Scam Alert! DESIGNATLAS

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1

In August this year, I bought a watch from a seemingly kosher website which was listed as being in the US. Cost was around 100 chuffs, paid with AmEx.

A few days later I get an email telling me that my purchase will be charged to a company called DESIGNATLAS and not in the name of the website I purchased from. Also I could track my order on this site https://dvftrack.com/ using my order number.

Hmm! A little bit concerned, I monitored my AmEx account and sure enough I received dozens of low level transactions on my card on the days that followed my order.

I called AmEx and they told me that all transactions originated from Hong Kong. So they cancelled my card, sent me a new one and refunded all amounts.

I did a little research and these $h!ts have been up to this for some time.

So, word of warning: if you buy online and get a mail from DESIGNATLAS or a pointer to DVFTRACK.com then check your card ASAP!!!

2
Unfortunate. What was the discount on the watch (in %)?

3
I found it for €140 on some sites in EU and $95 on the site in the US. Both offering free shipping but not CH import duties.

I thought I'd give it a punt, but thankfully I used my AmEx card...

4

Please inform the authorities. At the least their domain should get blocked.

Typically the cantonal police would be who you report to, but it doesn’t look like you suffered lasting damage so informing them should do, for culprits from abroad. One such partner is https://www.cybercrimepolice.ch/de/ereignis-melden/ by Zürich’s cantonal police.