www.cn-shoescity.com - what do you think?

[dreemz07]

Pretty sure that these are all scam sites...

Could someone help me to verify this?

www.nike666.com
www.goldnikeok.com
www.sportshoessky.com
www.hwiy.com
www.brandchoiz.com
www.nike1688.com
www.tangdragontrade.com
www.nikejordancn.com
www.logindigitalindex.com
www.siyatrade.com
WWW.NIKEWHOLESALER.US
www.new-egg.cn
www.businessman8.com
www.buyishoes.com
www.wholesalesea.com
www.popularvogve.net

[Daneel]

Verifying companies for business purposes is not something we do or are qualified for, we can only help you recognise some of the common scams. Any Chinese site selling all kinds of branded clothing will only supply fakes, if anything. If they also claim to supply electronics like PS3 and mobile phones in addition to clothing/shoes, you are likely to get scammed.

[Unregistered]

I'm not asking for a service Daneel.

Just asking if you could take a glance at the sites and tell me what you think. If we agree that they are scam sites then we can do something about it.

I am not intending to buy from these sites.

Just trying to help.

Vaughn

[Daneel]

Ok then, what did you have in mind?

[dreemz07]

Again this is an area that you are probably more familiar with.

I am pretty sure that these are all scam sites.

They all have hotmail or yahoo accounts.

They all share the classic Designer shoes + Electronics combo

They all have quite developed pages (to the naked eye) but there are basic flaws in their html coding that is common between most of the pages.

A few companies claim to be based in Putian city in the Fujian Province.

There are a few more checks that I saw that you had spoken about in a couple of the forums, that I do not know how to perform.

Like checking that their IP address location ligns up with their claimed location.

And also how long the site has been registered.

I have done some extensive searching for companies like this and have found many more.

But these were just a handful.

Another question.

You say "likely" to get scammed...

Does this mean that there are legitimate chinese exporters of consoles in US, EUR or UK spec in existence?

Because I have found this to be untrue.

If this is the case then shouldn't you just put out a general warning that you should never attempt to purchase consoles other than Japanese or Chinese spec consoles from China?

I feel that this should be common knowledge.

[Nyla]

They all have hotmail or yahoo accounts.

To be fair, so do some perfectly legitimate and semi-legitimate sellers in Asia. Simply having a free email address does not necessarily mean the seller is engaged in a scam involving non-delivery of goods. By "semi-legitimate", I mean borderline practices such as showing pictures of designer goods on the site but revealing in the "fine print" that the goods are "look-alikes" that mimic the look designer goods but don't attempt to pass themselves as actual designer labels.


Like checking that their IP address location ligns up with their claimed location.

I would recommend a site called "Domain Dossier". http://centralops.net/co/DomainDossier.aspx
The location of the IP it returns can be found by visiting DNS Stuff at http://www.dnsstuff.com


And also how long the site has been registered.

This is included in the Domain Dossier report.


Does this mean that there are legitimate chinese exporters of consoles in US, EUR or UK spec in existence?

Because I have found this to be untrue.


Considering we are not the manufacturers of these consoles, we cannot possibly answer that question. Also, even if we were to determine that is a fact at the moment, there is no guarantee that would remain the case. We do not have the time, resources or volunteer force to be able to contact every console manufacturer to determine whether they have Chinese exporters. Since we do not endorse any commercial entity, we could not publish these Chinese exporters, even if they existed.

I'm afraid doing proper research before buying is the buyer's job, not ours. We can point out obvious scams when asked, but we don't research "good sellers".


If this is the case then shouldn't you just put out a general warning that you should never attempt to purchase consoles other than Japanese or Chinese spec consoles from China?

I feel that this should be common knowledge.

The advice "research thoroughly before you buy", "do not use payment methods that offer no consumer protection", "a deal that appears to be too good to be true probably is", "know the risks you are taking" and "contact the manufacturer directly for a list of authorized wholesalers/distributors" pretty much covers that already. And we've given that advice over and over.

There really should be no need to post a specific "do not buy consoles from China" warning if the above is common knowledge.

[dreemz07]

Thank you for your reply.

I understand that the irrationality of my previous post may be a bit too much but I just find it infuriating that people get away with this stuff.

