I Was Scammed Online Buying a Fake Rug From Charming Favor!

Tell everyone you loved this post! :)

Imagine ordering a gorgeous rug online that looked perfect for your home. It was exactly what you’d been searching for, for your foyer makeover. Then the package arrives—and it’s a cheap, flimsy knock-off that looks nothing like the photo on the website! Worse yet, the company refuses to give you a full refund, claiming you’d need to ship it back to Hong Kong at your own expense. Knowing you would never incur those costs out of pocket, they “kindly” offer you a 50% refund…..for a product that you never would have ordered if they hadn’t lured you in with the promise of a higher-quality version of the rug. 

This is exactly what happened to me when I purchased a $153.90 rug from CharmingFavor.com, a site that baits customers with beautiful photos of rugs and quilts, and then switches the product deceptively after you’ve handed over your money.  What I received was a terribly low-quality, thin, polyester piece of fabric with the same floral pattern as the original rug, but it was not the original rug from the picture that I ordered. (In fact, they stole this image of a gorgeous wool rug from Wayfair, where you can buy the real version of this rug). 

This is what was featured on the Charming Favor website:

And this is what arrived on my doorstep. Clearly Charming Favor tried to replicate the same pattern, but sold a completely different product without advertising that this is what you’re buying, not the rug displayed on their website. When I tried to get my money back, they refused a full refund. 

I’m sharing my experience not only to warn you about these kinds of “bait and switch” online shopping scams, but to help you avoid similar traps. Here’s what happened to me—and the lessons I learned along the way.

Online Scams Are Harder to Spot Now

I have thwarted several attempts by scammers in real life: phone calls from “Amazon” informing me that someone was trying to hack my account (when it was the hacker themselves on the phone)…threats from the “FBI” that if I don’t make a payment immediately, they’re a’ comin’ to lock me up….I had never even called Miss Cleo on a 900 number for my horoscope for $9.99 per minute. 

I’ve led a life of feeling pretty confident that I can spot a scam a mile away. At least, when it was on the phone. I felt pretty confident that I could spot an online scam, as well. 

But online scams are becoming much more savvy than simply a Nigerian prince asking for money to get out of prison.

Online scams are harder to spot, until after you’ve been a victim and you notice all the red flags.

The reason online scams are becoming harder to detect is for several reasons: 1) social media, and 2) the ease and trust of shopping online.

Let me explain what happened and why.

How I Fell For the Scam

One of my Facebook friends had posted this gorgeous rug on her page, telling everyone that she had found this rug and had ordered it. There was no link, just the image and her excitement (I’m blurring faces and names here). I don’t know this Facebook friend in real life, but I trust what she posts; she’s a real, genuine person that I’ve interacted with on a few occasions. There were no alarm bells–just another “girly girl” who clearly loves floral patterns as much as I do!  

Seeing that she had found a great rug and had just ordered it, it sparked me to ask for the link. I wanted that rug, too! It would have been perfect for my foyer makeover I had been planning for awhile. You can see in the image that I ask her for the link, and she provides it. I didn’t ask her where she got the link, only if a link is available.  (You can also see how I later after my rug had arrived before hers to alter her, and everyone in the thread, that the rug was a “bait and switch.” More on that in a moment!). 

I felt hurried to make a decision to buy the rug because it appeared to be on “SALE” at 50% off, with a countdown clock telling me that the sale wouldn’t last forever. It wasn’t that far off from Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I figured the sales were definitely winding down, and clearly, this rug was gorgeous and I wanted to buy it.

I tried to check the reviews, but I couldn’t actually see any for the rug. The reviews as you see below were on the same page for each product (mostly quilts), lumped together to look like there were a lot of happy customers all over the world, when in fact, there were throngs of people smacking themselves for dealing with this company and losing their money. (Honestly, the fake headshots of happy customers should have been the dead giveaway).

I think I was so excited to just place the order that I simply ordered it, and hoped I would receive it. I tried to research Charming Favor after I made the purchase, and I had found a Better Business Bureau (BBB) review that pointed out the company is in Hong Kong, not in the US, as their website tries to claim. That was the first indication that there would be something deceptive about this company, but I was waiting to just see if the rug showed up. 

