With the rise of recommerce, it’s no wonder that platforms like Vinted have become increasingly popular amongst consumers. But what is Vinted, and how did it come into the focus of scammers?

 

 

What is Vinted

Founded in 2008 and based in Vilnius, Lithuania, Vinted is a C2C marketplace for second-hand products in many categories, including fashion, jewellery, electronics, books, home decor, and much more. Like many other C2C platforms, the main idea behind Vinted is to allow consumers to list their used items for sale. This not only helps sellers declutter and shoppers to get items for less, but also reduces the need for new products as well as the amount of garbage polluting the environment.

Vinted rapidly grew in popularity and expanded to several key markets. The platform reports an annual revenue of 1.1 billion euros, and a GMV of 10.8 billion euros in 2025, which represents a 47% increase from the year before. Besides the marketplace, Vinted also introduced new services, including Vinted Pay, the platform’s own wallet that should reduce payment-related costs, as well as the logistics service Vinted Go.

 

 

Timestamped screenshot of vintedgo.com taken with our free browser extension tool screenseal

 

 

About screenseal

Online brand protection experts need to be able to record digital evidence quickly and efficiently, including the time, date, and source of web content. This is why we developed screenseal, our free browser extension tool that creates court-admissible, timestamped screenshots with just a few clicks. Aside from legal use, screenseal is also handy for marketing managers, journalists, web developers, customer support agents, students, teachers, and many other professionals.

 

Download screenseal for free and take court-admissible screenshots!

 

 

Vinted Go

Organizing logistics is one of the biggest pain points of selling used items. Vinted Go was introduced to ease that pain. The service moves packages between over 18,000 parcel shops and automated lockers in select European countries, reducing delivery costs and environmental impact.

Sellers can print a Vinted Go shipping label and drop the package off at a nearby locker or parcel shop. Partner carriers move the package to a similar locker or parcel shop near the buyer, who receives a notification and a pickup code when the item arrives.

Today, active in 27 countries in Europe, North America, and Australia, Vinted is popular among sellers and buyers - and unfortunately, fraudsters as well.

  

   

Timestamped screenshot of Vinted.com’s homepage

 

When shoppers order second-hand items online, they can expect them to arrive in any condition ranging from almost new to heavily used. However, Vinted customers have encountered a baffling phenomenon: brand-new items appeared on their doorstep instead of the second-hand ones they ordered, complete with an invoice from Zalando.

 

As it turned out, this wasn’t a random mistake but intentional fraud.

 

The scheme is rather simple. Fraudsters create a listing on Vinted advertising a second-hand product at a very good price. Once a customer buys it, the fraudster orders the same item from Zalando in the name of the customer and sends it to them. Since Zalando allows payment by invoice, the fraudster can do this without spending a cent, while the customer is slapped with the price of a brand-new item on top of what they already paid the fraudster on Vinted.

 

The cause of the problem lies with both sites. It’s relatively easy to open a seller’s account on Vinted; all you need to do is give a name, email address, and password. Sellers’ names are not visible, only the username they chose for themselves. Moreover, posting a listing doesn’t cost sellers anything, which further encourages fraudsters who aim to make easy money without a lot of effort or investment.

 

 

Timestamped screenshot of a random Vinted.com listing with the seller’s username visible in the bottom right corner

 

 

Similarly, it’s just as easy to create an account on Zalando. The platform doesn’t ask for any proof of identity, which means that fraudsters can create customer accounts in virtually any name and address.

 

Thanks to the uproar of defrauded customers and the investigative work of journalists at the German magazine Spiegel, the ruse has now been uncovered. Both Zalando and Vinted are aware of the problem and have promised to take measures against it. How exactly that will work remains to be seen.

 

Zalando has offered some advice to customers in this situation. Should you receive a package from Zalando when you haven’t ordered anything from the platform, notify the police as well as Zalando and Vinted as soon as possible, but definitely within two days, as that is the deadline before the fraudsters get your money. Zalando promises to suspend the account opened fraudulently in your name and cancel the order in question.

 

 

WDR report on the fraud

At the end of 2024, the WDR, a German TV channel, approached us to participate in their report on fraudulent sellers on Vinted. We were glad to be of service and gave an interview about our experience with fraud on Vinted and expert tips on how to recognise potentially fraudulent listings.

The report mostly focused on the scam where fraudsters set up fake profiles and simply copy product listings from honest sellers. Once somebody pays them for a product, they accept the money and pretend to send the package. When the buyer complains that the product hasn’t arrived, the fraudster either claims that the buyer is lying or pretends that the package got lost during transit. After a few such transactions, the scammer deletes the profile, sets up another, and starts again.

WDR interviewed a victim of such fraud as well as an organisation that specializes in protecting people from online fraud. Although they have also reached out to Vinted with their questions, the company has only sent a few general remarks in response.

If you’re located in Western Europe, you can watch the report here. If you’re interested but unable to access it, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

 

 

Interview with Öko-Test

The 2026 September issue of popular German magazine Öko-Test includes a feature about fraud on second-hand marketplaces. The report introduces a serious case of phishing on the C2C marketplace Kleinanzeigen, where a customer aiming to sell a used computer part encountered a fraudster who stole their sensitive financial information via a deceptively original-looking credit card verification process.

Öko-Test reached out to us for comments about our experience with fraud on C2C marketplaces. We were happy to comply, share our experience, and give advice to consumers on how to avoid falling victim to fraud.

As we explained in the report, fraudulent schemes change very often to adapt to emerging trends, new regulations, and consumer behavior. Therefore, it’s imperative that consumers remain vigilant to detect any red flags. For example, too-good-to-be-true prices, brand-new sellers with very few or zero ratings, product pictures taken in locations that don’t correspond to the seller’s claimed identity, suggestions to take the sale off-platform, as well as requests to provide or confirm sensitive financial information via email or text message are all signs of potential fraud.

Buy Öko-Test’s 2026 September issue here!

  

   

  

A new case of fraud

One of our readers has alerted us about a new type of fraud she encountered on Vinted. 

After listing a second-hand product for sale, she was contacted by a would-be buyer who wanted to purchase the product and offered to pay via PayPal. She then received an email, seemingly from Vinted, informing her about the order and asking her to confirm it. Once she clicked on the confirmation link, she was asked to provide her bank account number and her phone number.

Then a chat window popped up, asking her to verify her bank details via a test transaction in the amount of 2000 euros. The message stated that her account wouldn’t be debited. She found this request suspicious and abandoned the transaction, but after getting persistent emails that the order was in limbo, she relented and authorized the transaction. Unfortunately, the amount was indeed taken from her account, and her bank claims they can’t help her as she authorized the payment. 

The original message from the would-be buyer has disappeared from her Vinted account, but she received two similar messages for other products she listed. This suggests that fraudsters have started a new type of scheme on Vinted, this time to trick sellers.

 

 

Vinted closes its online forum