Fraudulent Mac Retailers

[brianbbbvan]

Originally posted by 68k_575
That happened with me too. . . I guess they pulled his site.

I also am no longer able to get on this the mac whiz web site. US Consumers should file complaints on ftc.gov.

Happy New Year Everyone.

brian

 

[jzieske]

Bump

This is an amazing story.
Does anyone happen to know who took his site down?

 

[Thirteenva]

Re: Bump

Originally posted by jzieske
This is an amazing story.
Does anyone happen to know who took his site down?

And more importantly, does anyone know if another one has sprung up under a different name?????

 

[cwall]

Mac Whiz

In the past, I tracked him by using search engines to price Mac products (e.g., Froogle). He was always the cheapest/first on the list. This worked well when he moved on 3 Vendio sites but I'm not finding him now.

 

[latergator116]

Is this the next Macwhiz??
http://www.golfcomputers.us/

 

[grafikat]

fwiw, The site says copyright from 2001, but the domain was just registered. hmmmm...

 

[latergator116]

Id say definately a scam.

 

[winwintoo]

Copied from "support" page

All our customers are entitled for a free technical support which is provided by Microsoft and Novell certified technicians._ In case of hardware malfunction customer is issued a return authorization number by our service department._ All returned systems and components are promptly examined and sent back._ All systems that are under manufacturer warranty, will be sent back to the original manufacturer for warranty process. We use only brand new components for repairs._

Hmmm. They need Microsoft certified technicians to work on Apple computers??

m

 

[solitarycow]

Incredible story

Hi everyone,

I just want to say what an incredible community Mac has and how wonderful it's been reading this thread. I wish the best of luck to everybody in this pursuit.

This reminds me of the Internet phenomenon called The Beast in 2001.

http://www.argn.com
http://www.unfiction.com
http://www.collectivedetective.com

It was then the term "collective detective" was coined. But you guys are in fact real life collective detectives. This is a true reflection of the power of teamwork and community.

I hope this jerk gets caught! Good luck everyone and I'll do my part to help as well!

solitarycow
-Future Powerbook owner

 

[lildancer]

www.golfcomputers.us

I checked this site out too.

It is the most vague and unprofessional computer site I have ever seen.
Maybe it's still being developed? No home page...no phone number to call an
order...no address or location of any type, but they say to "come by and visit our store", and whats really wierd is there is no odering info.

So I guess you contact them and say you want to oder something and then they email you back the details? Wow!

I want to get a job with the Feds to go after idiots like these! And its very interesting how Microsoft and Novell techs work on
Macs.

I think I'm going to send them an email and see what they say....

 

[solitarycow]

Domain info

If you try a WHOIS on golfcomputers.us you'll come up empty. But if you notice the email address you contact for sales, it is a .biz address. WHOIS this baby and you get the following:


*************
Domain Name: GOLFCOMPUTERS.BIZ
Domain ID: D5958680-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar: MELBOURNE IT D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLD WIDE
Domain Status: ok
Registrant ID: B107272279369790
Registrant Name: Annchristine ****
Registrant Organization: Annchristine ****
Registrant Address1: ******
Registrant City: Chicago
Registrant State/Province: IL
Registrant Postal Code: 60610
Registrant Country: United States
Registrant Country Code: US
Registrant Phone Number: *********
EDIT: ***Censored at Annchristine's request***
Registrant Email: golfcomputersbiz@yahoo.com
Administrative Contact ID: B107272279369786
Administrative Contact Name: Annchristine ****
Administrative Contact Organization: Annchristine ****
Administrative Contact Address1: **********
Administrative Contact City: Chicago
Administrative Contact State/Province: IL
Administrative Contact Postal Code: 60610
Administrative Contact Country: United States
Administrative Contact Country Code: US
Administrative Contact Phone Number: **********
Administrative Contact Email: golfcomputersbiz@yahoo.com
EDIT: ***Censored at Annchristine's request***
Billing Contact ID: B107272279369787
Billing Contact Name: YahooDomains BillingContact
Billing Contact Organization: Yahoo! Inc
Billing Contact Address1: 701 First Ave.
Billing Contact City: Sunnyvale
Billing Contact State/Province: CA
Billing Contact Postal Code: 94089
Billing Contact Country: United States
Billing Contact Country Code: US
Billing Contact Phone Number: +1.6198813096
Billing Contact Facsimile Number: +1.6198813010
Billing Contact Email: domain.billing@YAHOO-INC.COM
Technical Contact ID: B107272279369788
Technical Contact Name: YahooDomains TechContact
Technical Contact Organization: Yahoo! Inc
Technical Contact Address1: 701 First Ave.
Technical Contact City: Sunnyvale
Technical Contact State/Province: CA
Technical Contact Postal Code: 94089
Technical Contact Country: United States
Technical Contact Country Code: US
Technical Contact Phone Number: +1.6198813096
Technical Contact Facsimile Number: +1.6198813010
Technical Contact Email: domain.tech@YAHOO-INC.COM
Name Server: YNS1.YAHOO.COM
Name Server: YNS2.YAHOO.COM
Created by Registrar: MELBOURNE IT D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLD WIDE
Domain Registration Date: Mon Dec 29 18:34:25 GMT 2003
Domain Expiration Date: Tue Dec 28 23:59:59 GMT 2004
**************

