Beware of Online Scams Purporting to Sell the Wicked Thumb Destroyer 750

Warning: The Only Place You Can Buy A Wicked Thumb Destroyer 750 or Any Other Wicked Thumb Electric Bike is On wickedthumb.com or in person at one of our exclusive brick and mortar dealers.  Any other site advertising our products is a scam site. 

Unfortunately, one of the signs of success, is that you begin to witness cloning scams using your brand and products. 

Since April, a well organized scam hosted in China is cloning our ads on social media and tiktok and advertising a 'McQueen Destroyer 750' e-bike at a ridiculously low price of $49-129.  

Despite thousands of reports and complaints to Facebook, they refuse to stop running the ads because they link to an external site and do not use the 'Wicked Thumb' trademark in the description.

We have tracked down the hosting company of the websites, alibaba.com, and served them with multiple 'take down' notices, all of which have been ignored.

How does this scam work?

The victim of the scam purchases what they believe to be a bike and they pay via PayPal.  You will notice the PayPal receipt is in Chinese symbols.  

The scammer then ships a cheap piece of jewelry, using the delivery confirmation to activate PayPal seller protection. PayPal does not receive any information on what was delivered, nor dimensions, to be able to confirm whether a bike was shipped or not.  

The victim does not receive a refund when they file a complaint. 

Please be careful and spread the word by commenting on any ads you see on Facebook or Instagram.   

Updated 7/28/21:

Mr. Dick Kimzey has shared the following info to help victims report to PayPal and attempt to get a refund:

Paypal Scam Remediation Guide by DK

So you thought you got a great deal on a McQueen ebike, and now found out you have been scammed.  Here’s what to do.  Make sure you have contacted the seller, and print the entire chain as a PDF (usually your inquiry will result in a bounceback).   If you have USPS Informed Delivery, print the notice from the day the fraudulent tracking number provided by the seller indicates the item was delivered.  Screenshot the text describing how the scam works from Wicked Thumb’s website. Login to Paypal, click Help and you should see a link at the bottom of the Help Popup to the Resolution Center (if you don’t see that link, you can search in the Help Popup for Resolution Center to find the link). Select the fraudulent transaction and start a case with Paypal, indicating that you never received the item.  Include all documentation that you have, including the link to the tracking number at USPS.com, as well as the URL to Wicked Thumb’s page describing the scam.  Type out a description of the issue (I’m a victim of Fraud, I made a purchase of the ebike on this date, it shows a tracking number in Paypal, no such package was delivered, attempt to contact seller resulted in a bounce back, please refund the purchase amount).  Depending on your documentation and how clearly you describe the issue, your refund *may* be immediate.  Results may vary. Wicked Thumb is not responsible for any fraud committed using content stolen from their website.  Save your dollars so you can buy the ebike directly from Wicked Thumb. 😊