13 December 2021

Beware Online Scams!

 Let's call this a "public service announcement". It's actually a Facebook post from a friend that I am propagating.

SCAM SHOP WARNING!
In light of a recent noticeable increase in scam dice shop ads popping up on Facebook, I'd like to issue a warning not to buy from stores or upon seeing dice ads with prices that seem too good to be true. Because they always are.
Here's an example in the photos of a store called Cowboykm that is using a photo stolen from Norse Foundry of an amethyst set they offer for $1.99, when the actual Norse Foundry price is $90. Other names I've recently seen used are Universemallse and Diceshops.shop / Diceshopsv.
These stores usually use stolen photos of high end dice from other brands or independent makers and offer them at prices that no reputable store could make or sell them for. The latest marketing ploy also seems to be "we are closing our store" or "giveaway" messaging.
These shops make their money by charging inordinate amounts of shipping costs, and often they send the customer cheap acrylic dice that look similar enough that they hope people will not complain.
I have a long list of such stores on my dice blog (https://www.virtual-dreams.org/dice/scammer-dice-shops/). I've been collecting names since November last year, the list has grown to an impressive listing of 82 shop names by now. Feel free to pass names along to me that aren't listed.

Please share this in other dice or role-playing groups. The more people know about this, the better.