I liked to think I’m pretty sharp when it comes to spotting scams. After all I can recognise when a site offering to protect me from Spyware is actually a spyware site. Or when I’m told I’ve won the lottery I know I haven’t. The fact I haven’t entered is a bit of a clue here. I also reject the letters from people (usually Nigerians) (I’ve nothing against Nigerians) offering to give me millions to look after or pass on to a third party and keep a chunk for my trouble. Or the ebay/paypal deals suggesting I’ve used their system wrongly. Or the “INSERT BANK we are making your finances safer by asking for your password” scams. It’s all so easy to spot.
But that all went sadly wrong when I was looking for a Nintendo wii a few months ago. I did the usual DealTime price comparison search, which brought up the usual Amazon, Play.com etc, all suggesting prices of around £180 for the basic item, but at the top of the list was a company offering one for £106. So I naturally clicked the link.
Catch one: you have to buy 5. Okay I can cope…my team at MPL would all like one. So it sounds like a great deal.
Catch two: the company was abroad – Indonesia to be precise. Shipping £82! But that still meant the unit cost was far less than UK…even when you take into account the import tax. But can they be trusted? I did a few quick checks. The site looked official…photos of wiis on pallates all bundled and ready to go.
Feedback on feedback sites saying what a pleasure to deal with them.
So I clicked to buy and set the ball in motion. An email arrived in minutes – all offical looking suggesting I pay via bank transfer to:
Bank Name : Bank Central Asia (BCA)
Bank Address : Jln. Dr Cipto Mangunkusumo 4E Bank City :Cirebon
Bank State :Jawa Barat Bank ZIP :45131
Bank Country :INDONESIA
Bank Branch :KCP CiptoMangunkusumo
IBAN / Account Number :3740521321
SWIFT Code :CENAIDJA
Name on Account :METASARI
and “Once you send the payment through your bank, please send to us scan copy of receipt from your bank”
I did this and waited patiently. Yesterday six weeks later I had still not received anything, so went back to the web site…surprise, surprise, the site has gone replaced by the domain registrar’s landing page. A quick search on Google brought me to several other mugs who had the same experience and had also been conned.
So who was this company? Rapid Game Store or rapidgamestore www.rapidgamingstore.com
I’d like to say do not do business with these crooks but they do not exist now, although they will no doubt pop up again under a different guise and do exactly the same again!
So, just in case they try again with the same names here’s the sales manager’s name: Dede Suryana and the details they had for the store:
Store address : Pasar Baru-Metro Atom Plaza Lt. II Jakarta Selatan, DKI Jakarta, 18274, ID
Phone (62)-21-74415253 Fax (62)-21-74415254
Email : [email protected]
Website : http://www.rapidgamingstore.com
If anyone knows how we can get back at these crooks let me know.
Please feel free to comment here and add any scams you’ve got hooked in and any tips for potential victims.
Keep it clean!