Is fitbitstore.us real site or scam?

[aceckert]

Through Google I ended up on fitbitstore.us which I thought was the actual fitbit site. I ordered 2 fitbit ace 2s, but became suspicious when I didn't get a confirmation and then couldn't create an account on site. They did charge me through paypal which listed the items (but uses a personal gmail account with a Chinese name). But have otherwise no idea if the order is being processed. This was 3 days ago and I am trying to figure out if I ended up getting scammed and should begin the process of contesting charge.

[Halelani]

I just tried to call my credit card company and they said I had to file a dispute with the fitbitstore which is bogus, but I sent an email anyway.  The payment has showed up on my card through the bank, but has NOT showed up on paypal yet.  I'm waiting to see if I can cancel the transaction through paypal first.

When calling my bank, they gave me the merchant phone number as 402-935-7733 and when I called it, it was PayPal, grrr.  This just makes me so mad and sad!!! I hope it gets resolved quickly.

[Dancemom82]

Same... citi originally ruled in their favor when they provided the bogus tracking number. I explained to them that it was still a scam and they reopened the investigation.

[Halelani]

I'm sorry if I'm perseverating on this but this makes me mad that people can get away with this!!

Here is the information for the Whois Lookup: The information for fitbitstore.us is also on there, but it's too long to post here.

https://www.islegitsite.com/domain-whois-lookup/

It basically shows the owner as: Registrant Name: Jean W Gillum
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: 36 Olen Thomas Drive
Registrant Street:
Registrant Street:
Registrant City: Frisco
Registrant State/Province: TX
Registrant Postal Code: 75034
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.9406988157
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: n_7yrh4z@besttempmail.com
Registrant Application Purpose: P3
Registrant Nexus Category: C11
Registry Admin ID: C0E1CA7C963954C6BB54E6CD3612065D8-NSR

you will need to go the the Whois Look up, or any other domain website checker to get the full information.

[Vivh]

I did get my money back! Complained through my credit card company but I also did send a letter into Paypal (which I did not need to do it turns out). I hope it helps some other folks get their money back, however.  Makes me very dubious about using Paypal in the future to buy things as they were not helpful and neither was UPS. Seems like COVID is a good excuse not to talk to people about problems with packages going astray. Good luck!

[swann40]

I agree with you! The site should be taken down. I will never use pay pal
for purchases again. Unfortunately I charged with my pay pal credit
card.Still corresponding with Pay Pal and fighting. Thank you for your
updates. Jennifer

[KerthK]

IT IS A SCAM!  Do not order from this site. I did not notice the .us and ordered for $150.00. Now I am going through PayPal to try and get a refund. SCAM SCAM SCAM

Go through the Fitbit site or BestBuy. Do not order off of this. You will LOSE money. 

This is the email that was listed on PayPal:   weaverdickson199601@gmail.com 

That triggered an instantaneous concern for me as it is NOT a business address. I've been SCAMMED. 

[Backofthenet76]

I have the same issue. I complained to both PayPal & my bank HSBC. HSBC closed the case which I now appealed because a tracking number was provided to UPS. The UPS tracker was for my town, but when I rang UPS they could not provide the address as it wasn’t mine & the name wasn’t mine either. This is clearly a sophisticated fraud affecting many of us. At the moment I am down $129. I am so annoyed that I did not see it was fake. I will keep on with my bank to try & get resolved.

I tried tweeting to PayPal with this thread. Hopefully it grabs their attention 

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Halelani]

I sent in a report to the FBI internet scam and both sites, Fitbit store.us
and Fitbit zone.com have been shut down. The PayPal site was bogus but the
scammers were clever enough to mirror PayPal’s site, so my bank isn’t t
refunding money as they say I have to go through PayPal, grrr 😡

[scammed_in_al]

This scam has popped up again on the website "fitbitretailer.com" These guys are so lame that the "terms and conditions" page still refers to fitbitzone.com. Fitbit would have a valid case against these guys just because they have appropriated their logos. The website has links back to the real fitbit.com website.

Allowing this to go on without prosecution is damaging the FitBit brand, so I would think that they would care. I understand how difficult it can be to catch these guys, but I would think it would be worth the effort to the FitBit corporation.

[vicusi21]

The site is a scam. 
Paypal will ask you to get the information of the address the package was sent to. UPS does not provide this information. Demand Paypal gets it for you -- you are paying them to protect you. You could request UPS to send you an email stating that the tracking number does not match your name or address. 

