Dear pageboy,
I have checked all three companies, and I have found out that they are
all dubious, to say the least. Here are the results of my research:
-- Digdaya Computindo PT --
I have reasons to suspect that this company is actually a scam. I
can't, unfortunatly, check the certificate they sent you (though I
have no doubt it is a fake; I have already encountered several
Indonesian scammers faking any kind of documents to appear legal). But
there are other points of interest:
- They seem not even to know their own address. The information they
gave you says they are located in the Duta Mas division of Batam, post
code 29422, which is also what they used for registering their Web
domain. At the business-to-business marketplace Alibaba, they claim
that the post code is 29426. Actually, none of those two post codes
belongs to their street address. If a company uses fake addresses, for
whatever purpose, it is always a bad sign and not exactly proof of
trustworthiness.
By the way, at AllProducts, another marketplace website, they even say
that they are located in Padang, a completely different town.
- There used to be a now-defunct local computer shop in Batam, with a
rather similar name: "Digdaya Komputindo". Their address was a bit
different (Bloc C-4/1 instead of B-4/1). The unimaginative scammers
only slightly changed the name and the address for their fraud.
- They registered their domain for only one year, from 29 May 2006 to
29 May 2007. While such short-lived domains would be most unusual for
reputable companies, they are typical for scammers. By the way, they
have not even managed to set up a working website. Such unbelievable
carelessness would be deadly for a real company.
- And, which is most revealing: There is no company of the name
"Digdaya Computindo PT" listed in the official Indonesian register of
companies.
I can only recommend not to trust this "company".
-- Naotone Shiyi Houschold Textile Co. Ltd. --
I have the firm impression that this company is a scam. Checking
Chinese fraud companies is very hard due to the lack of companies
registers and similar sources. But fortunately, Chinese scams are
often enough very obvious, clumsy and primitve.
In this particular case, the first thing I did was to examine what
this "company" claims to be on their website. The result is very
interesting:
- They claim that their company "...was set up in 2002", and that by
now, "Our business is successfully expanded to United States, Canada,
United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Brazil and so on." However, in those
alleged 4 years of repordtedly very successful existence, the company
failed almost completely to leave any marks on the Internet. A Google
search for them revealed that they are only mentioned at two places:
EC Plaza and Echinatex. Both sites are just business-to-business
marketplaces where companies are not checked for being legit. In fact,
those and similar sites are where scammers with fake companies prefer
to gather to find their victims. The fact is that it is more than
unbelievable that this "company" has been existing for 4 years now.
Rather, I'd say that this fake business is just some months old. And
this leads to #2 of my investigation:
- I checked the ownership record of their Web domain, "goodshoes.net".
Chinese domain registration providers are infamous for allowing their
customers to register domains with very incomplete identification
(which makes China a paradise for online scammers), but this record is
even less then fragmentary:
Registrant:
wangfang
hk
100080
Administrative Contact:
LINJIAN
LINJIAN
hk
hk BEIJIN
CN
tel:
fax:
WWW@126.com
This most important part of the registration record for
"goodshoes.net" tells us absolutely nothing. Anyone could be the owner
of this domain. And it is obvious that whoever registered the domain
wanted to remain as anonymous as only possible. This leads to the
question: Why would a reputable company do this? This behaviour is
typical for scammers who don't want to be traceable.
However, there is one interesting part in the registration record. It
tells us that the domain was registered only rather recently, on 20
November 2005. And it will expire after only one year, on 20 November
2006. The fact that this "company" allegedly waited 3 years before
they registered a domain is one thing. The other thing is that this is
typical for scammers: They register "disposable" short-lived domains
which they simply abandon once they are not of use any longer. It is
not what reputable companies do.
- It is also revealing that the only contact information on their
website is this e-mail address: mynike1971@hotmail.com. It is a
Hotmail address which can be registered anonymously and which cannot
be traced back to its owner. Ideal for scammers, and very often used
by them for criminal purposes.
- Finally, they insist on payment via Western Union, MoneyGram or
Telegraphic Transfer. This is very typical for scammers since once the
fraud has been detected, it is impossible to ever find out who
actually received the money or to call back the transfer. Reputable
companies don't insist on these payment methods but offer other, more
trustworthy alternatives.
All in all, Naotone Shiyi Houschold Textile Co. Ltd. appears not to be
trustworthy. I recommend not to do any business with them.
-- Renzo Electronic Co., Ltd. --
This is clearly a scam.
The first thing I checked was their alleged company's address: Jl.
Jend. Sudirman 453B, Yogyakarta 55223. This address is fake. First,
because the correct post code for all houses in that street with
numbers 38 and higher is 55224, not 55223. Second, because there is no
house number 453B in the Jenderal Sudriman Street in Yogyakarta. The
numbers in that street don't go further than to the 80s. A company
that provides a fake address on their website can't be trusted.
And there is more: They registered their Web domain using the same
fake address (completely omitting the post code), and with an equally
fake telephone number: +001.81332777258. The +001 would be the country
code of the USA or Canada. That is, of course, more than unlikely for
an Indonesian company. And the number behind the country code does not
even comply with North American telephone number schemes, it has one
digit too much.
Furthermore, the domain was registered only on 24 June 2006, and will
already expire on 24 June 2007, after just one year. Since this
"company" claims to exist since 2004, it would mean that they waited
for 2 years before they registered their domain, which is very hard to
believe. Again, this is one of the typical short-lived, "disposable"
domains scammers usually register for their fraudulent activities.
By the way, "Co. Ltd." is not a valid Indonesian legal form of a
company. It was certainly chosen to impress potential victims from
English-speaking countries, who are obviously the target group for
this scam.
I recommend not to trust Renzo Electronic and not to do any business with them.
I hope that this will be helpful!
Best regards,
Scriptor
Sources:
Allwhois Domain Database
http://www.allwhois.com/
Indonesian Yellow Pages
http://www.yellowpages.co.id/
Indonesia News Online: Complete Indonesian Post Codes
http://www.indonesianewsonline.com/prangko/stamps/kodepos.htm
Indonesia News Online: Yogyakarta Post Codes
http://www.indonesianewsonline.com/prangko/stamps/yogya.htm
Alibaba: Didgdaya Computindo PT Contact Information
http://www.alibaba.com/member/bennyjosephin/contactinfo.html
AllProducts: Didgdaya Computindo PT Company Profile
http://www.allproducts.com/manufacture97/digdaya/
Indonesia Ministry of Industry: Register of Companies
http://www.dprin.go.id/ENG2005/Content2.asp?mode=21&view=frm |
