This has to be a scam....isn't it???

Conar

http://gonex.co.uk/items.php?id=22019791

Samsung LNS4095D 40" LCD TV for €1107.
1920x1080 res.
It must be a scam though at this price musn't it?
Anyone want to try and let me know?

Can I ring my VISA company and ask them if the company is legit?

mcaul

Price excludes VAT & Duties. so add in about 28%. Also is it designed for the Irish tv platform? - Different frequency compared to UK.

Company looks OK and prices are about right for direct export excluding VAT. All sales go through a US shopping site. Saving might be about €300 - €400, probably not worth it if something goes wrong though.

Beano

hmm, a .co.uk domanin for a company based in Korea. Doesnt really inspire confidence. Neither does the broken english. Neither does the "Live" webcam images of empty offices. I'll let somebody else order first. Let us know how you get on.

ShiverinEskimo

mcaul wrote:

Price excludes VAT & Duties. so add in about 28%. Also is it designed for the Irish tv platform? - Different frequency compared to UK.

Upon clicking Checkout that price does include VAT and shipping.

EDIT - Didn't realise they shipped from Korea - so yea, Mr Paddy the Custom's Officer will rape you for 21% and DHL or whoever will charge you a hefty fee to pay it on your behalf.

The only drawback is that unless you have a UK credit card you have pay via Western Union money transfer which is just ridculous. That to me would raise questions about the company if they aren't set up with an internation merchant bank account.

Also the UK tvs work in Ireland. Both mine moved home from the UK with me and work perfectly. The only difference is that they will order the channels starting with BBC etc first. Hardly a biggie.

Beano

Thats a good point about the vat and duty. I like the way they say "We don't have to pay custom duties while delivering the product. " while omitting that you WILL have to pay customs duty.

What is worrying is the section entitled "Website Security Guarantee". The address they give at the end of this section does not exist. There is no 17 Corbet Place, the only numbers on that street are 2-4 and 22. I have an up to date copy of the UK address data so I'm pretty certain I'm right.

Beano

ShiverinEskimo wrote:

Upon clicking Checkout that price does include VAT and shipping.

...

The checkout process doesnt say that the price includes VAT.

The western union thing screams scam. I tried it with a UK address and it gave me an error so I cant even tell if they will take credit cards from the UK.

Ruu_Old

I would not pay Western Union to a company in Asia (not being racist, just rings alarm bells for me). You are going to get a hammering from customs as well as has been mentioned.

kaizersoze

I did Google on that model number and after 7 pages of results all I could find was retailers in the US. It's listed on amazon.com but not on amazon.co.uk. Is it even suitable for Europe?

mcaul

DON'T TOUCH THEM

Did some checking with my web guy - i operate the special days website & stores - and he is 99.99% certain its a scam.

No credit card payment option is available - western union transfer to be sent to a personal name - not a compnay name. No security cerificate registered in the company's name. No track record of the company when googled.


Highly unlikely you will see your cash or TV.


Very realistic scam though!

Conar

mcaul wrote:

DON'T TOUCH THEM

Did some checking with my web guy - i operate the special days website & stores - and he is 99.99% certain its a scam.

No credit card payment option is available - western union transfer to be sent to a personal name - not a compnay name. No security cerificate registered in the company's name. No track record of the company when googled.


Highly unlikely you will see your cash or TV.


Very realistic scam though!

I reckoned it was too good to be true.
These LCD TV's are dropping in price quite quickly anyway.
I reckon I'll wait till they become affordable on a more mainstream site.

mcaul

Googled "Maris Vilders" - This is the name of the guy to send western union - here's what I got




was shopping around for plasma TV they had the best price too good to be true. today I tried to go back to the website got error its down. very lucky had not ordered anything while it was up.

Comment by sat — 2006-07-19 @ 06:30

This was the confirmation mail I got:


link - http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/blog/?p=18


Your order:
- Canon EOS 5D Digital SLR Camera Body Only (1)
- Canon Normal EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Autofocus Lens (1)
Shipping by DHL: €0.00
Order Total: €1490.00
Instructions for Western Union payment:
The payment must be sent on the name of our sales manager Mr. Maris Vilders.
First Name: MARIS
Last Name: VILDERS
Address: 17 CORBET PLACE
City: LONDON
Country: UNITED KINGDOM
Total: €1490.00

I talked to Western Union: they have no refund policy. They just send the money, not more not less. Agent was so nice to warn me, and told me, that unfortunattelly there is lot of frauds going on with Western Union money transfer, because of the non-refund policy - and the Agency are only sending cash, not credit card money.

mcaul

One final point -

Everytime you refresh your order page (made with a false address & false e-mail) the invoice number goes up by 3.