Accessing http://www.golfcomputers.biz leads you to an "Under Construction" page.

Thoughts anyone? The contact info is quite different from the rest of the info we've been digging up. Could it be a macrumors poster trying to be a copycat and throw us off the scent?

 

[bonrad]

Derald Dutchak

Originally posted by Italchef
Did you see the guy's pic? Would you trust that kid?

DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT have any dealings with with MacWhizShop, as I did deal with them, and I got seriously burned! I ordered an iMac from MacWhizShop in September, paid through PayPal, and waited, and waited. I soon got edgy, but the only way to get a hold of this guy was by email. He told me the item had shipped, but didn't provide a tracking number. The next thing he told me was that his ordering and email system was hacked into, and my machine was mistakenly sent to Alaska. HA! I then put a dispute on the transaction through PayPal, but was ultimately only able to recover $545 of the $1597 I paid. This guy is a liar, a fraud, and a cheat.

 

[lildancer]

golfcomputers

Wow!
Great job on getting all that info on golfcomputers. At least its good to know that they are based in the US. Maybe its a kid trying to make some extra bucks, but anyone who knows Macs knows that they aren't worked on by other companies. It's the most generic website I have ever seen. It seems strange that all that information would come up without the name of the person who has registered the site.

Nobody posted that info for Derald Dutchak and we know he had a yahoo email address.

Any thoughts?

 

[Italchef]

i just want to formally apologize to scott for slagging his picture. i didn't mean any harm and in light of all we've learned about Derald, i was quite angry at him. i'm sure scott, if you're reading this , that you are honest and trustworthy and look as such...i've been thinking about posting this for a while and hoped my rash comments would just go away and be forgotten. Then today i came in from work and there was my post that someone used...oh well...i hope that you can forgive me...
sincerely,
mick

 

[lildancer]

macwhizshop

Sorry!
It had been so long since I checked thru the threads that I had forgotten that there was a posting of a "Whois" with all of Derald Dutchak's info.

 

[solitarycow]

Anything new?

Any update on what's going on with everyone getting ripped off the macwhiz.com website? Just trying to keep this post on top.

 

[Squire]

Originally posted by Italchef
i just want to formally apologize to scott for slagging his picture. i didn't mean any harm and in light of all we've learned about Derald, i was quite angry at him. i'm sure scott, if you're reading this , that you are honest and trustworthy and look as such...i've been thinking about posting this for a while and hoped my rash comments would just go away and be forgotten. Then today i came in from work and there was my post that someone used...oh well...i hope that you can forgive me...
sincerely,
mick

Mick,

I'm sure Scott is an educated guy and knows that people have different perceptions of things based on what information is given to them. You had the information that this "Derald" fella was a con artist and then saw what you thought was a picture of him. Your reaction to the picture was affected by the information you had. Nice of you to apologize anyway, though. Scott will probably laugh about it down the road.

Cheers,

Squire

P.S. You live in Maple? Is that near Canada's Wonderland? I think my sister lives there. (Maple not Canada's Wonderland. )

 

[Italchef]

Thanks Squire, I appreciate the kind words.
And yes, Canada's Wonderland is about a 5 minute drive away from me. Are you in Korea?

