‘I Should Have Been Smarter’: Bourbon Enthusiasts Are Losing Hundreds of Dollars This Holiday Season Thanks to Scammers
An alleged bourbon scamming website is advertising on social media, costing bourbon enthusiasts hundreds of dollars. One of the items listed in the scam was a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle for $20-$30. (Photo: Buffalo Trace)
On Wednesday, a local Kentucky news outlet WDRB reported on an alleged bourbon scam circulating social media, setting unfortunate unicorn bourbon hunters back hundreds of dollars.
A Facebook ad for a company called Whiskey Shack claimed it was selling multiple high-end bottles of bourbon at significantly under cost.
“It had multiple links and pages,” scam victim and bourbon hunter Ken Mueller said, according to WDRB. “I’m seeing bottles that I have never seen before… and a Pappy was only $20 to $30, which should have set off the flags right there.”
Pappy Van Winkle typically costs over $2,000, and that’s on the lower end of the cost spectrum. Any bottle of Pappy priced at $20-$30 would indeed seem too good to be true.
“I should have been smarter, to be very honest with you,” Mueller confessed. “It was a Facebook ad. It looked spectacular and it was a little beverage store in southern Indiana who was going out of business, and they had a lot of dusty bottles and stuff that they were getting rid of at cost — or just under cost — to settle tax liens.”
Mueller purchased five bottles from Whiskey Shack, one of which was a bottle of 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle for $35.99.
Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve 20 Year has an MSRP of $119.99 and a realistic price range on the secondary market of $5,000 to $10,000. If you’re wondering what we thought of that exorbitantly-priced expression at Whiskey Raiders, you might be surprised.
Mueller never received his bottles and is currently fighting with his credit card company to get the money back.
Multiple customers in Indiana reported Whiskey Shack to Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker, claiming they lost money from the company. Their stories are all similar, citing that the scammers supplied them with fake tracking numbers. If the package was delivered, it was too light to be filled with full bottles of alcohol.
“1 month after order I was supplied with a tracking number (USPS) that says it was delivered 5 days after the order to my address,” a customer complained on BBB’s Scam Tracker. “I have had several back and forth’s with Joe ([email protected]) who insists it was delivered to my mailbox. I checked with the post office and the package was mislabeled and delivered to an address on the other side of town. It was also weighed at under 2 pounds when there were 6 full bottles involved, plus the fact that the Post Office confirms they never ship alcohol. Several distilleries and other legit websites are now reporting that this is a scam.”
WDRB said it reached out to Whiskey Shack, but the company did not reply to a request for comment.
As for Mueller, he claims he is going to be more cautious the next time he buys bourbon online. The bourbon aficionado expressed to the outlet that he intends to research everything thoroughly before he purchases it.
“It’s $100. It’s not going to make or break my lifestyle,” Mueller claimed. “But, by the same token, man, it was such a good scam.”
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