[Nyla]

I didn't find your post irrational, it's just simply not practical (or even possible) for us to undertake those particular projects. We don't have a paid staff or the resources of a firm that does due diligence services in exchange for fees. We lose credibility and impartiality if we "endorse" sites, and we certainly can't find and post all the dodgy sites on our own. We also can't force companies like Western Union to change their policy or foreign nations to change their legal systems.

Unfortunately, since most of the scam sellers are usually on "bulletproof" webhosts who don't respond to abuse complaints, it's difficult to have them shut down. They also frequently change "company" details to avoid detection by buyers who do research first. The best we can do is urge buyers to follow those general guidelines I outlined above.

[Daneel]

Does this mean that there are legitimate chinese exporters of consoles in US, EUR or UK spec in existence?
I'm not in the business so can't say either. From what I know, probably not.

I agree that most of those are probable scams, but the only thing that can be done by any of us is mention them to their respective webhosts and hope we can convince them to shut it down. This is difficult in the case of commercial scam sites as there is no decent proof unless you have been scammed already, and especially futile when it's a Chinese webhost. I do this sometimes but it is something that takes up a lot of time. If you really want to learn, I can probably help. Or head over to the forums at www.aa419.org, they are the real experts on getting scam sites shut down.

[Chris]

Thanks for the information about these websites. I have been trying to buy goods from Chinese suppliers and have recieved offers from most of these companies that you have mentioned. Unfortunately, even though I did do my research on these companies, I have lost $1500AU recently. If you are reading this information, please do not send any money to these sites. They will try to convince you to use Western Union or the like - DO NOT DO IT or you will lose your money. I was fooled by the "professionalism" of these sites, and the seemingly sincere sentiments expressed by these company representatives "we want to build relationship with you". Also, I guess I got greedy - the offers that they quoted seemed to good to be true, so I guess I have learnt my lesson. My gut instinct told me not to do it, but I did anyway. Just because these companies are registered with Tradekey, or Alibaba, or Ec21, it does not mean that they are legitimate. If anyone is willing to help me, (can advise me etc), I am going to expose these sites as best I can to stop others being scammed. My email is: *removed by the moderator

[muttat]

[QUOTE=dreemz07;22700]

They all have quite developed pages (to the naked eye) but there are basic flaws in their html coding that is common between most of the pages.

A few companies claim to be based in Putian city in the Fujian Province.


CAN YOU TELL ME HOW THIS IMPLIES THAT THESE ARE SCAM SITES

REGARDS

MUTTAT

[Nyla]

Muttat, major flaws, multiple spelling or grammatical errors or bad design of webpages may be an indicator of fraud because most professional companies can afford a decent website designer. Scammers tend to have to hire whomever they can find who is willing to do a website for someone they know is breaking the law. Also, businesses that really do make a living dealing with English-speaking buyers tend to have a better command of English grammar and spelling. This is not a 100% reliable indicator, however. I've seen some perfectly legitimate business pages that were filled with errors, bad design, bad links and stolen pictures. And on the other hand, some scam sites would stand up to a comparison with a professional standard. The quality of the website and the English on them is usually a pretty good indicator, though.

The reference to Putian city and the Fujian Province are minor indicators because the majority of fake Asian wholesalers pretend to be located in China, and there are quite a few real Chinese businesses that make their money selling counterfeit or "copycat" products of lesser quality. From what I gather, Putian/Fujian contains a large number of real Chinese businesses, so a scammer pretending to be a major Chinese business would probably pretend their business is located there, just as a fake company pretending to be in the United States would pretend to be located in, say, New York or Los Angeles, a busy place where there are many businesses of the same type.

I also gather that it's easier for a scammer in China to open a loosely regulated bank account owned by an individual, and remain fairly anonymous, allowing them to more easily accept bank transfers and still get away with the money you send without being arrested. It would also be difficult for a buyer outside of China to bring any legal action against a real but dodgy company that sells counterfeit or inferior quality products.

As I said, these are not 100% indicators of a scam or bad business practices, by any means, but they can often be your first clue that something is not quite right with a company that intends to cheat you in some fashion.

