An Ontario cannabis consumer is out more than $400 after trying to purchase cannabis from Canadian Hemp Co., an unlicensed online retailer.

“They walked away with $440 of my money. Every time I try to contact them, they just ignore me,” the customer posted in a review on the Better Business Burea (BBB) page. The page features eight complaints about the company, with customers describing losses of $300 and $200 dollars on orders that never shipped.

The complaints are just a few of the more than 60,000 that the BBB has received in regards to the industry, reports Trail Times.

A BBB investigation into the Canadian Hemp Co. revealed that the business was unlicensed and that the B.C. address listed on their website belongs to another business, a salon. The site was also riddled with grammatical and encouraged payments in Bitcoin.

Another retailer, Hello Ganja, bilked $8,500 from a Port Alberni resident.

“It is important that consumers make the extra effort to research companies before conducting transactions, especially when dealing with an online retailer,” Karla Laird, Manager for Community and Public Relations at BBB serving Mainland BC, told Trail Times. “Products like cannabis are regulated for a reason. Do not get distracted by attractive deals that lead you to make either illegal or risky purchases, as you will lose the protection of the law if you stumble into a scam.”

The BBB highlights a few steps customers can take to better protect themselves from illicit online retailers. One is to be wary of online deals from retailers that seem too good to be true, as they most likely are. Customers are also encouraged to shop with a credit card as it provides additional protection in the case of a fraudulent transaction, reports the Delta Optimist.

The illicit market is still a major provider of Canadian cannabis and while some consumers may seek out these businesses, others may be unaware they are buying their wares from an unlicensed producer. If no product shows up, and the company goes silent, there isn’t much consumers can do to remedy the situation.

In Edmonton, the police have seized more than 100 domains of illicit cannabis sites since March, but lawyer Jack Loyd previously told The GrowthOp that those efforts are a lost cause.

“From a policing perspective, it’s a bit like playing Whack-a-mole because the internet is what it is,” he said. “They’re taking steps that they feel are necessary in order to promote the licit market by arresting everyone in the illicit market, and obviously that’s not a tactic that was successful over the hundred years of prohibition that we had in this country.”