hmmm don’t know. I am sure there are scams out there, no doubt. But your situation is identical to a “lost in the mail” scenario.

My point is that if AliExpress made you whole, all you lost was time. It sucks but I would not considered myself to be scammed if at the end of the day I have my money back.

I don’t think I would trust Ali or Amazon (which I rather not use, period) with anything over $100 just in case anyway.