Dear importexportstartup,
Here are the results of my research:
== Total Marketing Services Ltd. ==
This company seems to exist.
I checked their record with the UK Companies Register, and they are
listed as a registered company. According to the record, Total
Marketing Services Ltd. was incorporated on 18 July 2006, and the
address matches the contact information on their website.
The local code of the landline telephone number on their website (0044
1271 879378) indeed belongs to the town of Ilfracombe. And the prices
on the website are in British Pounds and not in US Dollars, as it is
usually the case with scams.
If I remain a bit sceptical about Total Marketing, it's because it is
hard to find background information about them. One Martyn Cox is the
owner (he runs a number of small companies in Ilfracombe, as I found
out) and they were looking for a sales represenative in July 2005 -
which is strange since the company wasn't incorporated yet then.
But that does not change the basic fact that they are an existing
company (unless someone committed identity theft and misuses the
business name and address for a fraud), although their reputation and
reliability remain unclear due to the lack of information.
== Tresty Comp ==
This company is a scam.
The first thing I did was to check their address. They claim to be
located at Jl. Rajawali II - 121, Catur Tunggal, Sleman, Yogyakarta
55421. That address does not exist, the post code 55421 is neither
assigned to the city of Yogyakarta nor to the town of Sleman.
This alone shows that Tresty Comp is not a reputable company, because
otherwise they would not hide behind a clumsily faked address. It is
obvious that they are trying to avoid being traced by their victims,
as it is the common behaviour of scammers.
They also used this fake address to register their web domain. The
registration record shows that they registered the domain quite
recently, on 26 May 2006, and that it will already expire after only
one year, on 26 May 2007. It is more than just advisable to be
extremely cautious with companies that appeared out of nowhere
recently. Besides, this is very typical for online frauds: The
scammers register a short-lived "disposable" domain which they simply
abandon once it is not if use for their criminal activities any
longer.
I should also point out that no company of this name is listed in the
official Indonesian companies register.
Fore these reasons, I suggest that you don't do any business with Tresty Comp.
== Gerald Multivision Plus, PT ==
This company is a scam.
First, I checked their address. They claim to be loacted at Jl.
Sudirman Baru No. 108, Jakarta 20889. That address is a fake, and a
clumsy one, too. There is no street named Sudirman Baru anywhere in
Jakarta - and the post code 20889 does not even belong to that city.
This is already a clear sign that Gerald Multivision is not
trustworthy. Reputable companies do not hide behind fake addresses.
This is what criminals do. They also used this fake address to
register their web domain, to cover their tracks.
The domain registration record holds more clear indications for the
fraudulent nature of this "company": The domain was registered only
rather recently, on 29 April 2006. And it will expire after only one
year, on 29 April 2007. This is typical for scams: The scammers use
fake identities to register short-lived "disposable" domains which
they simply abandon once they are not of use any longer.
Also, there is no company of that name listed in the official
Indonesian companies register.
In addition, this discussion at the Alibaba forum might be interesting:
http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/10217/is_DATAELECTRO_COM_and_GERALDSTORE_COM_LEGIT_.htm
So Gerald Multivision is definitely a scam.
== E's Stuff ==
I managed to find one of the company profiles they set up at
business-to-business marketplace websites, so I could check them using
the full contact information they provided:
Etronics Wharehouse
Contact: Elizabeth Cummins
48667-1 Wickam Court
Fort Hood Texas 76544
USA
Phone/Fax: 1-254-213-4968
My advice: Don't trust them. First, there is no company and no
taxpaying entity of that name registered in Texas. That alone should
be reason enough to be very cautious. It is also impossible to trace
one Elizabeth Cummins in Fort Hood or neighboring Killeen, and the
telephone number seems to exist only in this company profile, but
nowhere else.
It is also a warning sign that not even one of the few signs of
existence I found for this company (and none from a neutral source -
all of them were produced by this "company" themselves) predates this
October. Such companies that appeared very recently out of nowhere are
extremely sucpicious.
So I must advise not to do any business with them.
Sources:
Companies House: Database of registered UK companies
http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/WebCHeck/fastrack/
Indonesia News Online: Postal Codes of Yogyakarta
http://www.indonesianewsonline.com/prangko/stamps/yogya.htm
Indonesia News Online: Postal Codes of Jakarta
http://www.indonesianewsonline.com/prangko/stamps/jakarta.htm
Indonesia News Online: Postal Codes of Towns beginning with S
http://www.indonesianewsonline.com/prangko/stamps/s.htm
Indonesian Ministry of Industry: Companies Register
http://www.dprin.go.id/ENG2005/Content2.asp?mode=21&view=frm
Texas Corporations Database
http://ecpa.cpa.state.tx.us/coa/Index.html
Texas Taxpayer Database
http://ecpa.cpa.state.tx.us/vendor/tpsearch1.html
EC21: Etronics Wharehouse
http://eliza1125.en.ec21.com/company_info.html
Switchboard Telephone Directory
http://www.switchboard.com/
Clickajob.co.uk (in Google Cache)
http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:NX1r1pLSYCkJ:www.clickajob.co.uk/job_vacancies/sales_representative_in__16120692.html+%22martyn+cox%22+ilfracombe&hl=de&gl=de&ct=clnk&cd=10 |