 

[Squire]

Yeah. Been here for quite some time.

Maple is a nice area. OK. That is where my sister lives then.

So did this guy ever get nailed? I haven't heard anything so I guess we can assume that the slimeball weaseled away.

Squire

 

[solitarycow]

Number

Ok...here's something interesting:

I called the number of the person who registered golfcomputers.biz (the sales email address for golfcomputers.us and also believed to be another site of this Derald fellow).

Well I believe it or not, I got a hold of a live person. I asked her about the golfcomputers website and she said she knew nothing about it. Ok now this is where it gets even more twisted. She too just had money stolen from her credit account! But she knows nothing about the macwhiz or golfcomputer websites nor has she made any purchases from a strange company. In fact all her purchases have been from Apple itself both online and at a store. I won't disclose any more information about her, as I have given her the address to this website, so she can feel free to post whatever information she would like on here.

So the bottom line to all this is:
Whoever Derald is, he has made contact with the woman, stolen her credit card information, and used it to register golfcomputers.us and golfcomputers.biz. Considering that this woman wasn't involved in any Apple computer scams, this means that Derald has made contact with her via some OTHER way.

Hopefully the lady I just talked to will come to this website and see what all is going on, retrace her steps, and provide us with more information.

So the chase continues...but I feel we are making progress and getting closer.

 

[ChoMomma]

Re: Number

Originally posted by solitarycow
Ok...here's something interesting:

I called the number of the person who registered golfcomputers.biz (the sales email address for golfcomputers.us and also believed to be another site of this Derald fellow).

Well I believe it or not, I got a hold of a live person. I asked her about the golfcomputers website and she said she knew nothing about it. Ok now this is where it gets even more twisted. She too just had money stolen from her credit account! But she knows nothing about the macwhiz or golfcomputer websites nor has she made any purchases from a strange company. In fact all her purchases have been from Apple itself both online and at a store. I won't disclose any more information about her, as I have given her the address to this website, so she can feel free to post whatever information she would like on here.

So the bottom line to all this is:
Whoever Derald is, he has made contact with the woman, stolen her credit card information, and used it to register golfcomputers.us and golfcomputers.biz. Considering that this woman wasn't involved in any Apple computer scams, this means that Derald has made contact with her via some OTHER way.

Hopefully the lady I just talked to will come to this website and see what all is going on, retrace her steps, and provide us with more information.

So the chase continues...but I feel we are making progress and getting closer.

Ok so that site does look bogus.. but how is it related to macwhiz? And although you indicate that the woman you contacted has had her credit card compromised... how is it that it is the Mac Whiz jerk? There are plenty of other slimy types lurking on the net. You might want to ask the woman if she was making these purchases with Apple over wireless or at a publicly accessible computer (even say in an office environ) The Macwhiz jerk deserves to be smeared with honey and dropped in a bear pen, but you can't blame every fake mac site on him.

 

[solitarycow]

The lady who had her identity stolen to register the website has contacted her credit card company and also the host and her information has been removed from the registrar.

I'll email her and see if she can acquire any information regarding the incident and see if it links to Derald at all...

Meanwhile, what's everyone else's situation like??? Did anybody get their money back??

 

[smharmon]

Another Scammer page!

http://www.macmastershop.com/contactus.htm

It looks like the same guy running the above page, total scam, hes got alot of them out there!

 

[ovrdrvn]

Attention All Victims

Please contact me ASAP as I've been requested to tally some information that will lead to some pretty powerful things. Please email me the following (if you are concerned with any privacy issue and haven't contacted me before...check with other users or PM me and I'll give you my phone number etc.)

Name:
Address:
Phone number:
Work address:
Work phone:
Date of transaction:
Total loss in dollars:

If I can tally all this and get it to the individual in the government who requested it...some ineresting things will happen. If you've contacted me already, please do so again with just the above information as I need to compile every last victim I can find and get a total dollar value.

Thanks.

 

[Thirteenva]

Macmastershop.com does appear to be the same scam.

It claims to be located in Washington(according to the about page). Thought it resides on canadian name servers.

Also claims to have been in business for 6 years, but the domain was only registered 2 months ago and only for he term of one year.