Is the escrow service ibusinessland.com legitmate? I have been asked
buy the company to only send cash via Western Union to a company agent
in London. They will not accept payment via bank wire transfer or
credit card. I am purchasing a $2500 computer from a privare party in
London. This feels unusual to me.

Dear niko11,

I must advise against committing any money to iBusinessLand.com. I
have checked the list of their "offices around the world":
http://www.ibusinessland.com/contact.php

The results are extremely suspicious:

- They claim that the location of their Italian office is Strada Nova
4391, Venice. That address indeed exists, but it is neither the seat
of an iBusinessLand office nor an office building at all: It is a
hotel, and nothing else:
http://paris.francenet.fr/profil/0,3997,VENFRAPLICIT43275,00.html
http://www.guidesdecharme.com/contenu/fiche_hotel.asp?fiche_id=FICH2E98E2D9&lang=EN

- They claim that the address of their US office is 849 Ocean Avenue
in Santa Monica, California. This address exists, but it is the
location of a hotel, the Hotel Oceana:
http://www.hoteloceanasantamonica.com/contact.html

- They claim that the location of their Danish office is
Banegardspladsen 33 in Copenhagen. This address does not even exist at
all: Banegardspladsen is a rather small sqare; the house numbers
already end with No.7.

- And, most ridiculous of all, at the alleged location of their "Head
Office" in London there is only a cheap hotel, the Comfort Inn
Vauxhall - nothing else, no offices of any companies.
http://www.vip-hotels.com/areas/details.asp?HID=8956&ID=1962&path=12,14,2396,1962&town=London
http://www.europeanrailguide.com/destinationguides/london/london_hotel_200629.php

Apart from this, it is more than suspicious that for none of these
"offices" the telephone number is provided.

So we have a "company" whose offices are either located in hotels or
at nonexistent addresses. Or, with other words: Those offices do not
exist at all. They are fake, and the entire company iBusinessLand is
most likely nothing but a scam. No reputable company would ever use
fake addresses like these.

For that reason, I must advise that you do not commit any money to them.

Regards,
Scriptor




Additional research source used:

Danish Telephone Directory, Address Search
http://www.degulesider.dk/vbw/kort/index.jsp


Search terms used:
30131 venezia "strada nova 4391"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=30131+venezia+%22strada+nova+4391%22&btnG=Suche&meta=
"Banegardspladsen" 1570
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=%22Banegardspladsen%22+1570&btnG=Suche&meta=
"87 South Lambeth"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=%2287+South+Lambeth%22&btnG=Suche&meta=
"849 ocean" "santa monica"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=%22849+ocean%22+%22santa+monica%22&btnG=Suche&meta=
"hotel oceana" "santa monica"
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=%22hotel+oceana%22+%22santa+monica%22&btnG=Google-Suche&meta=

This is indeed unusual.

Usually, it's a Buyer who requests the Seller to use an escrow service.

It's for Buyer protection.

The site, ibusinessland.com, was registered on January 10, 2005, less
than one week ago.  The site is hosted on a provider that only charges
$7.95 a month.

Western Union is also the payment method of choice for scammers.

This escrow service is *clearly* a scam.

?Caveat emptor?, let the buyer beware, shows that there have been
scammers around since Latin times and it has not changed yet.

Also I know that Western Union charges 10% of the money value
transferred for their service. I suspect you will be required to pay a
similar amount, so the computer may not be such a good deal after all.
You will probably get a better deal at your local computer fair.

capitaineforlidable

capitaineforlidable ... Who's he?

Although capitaineforlidable does not seem at all formidable, he makes
a very good point. Who's going to pay 10% on such a transaction?

And why a $ transaction?

A London seller would normally opt for £ Sterling.

Hi Bryan, 

Just as an aside, if you do a web search on Capitaine Formidable then
you will know that I am writing these comments from the other side.
Maybe not so formidable but still pretty amazing powers, eh.

C.F.

Ok I'm hanging around wasting time, but for some more personal
research you could grab a piece of the about company section at
http://www.ibusinessland.com/company.php

eg used 'is a leading provider of e-business development and
integration services for large to medium sized companies'

://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=%22is+a+leading+provider+of+e-business+development+and+integration+services+for+large+to+medium+sized+companies%22&meta=

... and a good source to start from to help you sort the wheat from
the chaff, http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/questions/avoid-fraud.html

I guess eBay know their stuff, whether or not transaction is through
them it is a good guide & not hyped.

I agree completely with Scriptor's evaluation. I would not trust this
service with 25 cents of my money, and I would certainly not trust
them with $2500.

There's some good info about fraudulent escrow services here:

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/fraud.htm

Wow ... What a GREAT link, Pink!

Ge Whiz Pink, this really is the up side of not having a credit card.