Is your online shopping safe? Experts say ghost stores are on the rise in Australia
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Online shopping has become second nature for many Australians—but not every store is what it seems.
A growing number of seemingly local retailers are luring customers in with emotional stories and too-good-to-be-true sales.
What’s emerging is a troubling pattern that’s caught the attention of regulators and left consumers out of pocket.
Online shoppers across Australia had unknowingly been falling for a wave of deceptive ‘ghost’ stores, falsely marketed as local retailers offering everything from discount fashion to sportswear.
These stores often pushed emotional stories about closing down after ‘years’ of trading, convincing customers to act quickly—only for many to be left empty-handed or holding poor-quality items.
More than 140 of these suspicious sites had been uncovered in a joint investigation by Guardian Australia and consumer experts, revealing a much wider spread of the scam than previously known.
Victims said that if their orders arrived at all, the items were ‘rubbish’ and trying to secure a refund was nearly impossible.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had begun investigating the surge in complaints, while consumer advocates pointed fingers at platforms like Shopify and social media giants for enabling the misleading advertising.
Digital marketing strategist Briony Cullin reported 13 different ads to social media platforms over six months, but none were taken down.
‘There needs to be some balance for consumers here,’ Cullin said.
‘It’s a huge problem that they’re not taking any responsibility for and that’s terrible.’
In one case, Guardian Australia purchased a $69.95 blouse from a site called Maison Canberra on 31 March.
An email was sent the following day claiming the item had shipped, but nothing was ever delivered.
The store had since been taken offline, but its advertisements had used heartfelt copy to create a sense of urgency.
One ad shared a sentimental story about why the business was supposedly closing ‘after so many years’.
While the sites targeted Australians and often included ‘Sydney’ or ‘Melbourne’ in their names, many were based overseas—some as far as Belgium or China.
One store claimed to be ‘based in the heart of Melbourne’ but listed addresses in Amsterdam and a nearby Dutch suburb.
Another site had a contact email tied to a completely different business with ‘Dublin’ in its branding.
Several websites were found to share the same email addresses, content, and even returns policies—one of which instructed shoppers to send items back to Zhejiang, China.
That same Chinese address was connected to at least five other stores, some branded with locations like ‘Aussie’ or ‘London’.
Customers from across the globe—including Canada, Norway, New Zealand, and Germany—reported being told to return goods to Zhejiang.
A Brisbane woman, 60, said she had spent around $350 on clothing and shoes after seeing one of the ads on social media last year.
She did receive the goods, but said they were ‘rubbish’.
She attempted to get a refund by contacting PayPal and her credit card provider.
The company then sent PayPal a copy of its refund policy, which instructed customers to declare the value of returned items as under $5.
‘Anything above $5 will be destroyed immediately, resulting in no possible refund,’ the form stated.
The woman said she normally considered herself ‘a very tenacious person’.
‘After four months of backwards and forwards and arguing with people, I thought I’d just cut my losses because it was creating a lot of anxiety.’
She had still not received a refund.
Consumer advocates said the websites should be held to Australian consumer law, but enforcement was difficult as the actual business owners were hard to trace.
Erin Turner, CEO of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, said that online platforms needed to crack down on the misuse of their systems.
‘Platforms like Shopify and Instagram are making money as these ghost stores pay for advertising and support,’ Turner said.
‘We should call this what it is: digital retail fraud.’
‘Without coordinated action from digital platforms and regulators, these fraudsters will keep gaming the system.’
Despite repeated requests for comment, both Meta and Shopify failed to respond before deadline.
Sites like Maison Canberra and others mentioned in the investigation were contacted for a response.
In a previous story, we reported on an online shopping scam that left one man with serious injuries after a Marketplace transaction turned violent.
These incidents highlight the growing risks facing Australians who rely on digital platforms to buy and sell goods.
Read more to see how online scams are evolving beyond just financial loss.
As these ghost stores continue to deceive online shoppers, it’s clear that action is needed to protect consumers.
