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Q: Find out if a company is legitmate or a scam? ( Answered,   3 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Find out if a company is legitmate or a scam?
Category: Business and Money > Consulting
Asked by: kustom-ga
List Price: $15.00
Posted: 22 Nov 2006 03:34 PST
Expires: 22 Dec 2006 03:34 PST
Question ID: 784764
I am about to do business with a company in China who deal direct with
clients who are wanting to find legitimate overseas suppliers in varied
areas. They find stock/suppliers for you for eg. laptops and charge you
$USD300 for a weeks work doing so. The reason I am wanting you
guys to help me is to see if these guys are legit because prior to this I
became one of the many victims of fraud and AU$2500 dollars later I am
now very weary. Is it possible for one of you guys to help find out if
the following comapanys are real and legitimate and if I should
continue working with them? I am also thinking of working with an
Escrow agent in Austrlia but their details are unknown in the Yellow
pages and they say they have been in buiness several years to which
could also be a scam as that is how we lost the money mentioned
earlier by using an agent overseas who later ripped us off. I am not a
glutten for punishment I just think that the Escrow system would work
well if they are a legitmate company that you could trust. The company
who finds suppliers for you is called www.linesbiz.com and I am
dealing with a Miss Chen and her work no. is No:A1101
The escrow company in Austrlia is called http://www.escrowaustralia.com.au/
If you could find out if they are both legitimate companies and if I
can and should trust them and if you reccmmend me doing business with
them. Can you also advise if there are other companys who offer the
same service for eg. a fee to find suppliers for you and someone who
can go see suppliers for you to check their legitimetcy without you
trapsing all they way over China.
Answer  
Subject: Re: Find out if a company is legitmate or a scam?
Answered By: scriptor-ga on 22 Nov 2006 09:57 PST
 
Dear kustom,

I examined both companies; here is my opinion about them:


As for Escrow Australia: There can be no doubt that they are an actual company.

- Ebay Australia indeed cooperates with them and recommends them, as
you can see here, on the actual Ebay website:
http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/tp/payment-escrow.html

- They are duly registered with the Victoria Office of Fair Trading &
Business Affairs, since 25 July 2003. Their business number is
B1702908V.

- I found nothing suspicious about the ownership record of their Web domain.

However, while there can be no doubt that Escrow Australia is a legit
company, it would not be uncommon for a fraudster to misuse their
name, e.g. to send fake e-mails with payment instructions and the
like. If there is the slightest doubt about whether the escrow service
you are dealing with is indeed the one they pretend to be, it is
always advisable to carefully examine their messages for suspicious
details and to contact the company, to be on the safe side.


Now, to Linesbiz. Right at the beginning, I must say that I am a bit
reluctant to claim that they would appear very trustworthy. On the
contrary, there are certain things that make me advise cautiousness:

- Their Web domain was registered only on 22 March 2006, and it will
expire after just one year, on 22 March 2007. While this does not
necessarily constitute a fraud, I know from experience that such
short-lived domains that appeared only recently are to be treated with
suspicion. It is often a sign of dubious businesses.

- Their website design is quite unprofessional and primitive. It is
certainly not the ideal calling card for a company trying to attract
international customers.

- The photos on their website are rather strange. Obviously, they are
meant to prove that Linesbiz is an actual, existing company. However,
all we get to see is basically four times the same sign with their
company name, photographed from different angles. It almost appears as
if they a bit too desperately tried to convince the visitors of their
site that they are for real.

- They seem not to be sure of their own company's name. On the sign,
it is "Luo Fu Ad Co., Ltd.". However, when they posted offers on other
websites, they made it "Luofu Ad. & Decoration Co., Ltd." This is a
bit odd, to say the least.

Unfortunately, the deplorable lack of Chinese online sources like
official company registers make it hard to definitely determine
whether a Chinese company is for real or a scam. In this case, I don't
dare say that Linesbiz is a scam. However, I must recommend to be
cautious when doing business with them; as I demonstrated above, there
are some aspects about them that make them appear a bit dubious. Be
most cautious about the payment arrangements and whether communication
with Escrow Australia really originates from that Australian firm.

Regards,
Scriptor




Sources:

Australian Securities & Investments Commission: Companies Database
http://www.search.asic.gov.au/gns001.html

Victoria Office of Fair Trading & Business Affairs: Companies Database
http://online.justice.vic.gov.au/servlet/BusinessNameSearch

Allwhois Domain Name Database
http://www.allwhois.com/

Alibaba.com: Linesbiz Company Profile
http://linesbiz.en.alibaba.com/contactinfo.html

TradePrince: Linesbiz Company Profile
http://nladcl.tradeprince.com/
Comments  
Subject: Re: Find out if a company is legitmate or a scam?
From: probonopublico-ga on 22 Nov 2006 06:01 PST
 
I would be very wary of www.linesbiz.com.

The domain name was only registered on 22 July 2006 and, on their
site, they show two email addresses: Hotmail and Yahoo.

Why would they not use email addresses routed through their own URL?
Subject: Re: Find out if a company is legitmate or a scam?
From: probonopublico-ga on 22 Nov 2006 06:02 PST
 
Correction:

Their domain name was registered on 22 March 2006 ...

I couldn't read my own writing!
Subject: Re: Find out if a company is legitmate or a scam?
From: denco-ga on 22 Nov 2006 11:57 PST
 
It might be worth noting that Nanjing Luofu Ad. & Decoration Co., Ltd.
(LinesBiz) is an Alibaba.com ""Gold Supplier."
http://www.alibaba.com/hermes/goldsuppliers.html

"Only members that have completed an authentication and verification procedure
conducted by a third-party credit agency can be a Gold Supplier."

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