I phone 4 - http://toovos.tk

Hi,

I needed help and advice. I've recently came across a website that is selling Iphone 4, the deal seems so interesting. The website is http://toovos.tk and the seller name is Inga Smirnova for Tallinn, Estonia. I would just like to check the reliability of this website? Is it a scammer? Help please.
Thank you for your kind assistance. Appreciate it much.

Warm regards,
subzonk


Email reply from the seller (http://toovos.tk.com)as below

First reply :
Hi,

I am from Estonia. I do not drop ship.
All phones are brand new in the box authentic Apple iphones that come with a
one year international warranty by Apple.
They are legally unlocked at the factory and can be used worldwide with any
GSM carrier and will not lock up when updated.

Need a complete shipping address with postal code to calculate shipping
costs.

Thanks,
Inga


Second reply :

Hi,

The 32g iphone 4 is $615 US each plus shipping. Buy 2 get 1 free.
The 16g iphone 4 is $515 US each plus shipping. Buy 2 get 1 free.
The cost of 1 16g 3gS is $315 plus $28 for shipping. The total is $343. (USD)
Just let me know what color.
I take payment by Western Union. Here is the information needed to make the payment.

First Name: Inga
Last Name: Smirnova
City: Tallinn
Country: Estonia

Email me a copy of the receipt once the payment is made. Please, allow me 24 hours to make the shipment after
the payment due to the time difference. A FedEx tracking number will be supplied shortly after the shipment has
been made. Shipping takes 5 business days.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.

Best Regards,
Inga

I have not looked into this thoroughly but any site like this one would be used with extreme caution or not at all.

There will always be risks when dealing with little known foriegn companys and especially when the item you are buying is more than the amount of money you could comfortably afford to lose.

On this company, I did find the exact wording as in that email spammed on a Thai website which does not mean that its a scam but it is one of those red flags you should be extremely mindful of, any retail website that resorts to spamming in my opinion is not worth taking the risk for.

One of our resident experts on fake sites should be along shortly with a better answer but for now, I suggest you steer clear of this one

Without even checking the site I can tell you it's a scam.

The 32g iphone 4 is $615 US each plus shipping. Buy 2 get 1 free.
The 16g iphone 4 is $515 US each plus shipping. Buy 2 get 1 free.

Those are typical tactics used by scammers selling (non-existant) electronics. Don't give them any money. I'll try to get the site offline asap, allthough it might be a bit tough.

I take payment by Western Union

Translated into English that means 'I do not want there to be any way you can trace me'.

Companies can't use Western Union. It's a payment service that can only be used by private individuals, so you might as well be buying stuff from some stranger out of a suitcase on a street corner, only in that situation you at least get something for your money.

This person claims to buy i phones in bulk without using a bank account ?

Dubious individuals who don't have bank accounts cannot negotiate bulk purchase discounts.

It's a very petty website, written in English with prices in dollars. Why isn't it directed at people in Estonia where the person claims to reside.

The website doesn't give any address or phone number for the private individual claiming to be selling these goods.

Hi, i contacted this woman "Inga". She said to me exactly the same as you.

I asked for a picture with the phones and my name and date on a sheet of paper.

She send it to me.. i'm really eager to buy.. but i think is too risky, plus, i asked her to pay with PayPal and she refused saying:

Hi,

No, I don't accept PayPal. If I was to use PayPal I would have to pay local government taxes and I wouldn't be able to offer these phones for the price that I do. I attached a couple of pictures so you can see that I got the phones on hand and a lot of them. I'm not a cheater. I doubt anyone out there would carry so many phones on hand just to be cheating people.
I can take a picture of your order with your name and date on it to prove I have it if you like.

Best Regards,
Inga

I will send you the picture for you to see, it seems she has the phones.

Welcome here federico

That's a nice picture of some empty boxes. Even if she would send you a picture of the phones, that doesn't mean the scammer will send them to you when you payd for them. Legitimate businesses are unable to use western union so this is definatly a scam.

Thanx Dave!

100% scam.

Notice that that the top end of the boxes are plain white and that there isn't any writing on the side of the box with the photo of the i-phone on it. I don't know what an i-phone box looks like, bit it seems to me that the scammer has just scanned some large scale photos and stuck them on the side of some plain boxes.

I don't know of any product that doesn't have some writing on the face of the box, at least showing the company name or logo prominently.

On the website the scammer claims to offer low prices by having purchased them in bulk, which is very unlikely, especially for someone without a bank account. Is he claiming to have greater purchasing power than the world's largest retailers ? Now he switches to using the fact that he is trading illegally by avoiding payment of local tax. It's not a clever excuse to use as anyone who will cheat their government will have no qualms about cheating their customers either.

By the way, this is what a real i-phone box looks like. It doesn't look like the scammer has seen one. let alone more than one. In all packaging I have viewed for Apple they show their i-phone flat, not at an angle.



Note the black box and Apple logo on the end.

Hey Guys, how about this page.. www.hihimart.com, seems UNREAL.

Pretty sure it is, someone knows it?

Cheers!

A Japanese company you contact via a Chinese mobile phone

Number billable as mobile number
Country or destination China
City or exchange location
Original network provider* China Mobile (GSM)

I could dig deeper but I don't think it'll help make it any more credible.

Although the site carries the logo of credit cards and appears to offer other payment methods it actually insists on payment by Western Union - to China.

Western Union is a global leader in money transfer services,with more than 150 years of experience, It helps consumers and businesses send money quickly and reliably.

It does offer a bank account further down the page, but it's a personal account - in China.

It's not even worth me looking at it any deeper.

THIS IS A SCAM>>>DO NOT SEND YOUR MONEY>>>>>

INGA SMIRNOVA BIG SCAM. A THIEF. SHE STOLE MY MONEY AND NO IPHONE

MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT SEND>>>>>>>>>> BIG SCAMMMMMMMMM

Hi sancezh, welcome to Scamwarners,

I am sorry for you that you found us too late.

Please be mindful of recovery scams, in these scams you may be contacted by somebody who suggests they can get your money back or pay you compensation, these scams can look convincing to the unsuspecting but at some stage they will ask you to pay a fee so your money can be returned.

If you have any doubts please dont hesitate to ask

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If you aren't confident enough to tell us all who you recommend buyerbware, then I would recommend that people don't give your suggestion any more credibility than the scammer.

Any seller who works in secrecy is to be avoided like the plague.