Since I had used a credit card, not a debit card, I felt confident that if the rug didn’t show up, if there was something sketchy about the transaction, I could dispute the charge and not be responsible. That’s the beauty of shopping with a credit card online….right??

So the rug did arrive. Wrapped up in a thick rectangular package. Not rolled like rugs traditionally are shipped and stored.

Imagine my surprise when I unwrapped the folded rug and found this inside. Gasp!….Rubbery polyester! 

My confusion was palpable. How did this happen? Did I order the right rug…? What did I miss from the description and pictures?

I went back to the website and started picking apart their description. It did say it was “printed” but I didn’t know what that meant. I don’t make rugs, so if that language was supposed to signify something else, it wasn’t clear. I didn’t think the rug would be plush and thick. But surely I didn’t expect it to be rubbery polyester.

The only reference I had was the picture on the website, which looked like it had fibers. I didn’t expect it to be wool. And I didn’t even expect it to be super thick; I figured there was just a rug pad under the rug. I have purchased several rugs from Target and Home Goods, and the more affordable rugs tend to be thinner, but that’s okay. 

 

But I was not expecting it to be a whole different product altogether! This was a thin, poor-quality, shiny fabric with the same pattern as the rug from their website, but it was not the same rug.

The World Knows Charming Favor is a Scam, But……

Unfortunately, it wasn’t until after the horrible rug arrived that I did a more thorough deep-dive into “Charming Favor reviews.” I found a site called Trust Pilot which showed that nearly every single Charming Favor review got a 1-star review, with a few nice people giving them 2 stars (why, I have no idea….).

At least a few times a week, it appears that people were chiming in about how they were scammed, as well!

The last review here mentioned Charming Favor’s “advertisement on Google.” My Facebook friend also found the Charming Favor rug via a Facebook ad. Charming Favor is running numerous ads on Facebook and Google in order to lure in customers in. I would go as far as to say that Facebook (Meta) and Google are complicit in these scams. Facebook (Meta) and Google earn money from Charming Favor and its subsidiaries in the form of advertisement fees, in exchange for showing scam ads to unsuspecting customers online.

I reported Charming Favor to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website to file a complaint, in hopes that the FTC could step in to investigate and shut down their site. I tried filing a report with the Better Business Bureau (click here to report a scam about a business in the US or Canada). Then I tried to file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center, which is run by the FBI. 

Immediately after, I contacted Charming Favor’s customer service regarding a refund which stated that products returned within 30 days in their original condition would receive a full refund. I was hopeful, but considering that I had already detected the “bait and switch” scam, I was doubtful the issue would be resolved. And just like what other Charming Favor reviews had shouted from the rooftops, they said I can either return the rug to–gasp!–Hong Kong for a full refund, at my own expense….or….I could get half of my money back.

And that, dear friend, is the scam: Show a product of a picture you store online…..sell a knock-off for a fraction of the price, while leading people to believe they’re buying the product shown……send the fake…..expect an email with the customer’s dissatisfaction….give an addresses in Hong Kong to where they won’t ever be able to affordably send the product back…..then steal half of their money and give the other half back.

Reporting the Scam to Chase Bank

I learned a long time ago that there is much more safety in shopping online when using credit cards. I’m talkin’ real credit cards–the ones where you’re using their money to make a purchase and you’re paying it off at the end of the month.

Bank credit cards linked to your own checking account aren’t quite as secure. Once the transaction happens, the money leaves your account in a few days. Getting it back is a tough fight. In fact, my Facebook friend who also ordered the “bait and switch” rug from Charming Favor, she used her bank card. After receiving her rug, her bank would not dispute the charge since she had already received the rug–regardless of whether it was a scam. (This feels wrong on so many levels, doesn’t it??)

At least with my credit card company, Chase, I could submit a dispute, including a written statement and pictures about what happened. At the time of this blog post, though, I am still waiting for a final response from Chase as to whether they’re ultimately removing the charge of $153.90 or if they will hold me financially responsible. 