Full on scam.

pablo21

Jeez, Its a pretty elaborate scam eh!

Ruu_Old

WU is just a bad idea to send money to anyone unless you know them or a legit company, you just have no comeback.

okidoki987

WU is just a bad idea to send money to anyone unless you know them or a legit company, you just have no comeback.

Exactly right.
Could never understand anybody paying by WU.
Always use a CC to pay, at least then you have recourse if it goes
belly up.

FranknFurter

The ONLY way to use WU safely is to...

A: Only use for sending cash to friend or relative.
NEVER PAY FOR A PRODUCT OR SERVICE USING W.U. IF A COMPANY ASKS YOU TO ITS LIKELY TO BE A SCAM!

B: Tell no-one else you are doing this, if somone knows just your name, they can easilly know your D.O.B. and address. There have been many cases of WU outlets (specially post offices) paying out on that little information.
Only you and the recipient should know about the transfere. And ffs use a decent password question, like a 10 digit random number. Not your date of birth or mammys maiden name.:rolleyes:

C: Send from somwhere that you wont have to yell your information through a plastic screen (like you do in most post offices), or into a mic, often scammers will be nearby "reading a paper" and be ready to phone your info to their friend in another location so he / she can go claim your cash.

b

kaizersoze

FranknFurter wrote:

or mammys maiden name.

LMAO:D
Good advice though.

aaronquigley

Hey,
Amusingly this scam site is being discussed in many places and many languages. I did a hunt on one of the image names they used: tigerpeople2.gif

My Spanish isn't too hot but I think this
http://www.macuarium.com/foro/lofiversion/index.php/t180572.html
says that:

The image from here!
http://gonex.co.uk/about.php#cameras

Is stolen from here
http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/aboutus/index.asp

Pretty decent looking scam site I must say.

Aaron.

I emailed tigerdirect and the cops in the UK.

Ruu_Old

Haha busted, cheers for the linkies.

slumped

See link

http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/blog/?p=18

Avoid !!!

Dades

It's funny how long you'll try to convince yourself it's not a scam - when deep down you know it is.

Maybe next yr for the new TV!

rgfuller

Also on the about us page they state they set up the website in '05 where-as the web address info was only registered a couple of weeks ago.

Domain name:
gonex.co.uk

Registrant:
Gonex ltd.

Registrant type:
Not supplied

Registrant's address:
17 Corbet Place
London
E1 6NH
GB

Registrant's agent:
LCN.com Ltd t/a lowcostnames.co.uk [Tag = AI]
URL: http://www.lowcostnames.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 17-Sep-2006
Renewal date: 17-Sep-2008
Last updated: 17-Sep-2006

Duras

Wow thanks for the tip guys, I'm heading to WesternUnion as I'm typing!

mcgovern

Duras wrote:

Wow thanks for the tip guys, I'm heading to WesternUnion as I'm typing!

To throw your money away?

H3LLg0d

Originally Posted by Duras
Wow thanks for the tip guys, I'm heading to WesternUnion as I'm typing!

wtf

your sending western union one of the most dodgiest types of money ever which is used for widespread moneylaundering to an asian company which in asia are fraught for scam sites which are easily hosted on asian servers :eek:

mukki

H3LLg0d wrote:

wtf

your sending western union one of the most dodgiest types of money ever which is used for widespread moneylaundering to an asian company which in asia are fraught for scam sites which are easily hosted on asian servers :eek:

:rolleyes:

let him!, scam artists need to make a living too

mcaul

Found out yahoo were hosting the site - they take scamming quite seriously. Site has been closed.


Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Domains.

Thank you for informing us of possible abuse on Yahoo! GeoCities. We
have investigated the site and taken the necessary action. Please
continue to notify us of any content you believe violates the GeoCities
Terms of Service, located at:

http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/geoterms.html

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Regards,

Stan

Yahoo! Customer Care

Ruu_Old

Thread noted for future reference. Thanks for the digging up on these scammers, chums.