Is this company real?

[Waterbug]

Great advice, thanks so much!

[CaptTom]

Back in 2016 when this post started, I didn't see as much of this.

Lately, like just in the last few months, I've seen an increase in fraudulent web sites. They copy product descriptions, and even whole web sites, from legitimates businesses and put up a similar-looking site, with significantly lower prices. Sometimes the site name is similar to a legitimate site name.

It's not enough to just stick to trusted sites. You have to verify that you're really at the trusted site, and not a clever duplicate.

And, as always, if it seems to good to be true, it probably isn't.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

They copy product descriptions, and even whole web sites, from legitimates businesses and put up a similar-looking site, with significantly lower prices. Sometimes the site name is similar to a legitimate site name.

It's not enough to just stick to trusted sites. You have to verify that you're really at the trusted site, and not a clever duplicate.

This happened to a friend of mine. He had been importing chemicals from a manufacturer in China for years. Then some scammers apparently hacked the manufacturer's web site, read all the emails, POs and invoices. Then created a new website with a single letter difference from the real one (a typical long, complicated Chinese name so the difference was not obvious). Then sent an invoice with a new bank account number. Friend paid the invoice then discovered the scam when the legitimate company asked for payment.

Fortunately they got the money back which was six figures. It took contacting the US Dept of State, the scammers' bank in China with threats of legal action, the account holder at that bank with threats of jail and more. Still they were very, very lucky to see that money again.