What do you think needs to be done to stop these scams once and for all?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
A growing number of seemingly local retailers are luring customers in with emotional stories and too-good-to-be-true sales.
What’s emerging is a troubling pattern that’s caught the attention of regulators and left consumers out of pocket.
Online shoppers across Australia had unknowingly been falling for a wave of deceptive ‘ghost’ stores, falsely marketed as local retailers offering everything from discount fashion to sportswear.
These stores often pushed emotional stories about closing down after ‘years’ of trading, convincing customers to act quickly—only for many to be left empty-handed or holding poor-quality items.
More than 140 of these suspicious sites had been uncovered in a joint investigation by Guardian Australia and consumer experts, revealing a much wider spread of the scam than previously known.
Fake Aussie stores scam hundreds online. Image source: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design
Victims said that if their orders arrived at all, the items were ‘rubbish’ and trying to secure a refund was nearly impossible.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had begun investigating the surge in complaints, while consumer advocates pointed fingers at platforms like Shopify and social media giants for enabling the misleading advertising.
Digital marketing strategist Briony Cullin reported 13 different ads to social media platforms over six months, but none were taken down.
‘There needs to be some balance for consumers here,’ Cullin said.
‘It’s a huge problem that they’re not taking any responsibility for and that’s terrible.’
In one case, Guardian Australia purchased a $69.95 blouse from a site called Maison Canberra on 31 March.
An email was sent the following day claiming the item had shipped, but nothing was ever delivered.
The store had since been taken offline, but its advertisements had used heartfelt copy to create a sense of urgency.
One ad shared a sentimental story about why the business was supposedly closing ‘after so many years’.
While the sites targeted Australians and often included ‘Sydney’ or ‘Melbourne’ in their names, many were based overseas—some as far as Belgium or China.
One store claimed to be ‘based in the heart of Melbourne’ but listed addresses in Amsterdam and a nearby Dutch suburb.
Another site had a contact email tied to a completely different business with ‘Dublin’ in its branding.
Several websites were found to share the same email addresses, content, and even returns policies—one of which instructed shoppers to send items back to Zhejiang, China.
That same Chinese address was connected to at least five other stores, some branded with locations like ‘Aussie’ or ‘London’.
Customers from across the globe—including Canada, Norway, New Zealand, and Germany—reported being told to return goods to Zhejiang.
A Brisbane woman, 60, said she had spent around $350 on clothing and shoes after seeing one of the ads on social media last year.
She did receive the goods, but said they were ‘rubbish’.
She attempted to get a refund by contacting PayPal and her credit card provider.
The company then sent PayPal a copy of its refund policy, which instructed customers to declare the value of returned items as under $5.
‘Anything above $5 will be destroyed immediately, resulting in no possible refund,’ the form stated.
The woman said she normally considered herself ‘a very tenacious person’.
‘After four months of backwards and forwards and arguing with people, I thought I’d just cut my losses because it was creating a lot of anxiety.’
She had still not received a refund.
Consumer advocates said the websites should be held to Australian consumer law, but enforcement was difficult as the actual business owners were hard to trace.
Erin Turner, CEO of the Consumer Policy Research Centre, said that online platforms needed to crack down on the misuse of their systems.
‘Platforms like Shopify and Instagram are making money as these ghost stores pay for advertising and support,’ Turner said.
‘We should call this what it is: digital retail fraud.’
‘Without coordinated action from digital platforms and regulators, these fraudsters will keep gaming the system.’
Despite repeated requests for comment, both Meta and Shopify failed to respond before deadline.
Sites like Maison Canberra and others mentioned in the investigation were contacted for a response.
In a previous story, we reported on an online shopping scam that left one man with serious injuries after a Marketplace transaction turned violent.
These incidents highlight the growing risks facing Australians who rely on digital platforms to buy and sell goods.
Read more to see how online scams are evolving beyond just financial loss.
As these ghost stores continue to deceive online shoppers, it’s clear that action is needed to protect consumers.
What do you think needs to be done to stop these scams once and for all?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
