Dear agausling,
Evidence suggests that AWA Elektronik PT is a scam, for the following reasons:
- I checked the Indonesian Yellow Pages [1] and I found out that
whoever created the fraudulent AWA Elektronik website simply took the
name and the location of an actual company, and adding minor changes
to the spelling and the address. However, some of the changes appear
to be simply the results of blundering.
The address of the actual company is:
Awa Electronics PT
Kawasan Industri Sekupang
BATAM 29422
RIAU
Phone : 0778-325563, 0778-325564
Fax : 0778-325563
You will note that the scammers manipulated that address in a way that
makes no sense: The postal code 2942 can't exist anywhere in Indonesia
since postal codes in that country have always five digits. Also, for
some reason they decided change "Kawasan Industri Sekupang" to
"Kawasan Industri No. 113", which makes no sense either.
- I also checked the ownership record of the Web domain
"awa-elektronik.com" [2]. According to the record, the domain was
registered by: AWA Electro, kawasan sekupang, batam, riau, INDONESIA
2344. This is a most obvious fake. First, the company name used there
is very different from the company they pretend to be, AWA Elektronik.
I can't imagine that the employees of a real company would misspell
their own business' name so badly. The address has changed again, now
to only "Kawasan Sekupang". And the completely wrong 4-digit postal
code does, of course, not exist anywhere in Indonesia. It's hard to
believe that an actual company would register their domain using a
fake address, lest alone such a clumsy fake.
- Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the Web domain has been
registered only very recently, on 2 March 2006. However, on their
website they claim that their "company" exists since 2000. A real
company would not wait for 6 years before registering their domain,
since that an asset much too important.
- Also, the domain will expire after just one year, on 2 March 2007.
While that would be most unusual for a reputable company, it is
typical for fraudsters: They register "disposable" domains which they
simply abandon once they are not useful any longer.
- Finally, it is revealing that AWA Elektronik insists on payment via
Wire Transfer or Telegraphic Transfer. Those are payment methods only
scammers prefer since it is impossible for their victims to ever find
out who actually received the money or to call back the transfer.
Reputable companies offer their customers other, more secure payment
methods.
For these reasons, I advise against doing any business with AWA Elektronik.
Regards,
Scriptor
Sources:
[1] Indonesian Yellow Pages
http://www.yellowpages.co.id/index.html
[2] Allwhois Domain Database
http://www.allwhois.com/cgi-bin/allwhois.cgi
Indonesian News Online: Complete Postal Codes of Indonesia
http://www.indonesianewsonline.com/prangko/stamps/kodepos.htm |
