Dear willie6666,
Although it is generally very hard to check Chinese companies, due to
the lack of online companies registers and similar resources, there
are certain ways to have a closer look at such businesses and to
determine whether they are trustworthy or not, especially if one has
some experiences with the typical features of scams. I did my best to
check the two companies you asked about.
Regards,
Scriptor
=== PC Sky International Trade Co. Ltd. ===
I must advise utmost caution when dealing with this company. They are
very dubious, for the following reasons:
1. The first thing I did was to check the ownership record of their
Web domain, supplier-china.net . I found out that the domain was
registered only quite recently, on 19 February 2006, and that it will
expire after only one year, on 19 February 2007. First I must stress
out that such "great" companies that suddenly appeared out of nowhere
are generally shady. Then, it is a well-known practice of scammers to
register such short-lived "disposable" domains which they can simply
abandon once they are not useful any longer. It is certainly not
typical for reputable companies.
2. Their website is an utter mess, looking most unprofessional. Such
worthless design is not at all inspiring confidence. And what is
interesting, too: They stole their "Company Information" text in the
Customers Service section of their website and at TradeKey from other
scam sites (it's a quite common text among fraudulent electronics
sellers) and clumsily replaced the introductorily first sentence with
a poorly-written line they made up themselves and which stylistically
does not go with the rest. Besides, it makes no sense to welcome
readers at TradeKey with the words "welcome to our
website:www,supplier-china,net".
3. The fact that all the prices are in US dollars only clearly shows
that they aim only at victims in the USA. If they really had Europe as
one of their main markets, they would most likely prices in Euros and
British Pounds, too or at least offer an option to display prices in
those currencies. A real company would hardly annoy their important
European customers this way.
4. The company is mentioned only on Business-to-Business market place
websites, where anyone can pretend to be a company whithout being
checked for being legit. Those sites are the preferred hunting grounds
of scammers with fake companies.
I would not trust them. The warning signs are too strong.
=== Winna Shoes Co. Ltd. ===
I must advise utmost caution when dealing with this company. They are
very dubious, for the following reasons:
1. On their website, http://www.nikeshoppe.com/, they claim that their
company is in business since 1998. However, all marks they have left
on the Web are considerably younger - I found their company not
mentioned anywhere before summer 2006. What have they done in the 8
years before? And what is also suspicious: The company is mentioned
only on Business-to-Business market place websites, where anyone can
pretend to be a company whithout being checked for being legit. Those
sites are the preferred hunting grounds of scammers with fake
companies.
2. I also checked the ownership record of their Web domain,
nikeshoppe.com. As I found out, the domain was registered only rather
recently, on 3 June 2006 (which clearly collides the "copyright
2005-2006" on the website). And it will expire already after just one
year, on 3 June 2007. First, it is unlikely that a company waits 8
full years before doing something as essential as registering a domain
- and they obviously have no other website than this one. And then, it
is highly suspicious that the domain was registered for only one year.
Such short-lived domains are usually used by scammers who use
"disposable" domains which they simply abandon once they are not of
use any longer. It is hard to believe that a reputable company would
do this.
3. They insist on advance payment via Western Union. This method of
payment is hardly used by reputable companies. However, scammers often
use it since it is impossible to trace who actually received the money
or, if a fraud has been detected, to call back the transferred amount.
4. They use free Yahoo and Hotmail e-mail addresses. This is extremely
unlikely for a real company, but it would be typical for scammers.
These free e-mail accounts can be set up anonymously, and there is no
way to ever find out who actually uses them, so a fraudster avoids the
danger of being traced.
5. The website is not only very poorly made, they also stole the
banner somewhere. It displays the word "ASP99", which has obviously no
whatsoever connection with this "company". It makes no sense at all.
The final conclusion: There is reason not to trust this company. They
are very shady. |
