MalwareTips: ameripepselect.com rated high-risk store in lookalike-shop scam network
MalwareTips rated ameripepselect.com a high-risk dropshipping store on 2 November 2026: misleading product photos, low-quality goods from China and costly returns. It says the shop belongs to a network of near-identical stores. Safety Score 35/100.
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Source: malwaretips.com · published
What happened
MalwareTips published a buyer warning on 2 November 2026 about Ameripepselect.com, which it describes as a high-risk dropshipping store. It says the shop is one of a network of near-identical stores that share templates, product photos and return policies and reopen under new names. MalwareTips found that ameripepselect.com was registered on 8 September 2026 and that its URL scanner gives it a Safety Score of 35/100, rated High Risk. It advises people not to buy from it.
How the scam works
According to MalwareTips, ameripepselect.com does not make anything itself. Like thousands of similar stores, it lists items from low-cost suppliers, which ship straight from warehouses in China, so delivery can take three or four weeks even when the page promises 5 to 7 days, and tracking pages are slow to change. The photos usually belong to other sellers or brands, and a reverse image search often leads to the same pictures on other stores. The item that arrives is very low quality and looks nothing like the ads.
The problem for buyers comes when they ask for their money back. MalwareTips says returns usually have to be shipped internationally to China at the buyer's cost, and the postage alone can wipe out the refund. The usual reply to a return request is an offer of 15% to 30% back to keep the item instead of a full refund, and support is email-only and slow. MalwareTips adds that stores in this network rarely show a registered company name, tax number or local address, so it is hard to know who sold the goods, and that when one store closes a new name opens with the same catalog.
Its advice is not to buy from ameripepselect.com. For anyone who already has, it suggests checking with the card issuer or PayPal before shipping anything to China, as card disputes often allow around 120 days and PayPal generally accepts claims within 180 days of payment, so weeks of unanswered emails should not be allowed to use them up.
Source
MalwareTips, “Ameripepselect.com EXPOSED”, buyer warning of 2 November 2026.
Red flags
- Clothes, gadgets or gifts at a fraction of normal prices, advertised on social media.
- Product photos that appear on other sellers' or brands' sites.
- A domain registered about two months before the warning, on 8 September 2026.
- Delivery that takes three or four weeks from China, and items that look nothing like the ads.
- A returns policy that requires you to ship items to China at your cost, or offers 15% to 30% back to keep the item.
If you were targeted
- 1Do not buy from ameripepselect.com; if you did, keep the order confirmation, photos and emails.
- 2Ask your card issuer or PayPal about a dispute quickly, as time limits apply.
- 3Before shipping anything to China, check with your card issuer or PayPal first.
- 4Reverse-search product photos and check the domain's age before buying from an unfamiliar shop.
- 5Report misleading ads to the social-media platform that showed them.