I do my best to be hypervigilant about scams, but there is so much going on in the world to worry about that sometimes I let my guard down as I reported here.

We recently remodeled our kitchen, and I thought these under-cabinet lights would be just the thing for a bit of extra illumination while working.

I started getting bad vibes from this company called “Aptsociable” when I noticed the actual charge to my credit card included $9.41 for sales tax on an order of $25.37, a 31% tax rate. When I inquired at their customer service address, they responded with this:

According to your email address, we have detected that you did not place an order in our online shop. Could you please checkour order details again? We are afraid that you may reach out to the wrong company and the wrong person.

After providing screen captures of my order confirmation and PayPal receipts, they sent this:

We feel so sorry for your dissatisfaction.
The additional charge was made due to system error.
We credited that additional charge back to your original account.
Please kindly wait for 2-3 business days for the confirmation
message from the bank. 
Yours sincerely,

Customer Service Team

Then I started receiving updates from shipping@24hservice.vip, the same bogus shipping company I mentioned in my earlier post, indicating that my package was working its way through Belgian customs, was being inspected, was in transit, and finally had been shipped to the US.

The package arrived yesterday (direct from China, it had been nowhere near Belgium). It was so small I had no idea what it could have been. Inside, there were four of these (guitar pick for scale)

The only good thing I can say about these little things is that they work, although the light they generate is woefully inadequate. I’m more angry at myself for falling for another shady Chinese merchant than I am at the weasels themselves; by now I have a firm conviction that many Chinese internet marketers, especially the ones who advertise on Facebook, have all the ethics of a starving honey badger. It is also worth noting that Chinese advertisers on Facebook, including those from China, have been linked to widespread fraud and scams, with reports showing Meta earned billions from such ads—up to 19% of its China ad revenue in 2024—despite internal efforts to curb them. Meta tolerated high levels of these fraudulent ads (e.g., scams, porn, illegal gambling) to protect revenue, even after reducing them temporarily in 2024. Zuckerberg is, in my humber opinion, a scumbag.

The package, incidentally, was shipped from “Davve Garzaz, 1825 Paradise Trail, East Stroudsbury [sic], PA” There is a Stroudsburg, but no Stroudsbury. And this is what Google Maps shows for that address:

A rather abandoned-looking structure in the middle of a rural neighborhood.

These vendors pop up with a computer-generated name, make enough sales to generate some profits, vanish into the haze, and reappear later with a new name and the same merchandise. Being in China with only an ephemeral internet presence makes them impossible to find, and very difficult to extract compensation from. The best I could do in this case was to send their customer service address one final Message:

我订购的商品今天收到了。
这些灯的实际尺寸只有我预期的三分之一左右。
这四盏灯加在一起，根本就不值35元。
我真是受够了被那些无良的中国商家欺诈！
这绝对是我最后一次通过Facebook广告购物了。
你们真该为自己的所作所为感到羞耻！
你们全家都下地狱去吧。

I can only hope someone actually reads it and feels a slight twinge of shame for their duplicity and lack of ethics.

Dr. Frank Crane said, “You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough.” I’d still rather not live in torment, but I’ve got to get better at not being sucked in by duplicitous Chinese vendors.

The Old Wolf has spoken, rather ashamedly.