Complaint Review: Airgun NS - Hefei Anhui

A Google search included site, Airgunns.com, which I visited. The site looked legitimate, provided information that its business name was "Air Guns of Texas" with the location information for that business. The site seemed legitimate and prices were reasonable, not excessively lower than normal, but they indicated they had items in stock that were out of stock everywhere else so I attempted a purchase.

PayPal was the payment option used. I was alarmed at first when the recipient name on the authorization was displayed in Chinese characters and the amount was for less than the total purchase amount. I erroneously assumed that the website was a storefront for a Chinese distributor; that the lower charge was simply to verify payment option, as is the case with pre-authorization of fuel purchases throughout the US today. However, after completing the purchase, I received no order number or confirmation email. I tried to contact the company through their website contact form and received a bounced email response.

I then conducted another Google search on that website and found numerous posts that it was a scam website that spoofed a legitimate business in Texas. These posts clearly indicated that in the last two years, others have been victimized by those behind this site and that PayPal had previously been informed of the website being a scam and UPS had already confirmed it to be a scam. Yet, PayPal was still a valid payment option on the website.

Contacting PayPal about the transaction and scam status of the website while the transaction was still in authorization phase--before any funds had been transferred--resulted in no assistance whatsoever. PayPal customer service agents from Manila, Philippines continually cited "Merchant concerns" and an inability to stop any transaction after authorization. I got the sincere impression that PayPal agents were actually protecting the scammer(s). Only after the funds had actually transferred from my bank account, and insisting that my case be escalated, was I connected to a "Team Supervisor", again in Manila, who informed me that they had put a freeze on the funds preventing the recipient from moving them until they had completed an "investigation".

The so-called investigation seemed to be contacting the recipient to get information to confirm they are acting within PayPal protocols. Even at this point, the "supervisor" still wanted to refer to the recipient as "Merchant" until I told her that was insulting to me as I had already confirmed that they were not legitimate merchants but scammers. I was also informed, however, that PayPal was reducing the normal 30 day resolution time to only 10 days for my case. How thoughtful of them to be so courteous and considerate of this scammer I thought.

The recipient is listed in PayPal as 合肥腾博商贸有限公司, Chinese writing which translates to English as Hefei Tengbao Trading Company. The website is www.airgunns.com. It lists a business name of Airgun NS yet displays a map of Air Guns of Texas located in Abilene, TX, USA. Air Guns of Texas is a legitimate company with an internet presence at a different domain and is not associated with this website, company, or scam.