Online ‘ghost stores’ are providing fake tracking numbers to dupe payment platforms, Australian shopper says

A fake store repeatedly submitted false evidence to PayPal of deliveries of clothes and shoes that never arrived, a Geelong woman says. Photograph: Image Source/Rex/Shutterstock

Online “ghost stores” falsely claiming to be Australian businesses are providing fake tracking numbers to convince payment platforms they have delivered goods that have never been sent, a disappointed shopper says.

Ghost stores are online businesses that only exist in a digital sense and do not have a physical storefront. Guardian Australia has tracked 140 such stores masquerading as local businesses, which include those selling poor quality clothing and counterfeit labels, while others take customers’ money and fail to deliver anything at all.