They Created Multiple Scam Sites Under Different Names!

After dealing with submitting the dispute, I decided to dig a little deeper on Facebook to find out what Charming Favor was up to, and if there were additional reviews found on their page.

What I found was even worse: Charming Favor had created dozens of individual pages for each of their products, giving unique twists to their name, such as Charming Favor Fetching Store, Charming Favor Exuberant Quilt, Charming Favor Great Quilt, etc. Some of these pages had low numbers of followers, but some of the pictures had hundreds of shares, where innocent Facebook users had unknowingly shared links to these scam products with their friends and family.

 

Of course, the products they post are cute. When they post them, people “like” the picture. People “share” the picture. And the result is that other unsuspecting people are put at risk of ordering from these scam sites. It’s just like spreading a virus.

But it didn’t stop there. Digging a little further, I realized that they also created other fake sites where they sell the same quilts, under these names. Notice how the sites all have the exact same website template?

• Alpha Quilts
• Vantique.net.
• Quiltify.com

I imagine that they run ads to all of these sites, with the same products, so as to confuse people and to diversify their scams.

So I started leaving BEWARE messages on as many of the posts that I could, alerting potential customers to NOT purchase anything from Charming Favor and any of their sister site scam pages. I also went into each page, mostly with small numbers of people “liking” the page, and reported each as a “scam” so that Facebook would have to investigate. But without the content of why I marked them as “scam,” I can assume that Facebook would just close out the complaint without asking me to elaborate on why I reported these sites. Then I decided to make a video about the scam, so at the very least, people would find it in search if they ever search for “Charming Favor Reviews.” Because I want no one to send this scam site another dollar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Serena Appiah – Thrift Diving (@thriftdiving)

I am angry that this happened, but even more angry that Facebook and Instagram (owned by Meta), and Google, allow these scam sites to place ads on their platforms, for which they are also profiting because they’re accepting ad fees for placing the ads. Meta and Google are the accomplices. 

In hindsight, there are some things I feel I could have been more diligent about, so I wanted to share in this post a few things you can do to help prevent yourself and your friends and family from being victims to these scam companies. Let’s jump into it now.

How to Avoid Being Scammed Online When Shopping

We become victims of scams for one reason alone: TRUST. It’s not that we’re stupid or gullible. It’s that we trust too much. We trust Facebook and Google to vet the companies they allow to advertise on their sites. We trust the links and information that our friends and family post, even if they unknowingly share harmful links and info. We trust the opinions of people we like, know, and love. We trust our banks to protect us if we meet bad actors online when ordering things. We trust websites that look like legit, quality sites.

Going forward, though, we need to keep these following tips in mind when shopping online:

TIP #1 – Don’t buy anything from a link that someone else provides. 

Did you go and seek this link yourself? It’s similar to doing business online: did you call this place of business, or did this place of business call you? Links that other people provide, unless it’s a very well-known site, such as Amazon.com, Target.com, Walmart.com, or any one of those, if it’s an unknown site, don’t buy from a link that was provided or advertised to you. Stick with trusted businesses. See if you can find the exact product on a site that you know and trust. 

TIP #2 – Don’t share links of things you’ve ordered until you can verify its quality.

It’s easy to get excited about what you just ordered and you want to tell the world you just ordered it. But if you get scammed inadvertently, you’ve now just exposed all of your friends and family to the same scam. Wait until you actually receive it and have a positive experience with the company before you recommend that company or product. 

TIP #3 – How many pictures are on the site?

This should have been a red flag, for sure! Sites with a single picture screams “scam” to me now. I should have known. But I was carried away with the excitement of having found the rug I was looking for that I didn’t investigate further. If doing business with a site you’re not familiar with, look for multiple pictures or video clips of the product. It doesn’t mean they can’t steal multiple pictures of the product in a “bait and switch” scam, but multiple pictures from various angles, and with video clips, feel more legit.

TIP #4 – Never ever use a debit card (or PayPal!)

