Red Alert: Do Not Share Your Email with Etsy or with Buyers

You may think you would never just hand over your email address to a scammer, but perhaps you haven't seen the latest campaign that is targeting Etsy sellers with a very convincing message.

One seller shared the message they received through Etsy on a Reddit post and explained:

"I received an odd message from a buyer on Etsy claiming they need my email address in order to complete a purchase of an item. They also sent me a screenshot as proof. Now I'm 99.9% sure it's fake, so I just wanted to share here. Thanks."

Those types of scams have been making the rounds lately, according to sellers on Etsy's own discussion boards. A seller "Bradgoodell" responded on one such thread, "I've been posting about this DAILY!! The scammers have doubled-down, gotten more sophisticated, and new Etsy sellers are so excited for their first sale their sense of self-preservation just goes out the window."

As with all effective scams, fraudsters are putting a twist on this one - some messages purport to be from an Etsy employee seeking the seller's email. In a thread, "Suspicious message from "technical support,"" an Etsy seller posted:

"Hi folks, I just received this message. Should I trust it? It looks very odd. What could the scam be, if it is one? Why did Etsy contact me in a suspicious way if it is genuine?

"Hello, Dear Seller. I am an Etsy technical support agent, your item was paid for by a buyer, but an unforeseen error occurred due to the processing of the transaction in the backup processing center, please enter your email into this chat to receive a customized form to confirm the sale of your item. Thank you! Regards Etsy"

It doesn't help that marketplaces experience frequent glitches, giving the message an aura of authenticity.

Once scammers have a seller's email address, they can send them malware through files they hope sellers will open, or through links they hope sellers will click - and they can send additional scam and phishing messages directly to the seller's email account.

We noticed this thread yesterday in which an Etsy seller pasted a message they received that they suspected was a scam, but by the time we went back to it 3 hours later to review it again, an Etsy moderator had already removed the message from the seller's post. (The next day, a moderator thanked sellers and said it had been acted on.) We do remember the poster saying it came from another seller, not a purported buyer or Etsy rep. It's too bad Etsy didn't *redact* the suspected scam message instead of *removing* the entire message - that way, sellers would be able to see another version of a scam and be forewarned.

Bradgoodell has been keeping a running list of red flags for Etsy users to watch out for, you can find it on this thread on the Etsy boards. He keeps updating the list in new threads written by sellers reporting scams they encounter.

Scammers use similar tactics to trick buyers and sellers on other platforms, and Bradgoodell's list is worth monitoring for anyone using the Internet, not just Etsy sellers. 

And, as he and others pointed out, people who want to reach Etsy should not search the Internet for how to contact the company - sellers recommend only going through the Etsy website to contact the company.

As this seller found out, scammers posing as Etsy support reps may show up in search results, and they will try to get you to install software that allows them to access your computer or device remotely.

"There is NO published phone number or eMail address for Etsy customer service. Anything you find via a web search is a scam," a seller warned.

As for the title of this blog post, of course you can (and must) share your email address with Etsy when setting up your account, but there's no reason we can think of that Etsy would message you asking you to provide it to them again in order to make a sale go through.