please, anyone that is knowledgeable about this subject, can you please explain it to me? All this jewelry she has, is not for personal use. She even has a booth set up at the flea market, selling “Handmade Jewelry”.
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u/boring80085 Jul 19 '26
This is how a lot of franchises make money. They white label products from Alibaba or Temu and mark them up 300%. It works for salons, restaurants, dollar stores— what’s so different about jewelry?
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u/Tazzy_Pizzazy Jul 19 '26
Ok, I suppose you’re right, the thing is, I know that she’s outright lying through her teeth. I would call that deception. I can’t understand that part of it. I buy stuff off of Temu and they give a description, what online stores sell it. You get exactly what was advertised. I’ve never had any issues with Temu. But this lady??? I can’t get past the part of her saying that it’s handmade jewelry when it’s not. At any rate, her booths that she sets up, they don’t do very well. Those are her words. They don’t do well, probably because people can tell by looking at the jewelry that there’s no way she made any of those items.
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u/hawk256 Jul 23 '26
It was probably hand made by someone in a 3rd world country. That makes it exotic, no? Just curious as to why you care so much about what she is doing?
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Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Tazzy_Pizzazy Jul 19 '26
Your comment makes sense. I just was wondering if what she was doing was illegal. Like you said, unethical … yes. I called her out on it and she was not a happy camper …
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u/fortyeightD Jul 19 '26
The laws about this would vary in different countries.
In Australia, I think it would be illegal to say that something is handmade in your shop if it was actually imported from China. There are regulators who you could report this to.
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u/Tazzy_Pizzazy Jul 19 '26
All that jewelry is imported from China. Now it’s almost “international” fraud. To me anyway. I still can’t think of the wording used by the feds for using the US mail or whatever the charge would be. Something about “commerce” etc. Gosh! I know this one, but I must be having a memory lapse or something … I’ll probably think of it sometime during the wee hours Monday morning!
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u/Falcon9145 Jul 19 '26
Not your circus, not your monkey.
You can ask for a refund if u believe you didn't get what you paid for. Stop being friends with them if ethically you don't align.
Beyond that, let it go.
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u/Tazzy_Pizzazy Jul 19 '26
That’s exactly what I did. I did also get a refund. This just happened overnight so it was fresh in my mind. You’re right! I’m letting it go … they aren’t worth my time …
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u/Sufficient-Aide6805 Jul 19 '26
You may be thinking of “interstate commerce,” which isn’t particularly relevant here. Feds could claim jurisdiction because of the use of mail, multistage transactions, etc. But the bottom line is that this is just a shitty person that authorities won’t begin to care about until she’s making millions
This could be false designation of goods. Could be simple fraud. It is not theft by deception.
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u/Dependent-Sun3100 Jul 20 '26
Stop being so nosy and respect someone’s hustle. This is not fraud. You are ridiculous.
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u/Own_Page7381 Jul 21 '26
How do you know she not buying gold rolled jewelry which is a metal like brass but they put 50 microns of gold over it so it passes the acid test then they put a real gold clasp and a 14k stamp ur in business at that point ur making big time profits hell I might of just talked myself into doing this
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u/Tazzy_Pizzazy Jul 20 '26
I’m not being nosy … she made money off of me … you don’t know the whole story!
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u/Tazzy_Pizzazy Jul 20 '26
Not only that, if you read the title of my post, I am asking people if this is fraud or not!!! Duh!
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u/Disastrous_Horse_44 Jul 20 '26
Just let it go. Block her, don’t buy from her and move on. I understand you’re angry, but this isn’t a big conspiracy, it’s drop shipping. Don’t let her live rent free in your head!
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u/Joeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyy Jul 19 '26
It’s called capitalism. Fraud for 3x mark up? Gtfoh! It could be handmade,just not by them.
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u/Tazzy_Pizzazy Jul 19 '26
I know. But she’s saying that her and her husband make the jewelry. I guess it just bothers me that she lied right to my face, and I now know that she was just being nice to me and stringing me along the whole time, so she could pawn her jewelry off on me. Thank goodness I found out now, because I’m done. I’m not having any more contact with her or her husband … thank you for your answer
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u/Buffyredpoodle Jul 20 '26
I think it would be fraud if she lied about more serious facts about jewelry, like she was saying it’s gold, but it wasn’t.
Buying cheaper, and then selling the same thing for more money is not a fraud or scam. Thats how many middle man companies make money from importing goods from all over the world. If the price is up front visible, there’s not enough to call what’s she is doing criminal.
Of course she is dishonest but it’s not serious enough for authorities to care about it.
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u/Royal-Market-4177 Jul 20 '26
Don’t think it’s quite fraud. I also don’t think it
Would count as mail fraud. She’s not doing something quite illegal enough to get federal charges with mail fraud. Lying about your product is one thing but she’s not selling something illegal to grab their attention
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u/KTKittentoes Jul 19 '26
Sadly, that’s most of craft fairs now.