Contact 6: Online makeup site accused of scamming customers

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The internet is the Wild West of buying and selling. Sometimes it is clear who you're dealing with, but most times, buyers and sellers don't know one another. FOX6's Contact 6 discovered a particular type of website that can be especially dangerous.

Chanel and Clinique are two of the high-end makeup lines on the market today, but savvy customers know there is a way to get them for less. A site called "Makeup Alley" is one place where those consumers can barter, trade or buy beauty products.

"The individuals on Makeup Alley may have wanted to trade because they didn`t like a specific color, shade didn`t match what they thought - or it was a gift and they hoped to get something else," U.S. Postal Inspector Laura Carter said.

Sites like "Makeup Alley" also attract con artists.

"I was receiving all these complaints from customers that they were dealing with someone in my zone," U.S. Postal Station Manager Glenn Keller said.

The complaints were about one person who was using "Makeup Alley" to sell or trade items that she would fail to deliver.

"The individual suspect would send empty packages to victims claiming they had the contents inside or the suspect would send items not as described that she was saying she was trading for," Carter said.

"I asked her to come into the office. We went over something she mailed out and I asked her to open it up for me. She did. When she opened the package there was nothing inside," Keller said.

Inspectors say there were 30 victims and $3,500 in losses.

"The suspect did sign a cease and assist order which prohibits her from conducting similar scams like this," Carter said.

FOX6's Contact 6 advises only buying from individuals or companies you know or trust.