Aussie brand’s huge warning to shoppers amid ‘scam’ claim

An Aussie online retailer has issued an urgent warning to customers after a US high school student’s complaint went viral.

An Aussie retailer has issued an urgent warning to customers after a US high school student’s complaint went viral.

The high school student took to social media to vent about the homecoming dress she’d purchased from a brand — which she later clarified as being Peppermayo — never came.

In the post, she called the website a “scam” and hundreds of people flooded the brand’s comment section calling them out.

After it wracked up more than nine million views a representative for the brand did clarify that the high-schooler was scammed — but not by them.

“She was scammed by an imitation, counterfeit website using our IP and logos to take money from unsuspecting and well-meaning shoppers,” said a representative of the brand on TikTok.

It was labelled an “incredibly common problem” with just four example of scam websites posing as the brand created by Adelaide duo Georgia Wright and Huayi Huang.

“We are currently working with a company to get these removed but they will keep popping up,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the teenager had purchased a dress from “pepperrmayo” — pointing out the brand name had two of the letter “r”. She also said it was only a four-digit order number, whereas Peppermayo’s all start with “PMAU”, “PMUK” or “PMUS”.

Peppermayo have defended themselves against scammer claims. Picture: TikTok/@peppermayo

She said the brand had reached out to the American teenager to organise her getting a dress as they didn’t want her to be without one for the huge event.

The spokesperson also clarified that this wasn’t the only scam plaguing them, with fake public relations emails also being sent from Gmail accounts claiming to be the brand.

However, they generally end with a request for money.

“Please, please do not fall for these scams from criminals who are trying to use our name to take advantage of your,” the spokesperson said.

“Unfortunately there will always be criminals looking to scam and take advantage of unsuspecting victims.”

The woman pleaded with people to double check the website domain and to ensure emails come from them.

News.com.au has contacted Peppermayo for further comment.

Scamwatch reported that Australians lost $2.74 billion to scams in 2023 with 601,00 scam reports lodged to Scamwatch, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange, IDCARE and ASIC — an 18.5 per cent increase on the year before.

The brand listed key things to look out for. Picture: TikTok/@peppermayo

Investment scams are the most harmful, followed by remote access scams and romance scams.

Peppermayo is the victim of impersonation scams, which fall in the same category as business email compromise scams, someone pretending to be your bank or the “Hi mum” scams.

“Scammers are criminals, who use sophisticated tactics to convince their victims they are from their bank, a government agency or even a high-profile recruitment firm offering what may seem like an amazing job opportunity,” Catriona Lowe, ACCC Deputy Chair, said last year ahead of Scams Awareness Week.

“That’s why we are urging consumers to take a minute and ask themselves if the person they are communicating with – whether it be online or by text, phone or email – is really who they say they are. Could it be a scammer?

“Scammers deliberately put their victims under pressure and make them feel like they need to act quickly, such as making claims there has been suspicious activity on their bank account. Don’t rush to act. Take a moment to consider if it could be a scam.”