Debit cards are linked to your own money. So the minute you make that purchase, the money is coming from your pocket. You don’t have much recourse if you get scammed or need to cancel the transaction. Credit cards do offer much more protection. They still can come back with a “Sorry, but we can’t help you with this.” But you’re much more likely to get the charge disputed and funds reversed if it’s a credit card. PayPal rarely offers any recourse when things go wrong online. They’ll often point you back to the retailer and wash their hands of it, so beware. Only use a real credit card online, and preferably one that has a low spending limit so that scammers can run up thousands of dollars.

TIP #5 – Make sure the reviews are legit.

I made this mistake because I really thought there were over 27,000 5-start reviews on CharmingFavor.com. They appeared to all be lumped together, which I know some sites do. For example, have you ever been on Amazon and see reviews for all 5 products of varying descriptions listed under the same product listing? I assumed it was similar to that. But upon closer inspection, after I received the terrible quality product, I saw that the reviews weren’t actually reviews. It was just a fake listing of 5 or 6 people’s fake profile pictures, and none of the 27,000 reviews were even clickable. Instead, make sure there are plenty of real customer reviews with pictures of them holding or using the product. But keep in mind that even those can be fake.

I typically love reading all the 1-, 2-, and 3-star reviews for products. Those carry more weight to me, because those are people with genuine issues with the product. If products have all glowing 4- and 5-star reviews, and you can’t read anything with negative reviews, be wary. For one of their sister scam sites, Vantique .net, notice how there are no reviews with 3 stars or below. Also, fake reviews were provided and they all have the same format: “Nice set, but delayed delivery;” “Great bedding, delayed shipping;” “Lovely bedding, flimsy packaging.” Sorry, but these are all robotic responses. And they all can’t think it’s 4-star quality. I’m not buying it….

TIP #6 – Do a Google Search.

Seems simple enough. I should have done this, but I didn’t. I should have done a “Charming Favors reviews” search. If I had, I would have come across the Trust Pilot Charming Favor reviews. But interestingly enough, I did search for the Vantique .net reviews on Trust Pilot and also found the same type of complaints, of course:

TIP #7 – Find out where the company is actually located. 

These Chinese-based companies try to fool Americans (and likely Canadians) by listing a U.S. address on their website. It’s hard to find out where they’re actually doing business, but one tip is to check where their domain name is registered, AND to see when the website was created. You can use a free website called Whois.com, which will tell you where a website is registered and when it was created and updated.

For example, ThriftDiving.com was created in 2012. By checking Whois.com, while you won’t be able to see my name listed, you’ll see the date it was registered, and you’ll be able to see that the domain privacy is protected by a company in the U.S. (Domains by Proxy is a company that hides your personal name and address so crazy people can’t look you up. Truth!).

CharmingFavor.com, however, has been stealing people’s money since 2022, and their domain privacy protection originates from a company in Iceland (I had no idea where “Reykjavik” was! I had to Google that). A company that’s domain privacy hails from an international company tells me that they’re not United States-based. 

And it gets every worse, because Vantique.net was registered in March 2024, not even a full year ago! A word to the wise: always second-guess a business that was literally created months ago. Same goes for AlphaQuilt.com. They were registered in July 2024, and they are also using the same Icelandic company for domain privacy protection. Red flags, indeed!

TIP #8 – See if you can order the product from Amazon instead.

I see many products on ads and posts on Facebook and Instagram that I think are cool, and some of them I have ordered, but I will usually search Amazon for that same product. Amazon is a trust-worthy site to order from because you’ve got more protection of easy returns. Yes, scams can happen on Amazon, too. But you’ll have more protections in place. Also, prices can be cheaper than what a Facebook ads is advertising a product for.

TIP #9 – Do a Google Lens search.

Google Lens allows you to do a search for any image. You can download the app here or you can click that little icon on the Google search page and upload a picture to search for.

When you do a Google Lens search, it allows for you to see where else an image lives on the internet. That is how I later found that the gorgeous rug that I thought I was buying from Charming Favor actually can be purchased from Wayfair, just for a whole lot more money! (affiliate link). Google Lens showed me a few other sites where this floral wool rug by Sanderson could be purchased, too. If I had done my due diligence, I would have known that Charming Favor had stolen the image from a legit website selling the rug. 

