Help! is this a scam....

i have been contacted by two companies one is smarz warehouse and there website is
www.smarzwarehouse.com the contact person is carey williams. The other is the cell phone store limited,
the contact person is steve ronald. The website is http://cellphonestore.en.busytrade.com/
Hope someone can help!!!

Hi harvestreading,

I don't have much time at the moment so I only looked at them briefly, another support member may come by and add to my post.

The second one is most definately a scam - obvious signs in their contact details - so do not do business with them. The first one is only a few months old, which doesn't build alot of trust, but at first sight I don't see many other suspicious things. You said you have been contacted by them - how did they contact you?

they contacted me by email... this is there email
[email protected]

An entry found here makes me worry

http://africa.tradeholding.com/default.cgi/action/viewcompanies/companyid/564269/

Contact Person: Smarz Warehouse
Job Title: CEO
Location: Malaysia - Selangor
Companies from Malaysia
Trade Leads from Malaysia
Products from Malaysia
Classification(s): Chemicals - Petroleum Products: Crude Oil
Fats & Oils - Animal Or Veg. Fats, Oils & Waxes
Telecommunications - Mobile Phones
Wood - Paper & Articles Of Paperboard
Primary Business Type(s): Distributor / Wholesaler
More Distributors / Wholesalers...
Importer / Exporter
More Importers / Exporters...

Domain name: smarzwarehouse.com

Registrant Contact:
SMARZ SDN BHD
SULAIMAN ADEAGBO ()

Fax:
B-03-05, SRI JATI 2
PUCHONG, SELANGOR 58200
MY

Administrative Contact:
SMARZ SDN BHD
SULAIMAN ADEAGBO ([email protected])
+60.176699695
Fax: +60.176699695
B-03-05, SRI JATI 2
PUCHONG, SELANGOR 58200
MY

Technical Contact:
SMARZ SDN BHD
SULAIMAN ADEAGBO ([email protected])
+60.176699695
Fax: +60.176699695
B-03-05, SRI JATI 2
PUCHONG, SELANGOR 58200
MY

Status: Locked

Name Servers:

ns57.mochahost.com
ns58.mochahost.com

Creation date: 07 Jun 2010 16:05:00
Expiration date: 07 Jun 2011 11:05:00

Googling SMARZ SDN BHD brings up

http://www.smarzsb.com.my/

Upgrading The Website..........

SMARZ SDN BHD | Cooking Manufacturer
- 15:05
Please check back later. Home | About | Contact | Products | Terms. All Right Reserved © 2008 by Smarz Oil www.smarzsb.com.my.

http://smarzsdnoil.en.ecplaza.net/

SMARZ SDN BHD is actively involved in bulk exportation and distribution of all kinds of edible oil. Our wide range of product line include Palm oil, Soybean Oil, Sunflower oil, Corn Oil among others.

Contact Information

SMARZ SDN BHD
Sakharova Street 39
vano-Frankivsk, vano-Frankivska
Ukraine 76014
# Tel : 380-0000-0000

Contact :
Mr. Alfred Yousef
sales manager, marketing

As there is some confusion which makes it impossible to know which company is which and what they do, I'd recommend people keep clear of both of them. Scammers can only impersonate companies that are no longer actively trading, as we've seen before, so the mere fact that there appear to be two companies in existence makes it unsafe to deal with either. An active company will normally get imposters shut down promptly.

So your saying that since there are so many posts on the computer that they are unsafe?

No harvestreading. We are aware that there's a scammer group based in Malaysia that sets up scams based on the names of real companies - ones that are often dormant. This means that anyone investigating the background finds a real company profile.

It's not legally possible for two companies with the same name to exist and it's a little improbable to imagine that a cooking oil company becomes Malaysia's premier consumer electronics company within a year of set up.

There's something wrong somewhere, and I consider that it would be unwise to order goods from them.

They also omit to mention their Australian warehouse on their website

http://www.adpost.com/au/audio_video_electronics/1224/

Name: Smarz Warehouse
Company: Smarz Sdn Bhd
Address: Yarra Street South Melbourne
Post Code: VIC 3205
City: Melbourne
State > Metro: Victoria > Melbourne Metro

I'll make a search at the Malaysian Company Registry and see what that throws up.

Usefully I have found a listing of Company Registries worldwide that should help in investigating websites that are possible imposters.

Okay that would be great! Thanks for the help

The Malayan Company Registry isn't exactly a mine of information but I do know it's company number, for what that's worth.

Simply, in its vegetable oil guise it has a web presence and then appears to become dormant. In its new form as buyer, distributor and manufacturer of everything from paper to electronics and crude oil to chemicals, it's only web mention is on its own website and self-proliferated adverts on free worldwide trade directories. Otherwise it doesn't exist.

The point being that I can't prove that goblins don't exist, but there's more online mention of them than there is of this company which claims to be "one of the leading and fastest growing company in Malaysia".

I've gone through their purchase process which is all dealt with on insecure webpages, and no bank details are supplied to make a bank transfer or opportunity to pay by card. I suspect that a request to pay by Western Union will follow.

Personally I wouldn't order from any online electronics website unless I knew them well by reputation and was fully satisfied that the site I was using was actually theirs.

I would say smarz sdn bhd is an scam because of the following reasons:

1. if they had iphone 4 factory unlocked 32gb for $680 they would have sold more than 5000 units phoes in less than 24 hours...
2. I know more than 15 of top supplier of hk ,dubai and Singapore and none of them have heard of them.
2. The only referral they have provided to me has stated their company is 99% has fake phones or does not exist. ( i can send you the screenshot of our conversion with thier USA referral...)
3. the domain name of the website http://www.smarzwarehouse.com/ is under a "nigerian" first and last name : SULAIMAN ADEAGBO
4. They do not have one credible verified account in any of the b2b business or well-known websites.( gsmexchange, alibaba...
5. they do not offer "fly and buy" the guy says you have to pay 30% advance , then you can come and pick up the phones!!
6. they provided pictures as proof of stock for iphone 4. ( chines iphone clones boxes looks exactly like the real one so there is no way that you can say the pictures can proof anything...).
7. they offer paypal for the payment for cash advance but let me tell you this , you can open a business paypal account ,verified with VCC and bank for $10 ( what they do is they get the payment and withdraw the money to bank account and close the account and put some tracking number to shut paypal's mouth and paypal is not responsible for anything as lon as there is a tracking number to your verified address...) .
8. they do not offer any kind of escrow payment for the 30% ,even tho i said i will pay the 30% with escrow and pay you the whole money in cash after i pick up the phones and we can cancel the escrow payment after that.


So finally , if it sound too good to be true IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.but i shoud say they are very professional.

Great thank you for the help. They did sound pretty good but not anymore! You said you know the top suppliers in hk and Dubai? I have been trying to find a supplier for months but they all seem to be scams would you be able to send me some contact info of the suppliers you know?