[muttat]

That makes sense. Basically all of the sites that I have been contacted by through trade key are dodgy in the way that you indicate. I can't believe that I fell for it.

Interestingly, I contacted one of the chinese sites listed in the first post on this thread and asked them how it was that they were able to sell brand name products like Apple/Sony etc when some of the products listed weren't available yet. I asked them for the names of the Sony/Apple reps that they deal with to comfirm that they were legitimate - of course they weren't very forthcoming. They acused me of being a liar, and trying to cheat them out of business. They did however provide me with the name of a supplier Foxconn.com who supplt Ipac units and parts on behalf of HP. I contacted Foxconn and asked them if it is likely that a chinese site would have access to the products that they supply, and they indicated "no!". They have asked me for the name of the site which I am going to pass on to them along with a list of other possibly dodgy sites.

It would be good to bring this information to the attention of authorities somehow especially Tangdragon/Shoecity who are one in the same.

[Nyla]

We actually suggest going to the manufacturer first before buying from a wholesaler. Most manufacturers are quite happy to provide you with a list of authorized dealers, because that means you're going to buy their product.

I'm afraid the authorities probably won't be able to do much, and likely, the real company won't either. It's very difficult and expensive to launch an international lawsuit against a Chinese company producing counterfeits or copies, and generally speaking, the local authorities are unwilling and/or unable to identify and pursue the outright scammers. It's rather shockingly easy to set up a fake wholesaler and even a bank account for accepting the money without actually identifying yourself. And Western Union payments are completely anonymous.

[Unregistered]

Pretty sure that these are all scam sites...

Could someone help me to verify this?

www.nike666.com
www.goldnikeok.com
www.sportshoessky.com
www.hwiy.com
www.brandchoiz.com
www.nike1688.com
www.tangdragontrade.com
www.nikejordancn.com
www.logindigitalindex.com
www.siyatrade.com
WWW.NIKEWHOLESALER.US
www.new-egg.cn
www.businessman8.com
www.buyishoes.com
www.wholesalesea.com
www.popularvogve.net


Hi,
I was scammed $1300 by www.businessman8.com. He is a thief, he doesn't really sell any products that are posted on his website or on other sources like www.Tradekey.com, he just steal the money from people.

Please help me stop these scammer.

[Bradcox]

I got conned by Tangdragontrade, i firstly added the person to my MSN contacts and got talking to someone called 'Long', he then told me his website and i took a look, there was a picture of his so called building with his logo on the side and stupidly i fell for it. He said that he supplys PS3's along with lots of other electronics and clothes. I sent him £200 through Western Union and he then told me that he would send me a PS3. After a few days i got a e-mail with a tracking number on it, i tracked it on www.ems.com.cn and it said that it had left his city and is being posted to the UK. The package was then sent to Manchester when i live in Sheffield. I instantly knew that i had been conned and felt stupid that i had been so naive. I have phoned the police today and they have booked me in for an interview tommorow being the 24th of March. I will let you know how i go on. If there is anything that we can do i will be glad to let everyone know. Thanks

[simong]

Thanks for the information about these websites. I have been trying to buy goods from Chinese suppliers and have recieved offers from most of these companies that you have mentioned. Unfortunately, even though I did do my research on these companies, I have lost $1500AU recently. If you are reading this information, please do not send any money to these sites. They will try to convince you to use Western Union or the like - DO NOT DO IT or you will lose your money. I was fooled by the "professionalism" of these sites, and the seemingly sincere sentiments expressed by these company representatives "we want to build relationship with you". Also, I guess I got greedy - the offers that they quoted seemed to good to be true, so I guess I have learnt my lesson. My gut instinct told me not to do it, but I did anyway. Just because these companies are registered with Tradekey, or Alibaba, or Ec21, it does not mean that they are legitimate. If anyone is willing to help me, (can advise me etc), I am going to expose these sites as best I can to stop others being scammed. My email is: *removed by the moderator

I think you need to be careful reading chris's post. He clearly needs to indentify the site he has had a problem with else we all assume there is a problem with sportshoessky.com.

