Woman arrested over undelivered luxury bags after being paid
Staff Writer
·Editorial team
Tue, 20 September 2022 at 12:48 pm·2-min read
A woman who is said to be linked to luxury bags reseller WestCloset has been arrested for non-delivery of items after being paid. (SCREENSHOT: WestCloset website)
SINGAPORE — A 33-year-old woman has been arrested following police reports filed against her for allegedly failing to deliver second-hand luxury bags to customers after receiving money from them.
Police said they are investigating reports made against luxury bag reseller WestCloset without specifying other details, according to a report by the Straits Times.
Among the alleged victims who have filed police reports against WestCloset was a woman who did not receive a Hermes bag after paying $29,900 to the reseller.
The victim said she was promised that the bag would be delivered to her but WestCloset kept giving “non-committal responses” in response to her repeated messages.
A check on WestCloset's website shows that its business began in 2012. WestCloset appears to be linked to two separate Facebook pages, one of which shows a number of complaints about its business practices. The other Facebook page appears as a hyperlink in the website.
WestCloset’s physical store at Novena Regency is currently closed, according to the ST report. Employees of nearby shops told ST that WestCloset had rarely opened since it moved in there at the start of this year.
Last month, a Singaporean man and his Thai wife were arrested in Johor Bahru over their alleged role in a luxury goods scam. They were charged in Singapore with conspiracy to cheat and illegally leaving the country. Two Malaysian men have also been charged for allegedly helping the couple to escape.
GOOGLE REVIEWS
Haze Tan
3 reviews
3 months ago
Very bad experience with our Brand New 2022 consigned Hermes birkin bag. The company sold our bag but did not return us money. After 30days, simply gave us a used 2021 Hermes bag (2021 invoice with blacked out month!!!). They expect us to accept it but we took it and filed for a police report. Avoid at all cost even though it looks legit. No business ethics.
15
Madeline Lau
1 review
2 months ago
Don’t even want to give a star!
Poor ethic business. Consigned a 2022 Hermes bag to this shop. After the bag is sold. They did not give us the money back. In return gave us a used 2021 Hermes bag. Eventually we filed for a police report on them. Think twice before doing business with such company.
12
Carmen Lam
3 reviews
a month ago
I am beyond words with the attitude of this company. In fact, simply put they are out to scam. I could not believe dealing with them back in 2018 in OUE and it has turned out to be such a shameful company with such reviews which were sadly, I had to believe the reviews more than the consigners’ words. Consigned a bag with them in late June, asked for PDF copy of receipt and till date, no news on the status. As I wish to collect, they are almost perpetually closed, no intention to reply. Kept rescheduling appointments so that they do not have to meet me. Also, I was coaxed into a ‘good deal’ where they asked for a loan of 5 figure sum, agreement was to repay within a week and not it’s been more than a month. This company is beyond terrible and do think twice before even consigning or buying anything at all. The star is definitely not deserving. Honestly, I really have no words to describe such a company in Singapore. There are people who are outright scammers like these pretending to be luxury bag consigners. I am quite sure my bag was sold. They were extremely swift to pick up my bag, asked for ‘co funding’ funds which I needed to transfer within a stipulated timing.
Update: seller told me not to pursue anything last week and they will get back to me on 15 Aug which obviously based on how ‘credible’ they are, they did not. They proceeded to kick me out of telegram chat, ignored WhatsApp messages and blocked me from Instagram. Beware of this scammer around.
9
Eric Lim
3 reviews
2 months ago
Simply the worst company I ever experienced too. No business ethic. Gave them new bag , return used bag. N keep denying, until had to file to CASE n police for report. Waste my time. …More
9
WL
1 review
a month ago
I couldn't agree more with Jenny and Shihui's post so thank you for sharing online we must warn others about WestCloset. Do not deal with them (owners Rizky and Darren).
I ordered a bag on July 25th (paid significant amount sgd29k); it never arrived even though the delivery agreement was 2-3 weeks or earlier. The same excuses reported by the other victims were also used in my case including dodging full refund.
I am reporting this to the Police, dbs bank (issuer of their corporate bank account) and consumer association of singapore.
Affected people - please contribute to the reviews and report to the Police immediately as some have already done.
Share your story on SG Scam Alert and social media to warn others.
5
ang shihui
1 review
a month ago
Scammer Alert. Westcloset collects pre-order deposits for bags that do not exist. After weeks, owner will fail to deliver the bags and then delay the refund of the deposit. There are MANY victims that are owed money from Westcloset - wide ranging amounts PER VICTIM (from a few thousand to >$100k). Some have been owed for months and even years. She has also given bags from consignors to offset debt from earlier victims - so be careful of becoming a victim in this way as well. AVOID AT ALL COSTS REALLY. A storefront and a SG business registration DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING. Also, don't hesitate to approach the police if you are a victim. DO NOT STAY SILENT!
11
Jenny Pham
2 reviews·7 photos
a month ago
WARNING SCAM!! I bought the hermes birkin from west id closet from 1 of may/2022. But they cheating my money, never shipping for me and cant show for me the information shipping code. I'm talking with them and they promise refund money but my money never come back after 3 months. They cheating 38,500$ singapore and i'm working with police singapore. The company with paid up capital is 1$ singapore.
9
https://www.carousell.sg/u/westcloset_id/reviews/