u/Curious-Ground-8106

How the scam works:

The scammer uses Afterpay to look legitimate. By the time you spot the red flags, your money has already moved.

• The site looks like a normal e-commerce store. I made a large purchase that appeared heavily discounted. It had come up on google search.
• At partsnauto checkout, the only payment option offered was Afterpay. I made my first afterpay account. Later learning that thats all deliberate - Afterpay is recognizable to consumers- and much harder to chargeback than a credit card.
• Partsnauto receipts came from multiple inconsistent emails/ business names - The order confirmation came from a random default WordPress system emaill. The Afterpay receipt referenced a completely different business name (Littledetailsboutique**)** and email than the storefront where I purchased.
• partsnauto itself has no verifiable history: a fake business address, no reviews anywhere or on on Trustpilot, no presence on ScamAdviser, and zero footprint on Reddit before this post.

My experience with Afterpay support afterward was awful (in case you get scammed too):

• They told me they could not help, and that I needed to "contact the merchant directly" (the scammer) and that only the merchant can issue the refund.
• I told afterpay if I accepted the first payment - could they atleast flag or cancel the future ones? Afterpay refused to flag/cancel future installments, saying since the merchant had "already been paid" - and that I now still need to pay back Afterpay.
• Afterpay Phone rep refused to escalate to a supervisor. Said I would be emailed at a later date by an expert. They wouldn't share an agent ID or supervisor name, citing the team's "privacy" - after handing my credit card, address, and personal info over to a scammer.