Dear michael3,
I advise not to do any business with down-net.biz (or Soft for
Download, as they call themselves on their website). There can be no
doubt that this "company" sells illegal software downloads, provided
that they sell anything at all and don't just take the money without
delivering anything in return. There are clear signs that indicate
illegal activities, signs that are typical for Web frauds.
The first thing to do with a suspicious business website is to look
whether the site contains any real contact information. Reputable
companies have no reason to conceal their street address, telephone
and fax numbers, etc. On the other hand, scam businesses either use
fake addresses or don't provide any contact information at all. The
reason is, of course, simple: They don't want to be tracked by their
victims.
In this case, down-net does not provide any contact information at all
- only a worthless contact form. This is not the behaviour of a
reputable company. It's the way only fraudsters behave.
The next step is to check who owns the domain of a dubious website.
Reputable companies never use fake or obscure addresses for
registering their domains. Scam businesses, however, always do that
because they try to avoid being traced. Now, who is the alleged owner
of the domain "down-net.biz"? According to the Whois database, it's
this individual:
Ryan Schwartz
4212 Walkers Ridge
Chapel Hill, NC 46818
United States
Phone: +1.9194088064
E-Mail: inter@taxadvisory.com
This address is fake. While there is a town named Chapel Hill in North
Carolina, its zip code does not even vaguely resemble 46818 - the
Chapel Hill zip codes are 27514 to 27517. And neither in that nor in
any other town called Chapel Hill, there is no street named Walkers
Ridge - that street is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Interestingly,
the zip code of Walkers Ridge in Fort Wayne is 46818. The telephone
number is unlisted, but the area code/local code combination 919-408
would theoretically belong to the North Carolina region where Chapel
Hill is located. Finally, the e-mail address is connected with an
equally obscure website that is a mere trash dump for links. And maybe
to provide the scammers who own it an unlimited supply of e-mail
addresses.
So we have a shady "company" that used a dilettantishly faked address
to register their domain. This is already proof enough that down-net
can't be a reputable, legal business. They do everything to conceal
who they are, where they are and who is responsible for it.
But there is even more: The domain was registered only on 15 July
2005, and it will already expire on 14 July 2006. This is typical for
Web frauds and scams: A "disposable" domain that has been registered
only short time ago and that will be simply abandoned when it is not
of use any longer.
There can be only one conclusion: Those are criminals. Whatever they
actually do, it is illegal. Don't do any business with them.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Scriptor
Sources:
Allwhois Domain Database
http://www.allwhois.com/cgi-bin/allwhois.cgi
Mapquest
http://www.mapquest.com/
Search terms used:
"walkers ridge" 46818
://www.google.de/search?num=20&hl=de&newwindow=1&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22walkers+ridge%22+46818&btnG=Suche&meta=
"chapel hill nc" "walkers ridge"
://www.google.de/search?num=20&hl=de&newwindow=1&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22chapel+hill+nc%22+%22walkers+ridge%22&btnG=Suche&meta=
"chapel hill nc" "zip codes"
://www.google.de/search?num=20&hl=de&newwindow=1&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22chapel+hill+nc%22+%22zip+codes%22&btnG=Suche&meta=
"919 408" "chapel hill"
://www.google.de/search?num=20&hl=de&newwindow=1&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22919+408%22+%22chapel+hill%22&btnG=Suche&meta= |
,
0 Comments
)