www.azhartrading.com [Archive]

Nyla

15 June 2006, 04:12

The site looks decently professional in layout, it appears completely functional, the inventory is not what scammers would typically favor, since they typically favor high-priced electronics, and there are 31 hits for the company (mostly business directories and sister sites, from the looks of it) on Google. The domain has been registered since 2003, which would be very, very odd if it were a scam.

There are a few misspellings, but for a Pakistan-based company, that might be understandable. The contact phone and fax match the stated location of the company. The phone is a mobile number, apparently, but if this is a web-only business, that might not be all that unusual. The fax does appear to be a landline, which is a point in favor of legitimacy.

The "minimum order" requirements are a bit steep at $500 or 5 pieces of each item, but I see they do offer you the option of paying by credit card for an additonal fee. If you're looking for maximum consumer protection in case of non-delivery of merchandise, that would be the safest option to take. That would allow you to dispute the charges should your merchandise not arrive. The other payment methods, telegraphic wire transfer Irrevocable L/C and Western Union are a bit less secure as far as consumer protection. Western Union is especially insecure. You might as well be mailing cash directly, in that case. Keep in mind that WU does not in any way confirm the identity of the receiver or accept responsibility for any refunds should you get scammed.

In most scam sites, they stick to Western Union payments only, since they are quite easy to pick up and pretty well untraceable.

I find no hard evidence that the site has been involved in any fraud, scams, or consumer complaints. If you are thinking of placing an order with them, I don't see anything that would make me heartily warn you against doing so. I also cannot 100% guarantee that placing an order would be without risk, though. I'm afraid the only way to find out for sure is to place an order. If you feel uncomfortable about dealing with them and can find no one who has completed a satisfactory order with them, I would probably suggest finding a different vendor.

Since you didn't say why you were inquiring about this company's website, I will also throw this in. If someone claiming to be from this site/company has offered you a job "processing payments", that would be a scam. More specifically, the representative scam, discussed at length on this thread.

http://www.fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=257

I hope that adequately covers your inquiry.