I can verify that I ordered 6 bags (knowing that they were replicas) and received the order without any problems. Obviously this is only one order so I can' really confirm if there are problems with this company in particular. I have no doubt that these scams exist, you just need to be careful

[FW Admin]

I think you need to be careful reading chris's post. He clearly needs to indentify the site he has had a problem with else we all assume there is a problem with sportshoessky.com.

I can verify that I ordered 6 bags (knowing that they were replicas) and received the order without any problems. Obviously this is only one order so I can' really confirm if there are problems with this company in particular. I have no doubt that these scams exist, you just need to be careful

On their "About Us" page:
The main commodities we deal with cover all kinds of brand items such as shoes of Nike, Adidas, Puma, Timberland, Reebok, handbags of LV,Gucci, Fendi, Coach, Watches of Rolex, Breitling, Omega, and lots of famous brand apparel and fashion accessories, etc.And yet you allegedly ordered and received goods knowing they were fake. This is called dealing with "Knock-Offs" and selling fake branded items is just as illegal as not supplying paid-for goods. You haven't stated whether you yourself intend to sell these off as "branded" items?

Nowhere on their site does it state that the items are replicas - meaning that they are deliberately intending to deceive and mislead. Such fake goods have a tendency to be seized at customs, and destroyed - as well as placing the person who ordered them from that country under criminal liability.

As has been mentioned before; sellers of fake goods are criminals, and they themselves are scamming the people who order from them under the false impression that they are byuing the genuine article. People who buy from them knowing that they are fake, with the intention of selling them on as the real thing are also criminals.

It's a good point to bear in mind. Thanks for confirming that sportshoessky.com is such a criminal merchant.

Domain: sportshoessky.com
Status: Protected

DNS:
ns1.cnolnic.net
ns2.cnolnic.net

Created: 2005-08-15 00:00:00
Expires: 2007-08-15
Last Modified: 2006-06-09 09:45:33

Registrant Contact:
de you
de you ******@163.com)
fuzhou
fuzhou, Fujian, CN 350001
P: +86.059187279780 F: +86.059183190096

Administrative Contact:
de you
de you ******@163.com)
fuzhou
fuzhou, Fujian, CN 350001
P: +86.059187279780 F: +86.059183190096

Technical Contact:
de you
de you ******@163.com)
fuzhou
fuzhou, Fujian, CN 350001
P: +86.059187279780 F: +86.059183190096

Billing Contact:
de you
de you ******@163.com)
fuzhou
fuzhou, Fujian, CN 350001
P: +86.059187279780 F: +86.059183190096

[simong]

Obviously you wont find this in their about us page. what colour is the sky in your world. People know what they are there to buy - Where do you think half of the items on ebay are bought from?

Welcome to the real world buddy!

AFYI the bags ARE for me, not for selling on, so no I am not a "criminal" as you put it. Where have I said I would sell them on as genuine items? I would suggest getting your facts straight too.

Your about as useful as an ash tray on a motorbike

[Daneel]

Hmm... I believe it might be legal to buy fakes for personal use (I'm not sure what AFYI is supposed to mean, guess I'm not up on the latest AOL-speek). And yeah, we're well aware that most brand clothing on eBay is fake. This doesn't make it legal, and those people do get caught sometimes. That's the real world too...

And believe it or not, but there are people out there who believe they can actually get authentic brand items from China, even at ridiculously low prices. And they do get scammed by some of these counterfeiters, who naturally don't go to any lengths to dispel such illusions. They can end up with legal problems because these criminals (!) deceive them, and because they don't know how the real world works.

Note that admin didn't call you criminal, he asked if it was your intention to sell them on as branded items. Which I think was quite reasonable, I can't remember the last time I bought six bags for personal use.

And please try to debate in a polite manner if you want to remain on the forum.

[FW Admin]

Obviously you wont find this in their about us page. what colour is the sky in your world. People know what they are there to buy - Where do you think half of the items on ebay are bought from?
Yes, a very worldly and wise observation, if it wasn't so flawed. I expect the color of the sky here is the same as your part of the world - the UK. Same people, too - people who believe the information that they read on websites is at least accurate. Otherwise, if your hypothesis is correct, perhaps they would think that most of the things you say on your own website is BS?