TIP #10 – Sloooow down.

Splurge purchases, in my opinion, are much more risky for scams because you haven’t put in the time to do the due diligence with research. There was a part of me that wanted that rug now. Instead of taking a step back and doing my research, I allowed my desire for the rug to cause me to just jump in with two feet. I think if I had slowed things down a bit more, I would have researched it a bit more thoroughly. 

TIP #11 – Know that a scam is right around the corner.

I think even if I had done some research on the rug first, I might still have been overly eager to move forward because it was exactly what I was looking for. But I think it’s important to know that a scam is always right around the corner when shopping online. Knowing that you can be scammed and that there are always bad actors online trying to steal your money, it helps to shop with that caveat in the back of your mind.

What To Do If You Get Scammed Online

Let’s say you find yourself in the same boat as any of the thousands of customers who purchased from Charming Favor and its sister scam sites. Here’s what you should do immediately.

STEP #1 – Contact your bank immediately. 

Even if the product hasn’t yet arrived, if you suspect you’re being scammed, contact your bank and submit a dispute immediately. You may need to cancel your credit card and have them issue you a new card, to protect yourself from a scam site having your financial information (which I wouldn’t doubt they would sell for additional revenue).

STEP #2 – Alert your friends and family. Share your story online.

No one wants to look “stupid” online, but scams are so savvy that it’s really not about you being stupid; it’s about you being trusting and someone betraying that trust. It’s about the scammer, not you. Protect your friends and family, and other consumers, by posting about what happened.

STEP #3: Report it to the BBB, FTC, and Cyber Crime Reporting 

The Better Business Bureau only accepts complaints of scams from US-based companies. I couldn’t file a report because Charming Favor is not located in the U.S., so when I tried to search for their company, it wouldn’t come up. Therefore, I wasn’t able to file a report there. You can, however, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission HERE. Also, be sure to file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center which is reported to the FBI. 

STEP #4 – Figure out why you missed the red flags 

It was only after the fact that I realized I had missed some important red flags. Go back and see what you missed so that you don’t make the same mistake twice. Did they have fake reviews? Did they add features to the website that made you feel it was a trustworthy site? What things did you notice later that stood out as red flags?

STEP #5 – Be careful not to be a victim again.

When you’ve been the victim of a scam, you’re more likely to be scammed again (or the bad actors will at least try). The reason why is because once bad actors know you were a viable target, they sell your information to other bad actors so that others can have their turn scamming you. This happened to my good friend, Nancy Spencer, who wrote a book called Stop the Scam, about how she was scammed out of thousands of dollars online and how to prevent yourself from being a victim. She describes the intense shame she felt at having been taken advantage of, and how she didn’t want anyone to know. She also recounts how she was scammed again sooner after the initial scam, because her information was sold, and she was attacked online again. Be mindful that once you’re a target, other targeted attacks could happen.

My Goal is To Prevent Others From Being Victims Online

Since this incident happened a couple of weeks ago, and as I wait on a final decision from Chase Bank on whether the $153.90 will be refunded to me, I have spent hours trying to alert others from falling prey to online scams like this “bait and switch” scam from Charming Favor, Alpha Quilt, Vantique.net, and any other site whose intention it is to steal money from people.

I can imagine that the crooks behind Charming Favor and its sister scam sites didn’t count on me exposing them for what they are. I hope that this blog post is discovered by anyone researching “Charming Favor reviews” or “Alpha Quilt reviews” or “Vantique reviews”! I want to sound the alarm, since there doesn’t appear to be guardrails in place to prevent these scam sites from cropping up and multiplying like cockroaches.

Everyday Americans like you and me should be able to safely shop online, and if we encounter a problem, there should be easy reporting in place for sites to be investigated and shut down immediately if multiple scams have been reported from the same vendor.

Have you ever been the victim of an online scam? If so, what happened? Share your story below and tips to help other Thrift Diving community members to be safe online!

Click here to SAVE this article on Pinterest!

Tell everyone you loved this post! :)