Vinted shoppers who use InPost lockers hit with urgent warning

A Vinted shopper has issued an urgent warningafter being caught out by a 'scam' onthe online marketplace. The seasoned user, who has around 150 five-star reviews on the platform, explained how she bought a £180 coat that was advertised as "new with tags".

In a Reddit post, she said: "The description said they were selling it because they bought it a year ago and had never worn it. I knew this coat was sold in the shop about a year ago because I can remember trying it on and always regretting not buying it." She went on to explain how the coat came up on her feed and she instantly snapped it up. However, she added: "The seller has one other review which I thought might be dodgy, but everyone has to start somewhere and the review was five stars.

"The seller took a few days to post the coat, and I went to collect it from the lockers this evening.

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"I scanned my code, and I instantly knew something was wrong as a small compartment opened. There was no way this coat would have fit in a small compartment."

When she opened the InPost locker, she saw nothing but a small, white envelope with her address written across it.

She added: "I put my arm in all the way to the back to just make sure there was nothing else inside. Nothing.

"The good person in me was thinking maybe there has been a mistake and the label came off and the driver just put the label in because that’s all they had.

"I took pictures before even touching the letter with the label. I rang the InPost helpline and I spoke to a really nice woman who was really apologetic.

"She took my parcel number and said they could look at the CCTV of the sender. She said she wasn’t meant to say anything but she could see from the drop-off footage there was never a parcel.

"The person only put that envelope in the locker. She advised to contact Vinted support straight away, which I dreaded because they haven’t ever been helpful when I have contacted them in the past.

"I was surprised at how quickly they replied after I uploaded my pictures, and they have initiated a refund and blocked the user from having an account."

When she got home, she decided to open the envelope to see whether anything was inside and she came across a note which read: "Dear friends. Thank you for visiting us and making your first purchase! We're glad that you found what you were looking for. It is our goal that you are always happy with what you bought from us, so please let us know if your buying experience was anything short of excellent."

She added: "I guess this letter is part of the scam! As it makes it look like it’s been attached to an actual parcel. I never realised how good InPost are at linking CCTV footage to when you drop off and pick up a parcel."

Commenting on her post, one user said: "Honestly, people that do this is scum. As a seller I can’t ever imagine doing this and makes me so angry. So glad you got your refund."

Another user added: "I've seen a similar story on here with exactly the same letter. And I think the letter was inside an empty box if I remember correctly so it was harder to prove things. I'm glad you've got refunded and so quickly."