Protechstore - legit?

[Bibby_83]

Hi,
I came across this website this evening - www.protechstore.com

ProTechStore is a computer hardware reseller to trade & retail. We have been selling computers & hardware since 1997.

Edit: Site is definitely suspicious, beware.

[bl4ck4dd3r]

was wondering this too
am after a printer and their price is extremely low (£50 below the next cheapest)

found them using google product search although this doesn't add any weight to their credibility.

[pcdunk]

As a photographer, most of the Canon gear prices are ridiculously low and the specs are way out. A Canon 30D plus 100mm lens for just over £100, don't think so.

[Hatchorder]

Domain Name.......... protechstore.com
Creation Date........ 2009-06-22
Registration Date.... 2009-06-22
Expiry Date.......... 2010-06-22
Organisation Name.... Alberto Melacini
Organisation Address. PO Box 61359
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Sunnyvale
Organisation Address. 94088
Organisation Address. CA
Organisation Address. US

Admin Name........... Admin PrivateRegContact
Admin Address........ PO Box 61359
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Sunnyvale
Admin Address........ 94088
Admin Address........ CA
Admin Address........ US
Admin Email..........
Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ TECH PrivateRegContact
Tech Address......... PO Box 61359
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94088
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... US
Tech Email...........

Website created 22/06/09 but company has been trading since 1997 and website says 2005 - 2009.

UK company but .com website registered in US?

Sounds a crock of **** to me!

[Elektriksheep]

Originally Posted by Hatchorder

Domain Name.......... protechstore.com
Creation Date........ 2009-06-22
Registration Date.... 2009-06-22
Expiry Date.......... 2010-06-22
Organisation Name.... Alberto Melacini
Organisation Address. PO Box 61359
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Sunnyvale
Organisation Address. 94088
Organisation Address. CA
Organisation Address. US

Admin Name........... Admin PrivateRegContact
Admin Address........ PO Box 61359
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Sunnyvale
Admin Address........ 94088
Admin Address........ CA
Admin Address........ US
Admin Email..........
Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ TECH PrivateRegContact
Tech Address......... PO Box 61359
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94088
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... US
Tech Email...........

Website created 22/06/09 but company has been trading since 1997 and website says 2005 - 2009.

UK company but .com website registered in US?

Sounds a crock of **** to me!

Where do you get information like this from? It would be nice to be able to check this information myself when a website look suspicious rather than Googling the company and hoping and suspicious activity has been reported.

Thanks in advance.

[Elektriksheep]

newtechlink.com appears to be the same company - website style and layout is almost identical. "Founded in 1988, headquartered in Tempe, Arizona" apparently.

Found through Google product search also.

Would like to see when their site was created and who it's registered to.

[bl4ck4dd3r]

you can use one of the whois services such as

Allwhois.com

or if you have the right tools on your mac / pc you can do it from there

[Elektriksheep]

Originally Posted by bl4ck4dd3r

you can use one of the whois services such as

Allwhois.com

or if you have the right tools on your mac / pc you can do it from there

Nice1. Thanks for that.

Info for "newtechlink.com"....

Domain Name.......... newtechlink.com
Creation Date........ 2009-06-22
Registration Date.... 2009-06-22
Expiry Date.......... 2010-06-22
Organisation Name.... Takeshi Tsujita
Organisation Address. PO Box 61359
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Sunnyvale
Organisation Address. 94088
Organisation Address. CA
Organisation Address. US

Admin Name........... Admin PrivateRegContact
Admin Address........ PO Box 61359
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Sunnyvale
Admin Address........ 94088
Admin Address........ CA
Admin Address........ US
Admin Email.......... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ TECH PrivateRegContact
Tech Address......... PO Box 61359
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94088
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... US
Tech Email........... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Tech Phone........... +1.5105952002
Tech Fax.............
Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com
Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com


[removed possibly libellous comment]

Thanks again for the URL.

[Bibby_83]

I looked up that server address on the web and found some disturbing information. -

Fake bank, probably for phishing -
Artists Against 419 - Fake Bank Database

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=166213

Some other payment fraud -
Fraud Data - Escrow Fraud Prevention

There might be other examples, I will delete this post if I am making unfair accusations but this is surely the evidence that it is [suspicious][choice of words corrected by mod] behaviour. Again, all I can say is beware any of these sites - Protechstore.com, Newtechlink.com

It seems that there are a number of fake business sites using the same server and all of them have since disappeared. I believe none of the information given on these sites is true or accurate.

[Elektriksheep]

Originally Posted by Bibby_83

I looked up that server address on the web and found some disturbing information. -

Fake bank, probably for phishing -
Artists Against 419 - Fake Bank Database

forum.419eater.com :: View topic - frozen-stgeorge-review-account.com

Some other payment fraud -
Fraud Data - Escrow Fraud Prevention

There might be other examples, I will delete this post if I am making unfair accusations but this is surely the evidence that it is criminal behaviour. Again, all I can say is beware any of these sites - Protechstore.com, Newtechlink.com

Nice. Good work. I came so close to buying something on Protech before I found this thread. I'd actually entered half my bank details then realised I hadn't checked them out. Damn glad I checked :O)

[Bibby_83]

Yes, I was suspicious also but when the evidence turned up on here I almost wanted to close this thread to prevent giving any attention to these sites. I thought it relevant to post here since the 'business' gave a UK address but it is clearly US based and I think [suspicious][choice of words corrected by mod]. I have removed my earlier posts to keep this clear.

If mods permit the thread title can also be changed.

Actually, can AV Forums mods advise on how to procede with this thread? I think it is clear that if these web addresses are dodgy we should either delete this thread or inform people so they don't grab someones money over the weekend.

[Elektriksheep]

I used Google product search a lot and I've noticed a number of these sites appearing there. There was one called "Looksmartpro.com" which had people all over the net complaining about never receiving items and getting ripped off. You'd thought that if we can find out this dodgy info (fairly easily) about these companies that Google would be able to do the same before listing them in their product search.

It's a shame we can't rely on Google for that. At least at the moment.

[Bibby_83]

The same thing has been happening on Ebay for the last couple of years - those scams are usually easier to spot but others have been cleverer. For the last one, (a fake disposal/police auction - those are always a scam) the persons responsible had copied or embedded Ebay Trusted Seller and Paypal Certified logos directly into the auction text, probably through seller software or HTML.

They seem to appear and disappear within a week or weekend but Ebay is arguably too blase about them since much of the fall out goes through Paypal. Escrow is another one to watch I think - they apparently spoof an Escrow account (US electronic cheque service) for payments to Ebay and other websites and gather all the money sent to it.

[bl4ck4dd3r]

i had noticed a whole bunch of stores too that had unbelievably low prices when using google product search, today many of them either no longer exist or are no longer listed by google.
i don't know how retailers get their site listed there or how they are removed but if google themselves remove listings when something is shown to be less than legitimate, it does seem that they have been quite prompt as I only discovered these sites yesterday and now they are no longer listed.

[Elektriksheep]

Originally Posted by bl4ck4dd3r

i had noticed a whole bunch of stores too that had unbelievably low prices when using google product search, today many of them either no longer exist or are no longer listed by google.
i don't know how retailers get their site listed there or how they are removed but if google themselves remove listings when something is shown to be less than legitimate, it does seem that they have been quite prompt as I only discovered these sites yesterday and now they are no longer listed.

It's good to know that Google are (apparently) doing something about it, but prevention would obviously be better than cure.

I was under the impression that companies paid Google to be listed under their product search. I could always be wrong, however. It has happened once or twice before ;O)