Welcome to the real world buddy!
Again, a very useful and informative statement (/sarcasm off)

AFYI the bags ARE for me, not for selling on, so no I am not a "criminal" as you put it. Where have I said I would sell them on as genuine items? I would suggest getting your facts straight too.And where have I called you a criminal? Why not trying to read my post instead of reading what you want to see? All I said was that you didn't mention whether you intended to sell them on - an observation. The remainder of my post was general and not aimed at you or anyone else specifically. Does tin foil hurt?

Your about as useful as an ash tray on a motorbike
Thank you for your kind comment. I'll treat it with the contempt that it deserves.

[Nyla]

Judging from this link, in the UK, the act of purchasing counterfeits is not illegal in and of itself. Selling them, however, is.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/live_events/forums/html/thewindow_v0t1.stm?04/1092064827

As they state, however, this is not the case in every country. In many countries, should customs inspect your package and find counterfeit goods, they can seize and destroy them.

[damien]

does anyone have a laptops website that is honest?Please help me
Thanks

[Rob]

I can recommend www.apple.com.

[immenow2chat]

I can recommend www.apple.com.

Can anybody prove or know's for sure that www.oxugo.com are scammers?. My friend/agent that is based in China has called them and they told him that they had no problem selling to me but they do not sell in bulk and they will not sell to chinese or china(not too sure which they said).
It is the inner greed/need for a bargain that makes us look for these sites. even when told they are scams we still feel that it could be real because there is always that slight chance!!! (at least that's me anyway)
so...... can somebody please tell me for sure if they are or are not scammers.
Thanks for all your help.
great info site . congrats.
regrads
Mike

[John Fairheart]

My friend/agent that is based in China has called them and they told him that they had no problem selling to me but they do not sell in bulk and they will not sell to chinese or china(not too sure which they said).

Because it would be too easy to get caught selling counterfeit goods if selling on the domestic market in China. That for me is enough to turn away.

It is the inner greed/need for a bargain that makes us look for these sites. even when told they are scams we still feel that it could be real because there is always that slight chance!!!

That's why the scammers keep going. Because for every 1000 wise person there is one that is willing to part with money due to greed. Just like pills, potions and fake diplomas from spam mail... all it takes is a very small percentage, and it is that percentage that encourages other scammer to ply their trade.

How can we (anti-scam) possibly shine the light of reality when people have more greed than common-sense?

All the hallmarks of a scam are there, you will either loose your money, or recieve inferior counterfeit goods. If the goods make it through customs, you will then be severly p'd off at being swindled.

In short, if you cannot afford to loose the money, deal with someone in your own country... I'd go with Rob's suggestion... apple.

[Rob]

even when told they are scams we still feel that it could be real because there is always that slight chance!!! (at least that's me anyway)
Well, then you gotta learn to distinguish between fake and real. Settle down, study the forums and our learning material for some time.
so...... can somebody please tell me for sure if they are or are not scammers. And then? A simple yes or no wouldn't help, there are thousands of other websites with these scams out there. Would you come back and ask us about each and every one of them? Be wiser then the many thousand victims that have been burned so many times and get to know the scam before it gets you.

[expectetion43]

Can anybody prove or know's for sure that www.oxugo.com are scammers?. My friend/agent that is based in China has called them and they told him that they had no problem selling to me but they do not sell in bulk and they will not sell to chinese or china(not too sure which they said).
It is the inner greed/need for a bargain that makes us look for these sites. even when told they are scams we still feel that it could be real because there is always that slight chance!!! (at least that's me anyway)
so...... can somebody please tell me for sure if they are or are not scammers.
Thanks for all your help.
great info site . congrats.
regrads
Mike

I think when they don't accept Paypal,or they say it costs a lot of tax in china to cash with and it takes too long to get the money etc. etc. this are for sure at 100% scam web site be aware of those web site,i think the only way is to pay them via Paypal and you will be protected,this is my opinion i have been chating with many web site like those on msn they are so polite talking to you but,there is a but they don't Accept Paypal once you want to pay.

[Nyla]

i think the only way is to pay them via Paypal and you will be protected

No, you are not protected if you pay by Paypal. Paypal does not offer the same legal protection as paying via credit card. If you pay a scammer with Paypal and they withdraw the money from their account prior to you reporting the scam, Paypal will not refund your money.