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Showing posts with label Fake Retailers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fake Retailers. Show all posts

Monday 26 October 2009

Yesbestbuy.com? Yeah, right!

A tip about a site called yesbestbuy.com proved interesting.. is this a real site, or is this a scam?

Well, let's put it this way.. a company selling a brand new $750 cell phone for $261.. especially when the phone isn't even out yet and won't be for some weeks.



Yes, this is another Chinese site where prices are "too good to be true", which usually means that they aren't. Let's dig a little closer, shall we?

The WHOIS details say:

Registrant Contact:
zhong jian ping
jian ping zhong service@yesbestbuy.com
03165544345 fax: 03165544345
shanghai
shanghai shanghai 332210
cn


Who knows.. they might even be true! The domain was registered in June 2009, so it has been around for a couple of months. The fax number of 03165544345 is related to the domain e-infall.com which has a rotten reputation.

The server is 222.76.217.149 which has been used to host a fake bank before, and has a lot of other "too good to be true" electronics sites, although there could be some legitimate sites here too. One in particular is yesbestshop.com with similar registrant details:

Registrant Contact:
zhong jian ping
jian ping zhong zhongjp@ssee.com
010-3884111 fax: 010-3884111
beijing
beijing beijing 210012
cn
The email address zhongjp@ssee.com is also linked with Elebarn.com which also has a rotten reputation.

These other domains seem to belong to the same person - it's easy enough to research them to draw your own conclusions:

  • 365hotbuy.com (174.36.140.214)
  • sales-digital.com (204.16.197.29)
  • yesbestshop.com (222.76.217.149)
  • elerush.com (204.16.192.224)
  • elefind.com (222.76.217.149)
  • e-infall.com (offline)
  • elewholesale.com (208.43.148.102)
  • cacaweb.com (212.227.32.119)
There are a lot, and I do mean a lot of potentially linked sites in this network. But if you avoid purchasing from sites where the prices are unreasonably low, then that will be a simple way of protecting yourself.

Wednesday 26 August 2009

Razor blade spam

Here's a new one.. razor blade spam! Gillette Mach 3 Blades are apparently the most stolen retail product in the world, so perhaps it is unsurprising to see spam for what is bound to be fake Mach 3 razor blades.


Subject: Gillette Mach 3 Razor Blades - Best Prices 28414010
Date: Wed, August 26, 2009 10:37 pm

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friend,farther or sell the items on Ebay.

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join our Rewards program, click here.

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A pack of 8 Mach 3 blades retails for about $18 in the US, these folks claim to be selling them for less than $7..


..which means that these are fakes. Fake razor blades are just fine if you don't mind facial lacerations, rashes and nasty blood diseases. Looks like they also sell fake condoms too.

This may well be the start of a new trend. Who knows what the spammers will try to sell next? Tinned meat?

Friday 24 July 2009

"Best Crisis Prices": dotbestshop.com / bestcrisisprices.com fake shops

I mentioned bestcrisesprices.com a few weeks ago, and it seems that they have a new domain called dotbestshop.com which is also a fake ecommerce site.


Both sites are hosted on an an anonymous hosting account at 124.217.231.121 in Malaysia, the domain contact details are either anonymous or fake. The contact details on the website are also fake, and have been stolen from legitimate businesses.

It claims to be a member of the BBB, but it isn't as the BBB reports that it is mis-using their logo.

This is part of a large organized crime ring, nominally connected with China. Although it claims to be based in Louisiana, there is no evidence at all that this is a US operation. Avoid dealing with them at all costs.

Friday 13 March 2009

Adobe9.0-PDF.com

Here's an oddity when typing "Adobe" into Google.

The first ad refers to a web site called Adobe9.0-PDF.com - that's not Adobe, surely?


Nope.. it doesn't look like Adobe. Let's scroll down a bit


The bit at the bottom is interesting:


All tademarks and copyrights are used for comparison and/or compatibility purposes only and are the property of their respective owners. This website has no affiliation whatsoever with the owner of this software program and does not re-sell or license software. All software is freeware and/or shareware with the understanding that the user may need or want to pay for it later. Membership is for unlimited access to our site's resources. We provide an organized website with links to third party freeware and shareware software, technical support, tutorials and step by step guides.
To cut a long story short, you have to pay to download this free software (this is for "support").. of course you could just download it directly from Adobe.

So, this is kind of curious. Who's running this site? A look at the WHOIS for 0-pdf.com shows an anonymous registration, so no clue there.

