Model Railroading > Fake "Bowser" Website

Now there is a fake Bowser website similar to the fake Rapido website.  Do not buy anything from bowser-us dot com.  I have confirmed it with Bowser and they are looking into it.  I would be careful with other companies too.  Who knows how many fake website there are for the other model manufactures.  I am only going to buy from websites I know and trust. 

Interesting timing. I was looking for some parts yesterday and followed a link from a Atlas Rescue site discussion to a webpage were all the parts were in stock and ready for delivery.

Should have figured that one out right away.

Maybe this is just a tip of the iceburg? Perhaps there's a surge of this kind of thing going on with many other companies? Is this to fund Russia's war?

Victor B.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/22 13:58 by wabash2800.

Yes, been happening for a while. More so after last couple of years with so many more people working from home and now purchasing more and more online, always looking for the 'best' deal. 

Ran into someone that buys high end bicycles about a year ago. He found a site, said 60% off. He clicked around, cart option, images were identical from the actual company, color choices, all of the different options of features, etc., fully listed, looked ligament. What he questioned was the 60% off. That's where these people are failing. If you offered say 15, 20, or 25% off, that might actually get more people to commit. 

As I think about this, say a model comes out, top of the line, DCC/sound, etc, for 'retail of $319.99'. We know on the 'street' it's going to be closer to $274.99 or maybe $269.99. You shop around, you see it for those prices, maybe $279.99 from one place (which is usually higher anyway), but then you see it for $249.99 or maybe $239.99. You think, hmm...not bad. You e-mail the contact, which is another failure usually, they may not respond. But then you do get an answer and they say something like, 'oh, someone bought and returned it, we charged them a restocking fee, so we can now sell it for less.' Or maybe, 'we found a small issue, had to repair it, now it's nearly perfect, but passing the savings on to you!'. Those sound 'plausible'. You send over your CC info, and bam, card has tons of charges on it. 

And then, if they were even smarter, they wouldn't charge max money. They could go through and charge maybe $14.26 from 'Wallmart'. Your spouse says, did you go to 'Walmart', oh ya, must of have gotten something. Yes, Walmart the store is with 1 L, not 2, most people wouldn't catch that. Maybe a charge from 'McDonnalds' shows up, or 'Targett'. And then, how many people actually look at line by line of their CC statement, every month. (Yes I know some do, but I believe most do not.) Sigh...so many bad people in the world it's a shame. 

And yes I'm in IT and have the few lines of code to blast out 1 trillion e-mails. If I ask for just $10 for whatever 'cause of the month' is trending. People may think, oh, it's just $10 dollars for a good cause. If I just get a tiny percentage returned, I've made money. Not that I ever would, but it's literally that easy. Month after month, new charity, or event, or trending social media topic to help out with. 

My point of the story, as is the thread, please be careful on anything and everything you do online. Know the company you are working with, know the people that send you e-mails, and yes, sadly but diligently, question everything you see online. Most of the time it is fine, but every once in a while, you need to continue to stay alert. The 'bad guys' are betting you'll slip up just once in a while and that is all it takes.

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Maybe this is just a tip of e iceburg? Perhaps
> there's a surge of this kind of thing going on
> with many other companies? Is this to fund
> Russia's war?
>
> Victor B.
>  

Or it could be funding North Korea's or Iran's nukes. Lot's of bad actors out there.

Lots of these fake sites on Amazon and ebay, used to fence stolen goods like razor blades, medicine, and baby formula.  I suspect that the model industry is a little too specialized (like the high-end bikes mentioned earlier) and the users a little too savvy, but we should be wary nonetheless.  These fake sites are probably out to get your credit card numbers and other personal information.

 

billmeeker Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lots of these fake sites on Amazon and ebay, used
> to fence stolen goods like razor blades, medicine,
> and baby formula.  I suspect that the model
> industry is a little too specialized (like the
> high-end bikes mentioned earlier) and the users a
> little too savvy, but we should be wary
> nonetheless.  These fake sites are probably out
> to get your credit card numbers and other personal
> information.
>
>  

This^ 

This why I ALWAYS buy from a reputable hooby shop when on line. That way I can CONFIRM my order. I have NOTHING against the producers' websites but I just always get stuff from my favorite people. 

Just look at the whois-data where You can find out to whomthe domain belongs. bowser.us.com has a technical contact:

interesting – certainly not "our" bowser company....

----------

yonghao wu 
84, Handan District, Handan City, Hebei Province, 40 meters northwest, 
Hebei Province, Handan, 56002, cn 

More information:Whois Record for Bowser-Us.comHow does this work?https://whois.domaintools.com/buffer.pgif?r=1029195204 Domain ProfileRegistrantyonghao wu Registrant Countrycn RegistrarName.com, Inc.  
IANA ID: 625  
URL: http://www.name.com  
Whois Server: whois.name.com  
https://source.domaintools.com/email.pgif?md5=21038f06952591300e6b3ef49d8a2cb4&face=arial&size=9&color=000000&bgcolor=FFFFFF&face=Lato-Regular&size=10&color=5a5a5a&bgcolor=FFFFFF&format  
(p)https://source.domaintools.com/phone.pgif?hash=iZhA7tmI87ZsYih8D5O0ieaOMbMAW901&face=Lato-Regular&size=10&color=5a5a5a&bgcolor=FFFFFF&format  Registrar StatusclientTransferProhibited Dates13 days old
Created on 2022-09-08
Expires on 2023-09-08
Updated on 2022-09-08
 

These fake sites depend on people not checking and the main thing they're after is your credit card and banking details.

"If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is." Timeless advice...

JG

I was apartment hunting earlier this year, posted an ad on a local bulletin board.  Got a response from two totally different individuals offering me the exact same address.  One supposedly a minister in Texas, the other supposedly lived in Maine.  When asked why they lived there both gave an almost-identical answer:  'My job suddenly transferred me'.

Scammers are everywhere, folks!