P.S.: Scam consists of sending empty boxes to someone else in your city and entering the tracking number as if it was delivered to you.

To send an email to UPS go to https://www.ups.com/upsemail/input?loc=en_US

Moderator edit: merged reply

[temjrpgh]

I got hit by the same one.   I filed a dispute with my bank.   I tried Paypal and it eventually hangs up on me.

[scammed_in_al]

And now the website "fitbitretailer.com" is displaying a page with the text "We'll be back soon!"

Yeah, right. This sort of thing really makes my blood boil, first for being so dumb as to be taken in by this and second that thieves like this character are apparently able to operate year after year with zero repercussions.

I generally am a peaceful person but ...

[temjrpgh]

Yeah, that's the one.   I feel the same way.   The prices were only 30% cheaper than what I found on Amazon, which I thought was within the realm of 'legit'.   Should have known better.   I found them through Google, as well, which gave it more points for legitimacy in my estimation.   

[Halelani]

I've decided to go for an apple watch since fitbit is being scammed all
around and I don't know how "safe" the fitbit.com site will be in the
future.
Still, those who have been scammed out of money should turn in the email
that the confirmation was sent to and the site you were scammed on to the
FBI (https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx) Federal Internet Crime Complaint
Center. I did this and within 24 hours both scamming sites fitbitzone and
fitbitstore. us were shut down. FitBit should be monitoring their
community sites for all these complaints and file with the ic3.gov site,
but i doubt they care, even though I mentioned all the complaints from
their wanna be customers. Hence, my jumping off to Apple. I can't place my
security in a site that does not help their consumers be safe.
Be safe and help each other out.

[scammed_in_al]

Sorry to hear that a dishonest scammer has diverted business away from FitBit, but I agree that the FitBit corporation has much more power to stop this sort of nonsense than individual consumers. 

As an update to my case: The scammer responded to Paypal with a UPS tracking number which, conveniently enough, had a sender's telephone number associated with it. I called the sender and found that it was for a legitimate company that sells textbooks and that the tracking number was for a shipment on about the right date to a math professor who lives in my community -- not my name, not my address, just enough correct information that might get the paypal/credit card company to close the complaint. I wonder how a scammer would have enough access to get a tracking number for a real shipment. Inside access at UPS, maybe? Makes ya' say "hmmmmm"....

[MatthewFitbit]

@Halelani Sorry for the negative experience you've had. I understand that it's disheartening to encounter deception, and have left this thread open so that affected users have a place to discuss with one another.

To address your specific concerns - we do actively monitor for illegitimate sites, and take immediate action when they are discovered. It takes some time for that action to result in the site being removed, but we do take every step possible in this regard.  You'll note that every scam site mentioned in this thread has been dealt with in this manner.

You'll have nothing to worry about if you make your purchase directly from fitbit.com, or any of the verified authorized Fitbit retailers on this page.

[Halelani]

Thanks for positive support!

My bank refuses settlement as they say PayPal is the third party involved
and resolution must go through them. I wrote PayPal and they must have
thought I was a wacko since my account clearly shows no monies /
transaction went through PayPal and so I was ignored with no way to show my
bank details. I explained that the scammers now have my credit card number
and would like a new number. Now I’m waiting for the scammers to directly
ding my account. Stressed 

 out!

Moderator edit: merged reply

[scammed_in_al]

Thanks @MatthewFitbit! It's encouraging that there is corporate oversight on this issue and this forum. I think this problem is pervasive enough to warrant a prominent warning on the FitBit home page. I can understand why you wouldn't want to give a negative message to prospective customers, but a well-worded warning sure would have saved me some grief!

[scammed_in_al]

BTW, @MatthewFitbit, these guys are back under yet another domain name. Check out https://www.airportkesop.xyz/. This might be a different group of guys as the fitbitretail.com and fitbitzone websites used some WordPress code -- airporkesop.xyz is using something called "wooshop". It is no doubt the same scam, selling a brand new Versa 2 for $89.95. Google "kindly" provided me an affiliate link when I googled "fitbit versa".

Don't know how one could modify the heuristics of the Google search engine to detect this sort of fraud, but it sure doesn't reflect well on Google either!

[scammed_in_al]

As it turns out, Google actually has a well run complaint mechanism. Since I was defrauded by using a Google Shopping link, they provided this link:

https://support.google.com/google-ads/contact/vio_other_aw_policy

where one can complain about copyright infringement (i.e., use of the FitBit logo) and other violations of policy. Good link to keep in your back pocket!