The site is hosted on 208.118.54.244 along with several others:

  • 0-pdf.com
  • 1-pdf.com
  • Burning-toolz.com
  • Downzfree.com
  • E-s0ftware.com
  • Es0ftware.com
  • Freedownloadhq.com
  • Freedownloadsnow.net
  • Grafix-viewer.com
  • Internet-callz.com
  • Mediaplayer-stop.com
  • Populartitlez.com
  • Security-bundle.com
  • Virus-tools.com
  • Xtremesoftware-ltd.com
They are all anonymous registrations apart from the last one:

Registrant: Xtreme Software Ltd.
7 Petworth Road

Haslemere,
Surrey GU27 2JB

United Kingdom

Domain Name: XTREMESOFTWARE-LTD.COM
Created on: 13-Apr-07
Expires on: 13-Apr-09
Last Updated on: 13-Apr-08
Administrative Contact:
Software Ltd, Xtreme Support@XtremeSoftware-Ltd.com
Xtreme Software Ltd.
7 Petworth Road
Haslemere,
Surrey GU27 2JB
United Kingdom
8007843167 Fax --
Technical Contact: Software Ltd, Xtreme Support@XtremeSoftware-Ltd.com
Xtreme Software Ltd.

7 Petworth Road

Haslemere,
Surrey GU27 2JB

United Kingdom

8007843167 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.COVERTTECHNOLOGY.NET
NS3.COVERTTECHNOLOGY.NET
NS2.COVERTTECHNOLOGY.NET


Incidentally, shuffle across a few IPs to 208.118.54.247 and there seems to be another server belonging to the same outfit.
  • 11-now.com
  • 7-now.com
  • 8-now.com
  • 8-pdf.com
  • 8-software.com
  • 8-ultra.com
  • 9-express.com
  • 9-now.com
  • 9-ultra.com
  • Anti-viruz.net
  • Antiviruz-now.com
  • Avast-hq.com
  • D0wnloadz.net
  • Download-9.com
  • Downloadcenterz.com
  • Downloadzcenter.com
  • Downloadznow.net
  • Downloadzsoftware.com
  • Dvdshrink-hq.com
  • Ed0wnloads.com
  • Esoftware-now.com
  • Irfanview-center.com
  • Irfanview-hq.com
  • Mediaplayer-hq.com
  • Panda-hq.com
  • Pdf-now.com
  • Pdf-soft.net
  • Powerdvd-7.com
  • Rarsoftware.com
  • S0ftware-now.com
  • S0ftware.com
  • S0ftwarez.com
  • Software-hq.net
  • Softwarecenterz.com
  • Swhq-cs.com
  • Tutorial-hq.com
  • Winamp-hq.com
  • Winrar-hq.com
So, it looks like a UK company - and indeed Companies House lists XTREME SOFTWARE LTD (company 05604124) at being associated with that address, but states that it is dissolved. Another company, XTREME-SOFT LTD 05723281 is listed at the same address.

Company records for Xtreme Software Ltd indicate that it was forcibly dissolved, and the director was:

DIRECTOR: SHULLICK, DAVE
Appointed: 07/11/2005
Date of Birth: (redacted)
Nationality: HUNGARIAN
No. of Appointments: 1
Address: 6434 BAY CEDAR LANE
BRADENTON
MANATEE
FLORIDA 34203
USA

Dave Shullick is also linked with the domain xtremetransactions.com and Xtreme Innovations, LLC of Ohio. Shullick and another site was mentioned in the Guardian article enetitled Money for nothing in 2006. But as the company was forcibly dissolved in December 2008, the who is running these web sites?

Xtremetransactions.com is also linked to from the Adobe9.0-PDF.com site, showing that the two are closely related.



The UK address isn't much of a clue - it belongs to a company called Fletcher Kennedy, who specialise in forming other companies. Fletcher Kennedy are nothing to do with the site, but they have fulfilled the legal role of company secretary for both "Xtreme" companies, but they appear to have terminated that relationship.

Is the other XTREME-SOFT company any relation? It's odd that they both have very similar names and the same address, but the only director listed for XTREME-SOFT LTD is in Saudi Arabia:

DIRECTOR: QUBAISI, MOHSEN
Appointed: 22/03/2006
Nationality: SAUDI
No. of Appointments: 1
Address: 31952 KOBAR STREET
SAUDI ARABIA
It's not clear if these two entities are actually related in any way.

So, here's an outfit that is hiding its details and appears to have been operating by a firm that had been forcibly dissolved. So who exactly is running it now?

Anyway, that's enough foreplay. Let's get down to the money shot. Let's say that you want to download the software, first there's a registration screen.. then you get to see what this is all about:

Yup, they're trying to stiff you with a £27 charge plus 83p per month to download a free bit of software. Goodness only knows what "download accelerator plus" is.

Here we go.. £37 for something that you can get for free. My advice? Avoid this one at all costs!



If you have paid money to this company any want a refund, this RipoffReport suggests the following:

MONEY RETRIEVED!

Don't let these people get away with what they do.

Keep on emailing them as well as the third-party that bills their accounts. I got a full refund, including the so-called $5.99 service charge.

Explore you options on the next. Report them to the internet fraud site. Contact your bank and report them. In fact, do everything that you need to do.

I did not stop, until I got everything back.
Allegedly, the contact email address is support@software-hq.net (and that domain seems to have generated a lot of complaints) but you may be better off contacting your bank if you believe that you have been misled in any way.