Is this another scam or not?

A friend of my mom e-mailed her and recommending this online store www.wictrade.com, then i found another site which is www.rictrade.com which has exactly same layouts, and the store has affordable prices. I really dont know if this is a scam or not, but my mother's friend told her thru e mail that he ordered a laptop their and received it with good quality.

So guys, do you think this is for real?

It doesn't look too good. Payment is through Western Union or bank transfer only, and there is this instruction regarding bank transfers:

(Pay attention: Donot write any information the payment for trade (NO invoice number,order number and model ) ), or you will pay more tax and it will take long time to get money from you . You can write only your name or nothing on the reference box . Thanks for cooperation.

The website claims that the company has been 'online since 2007', and yet these two websites are new this year, and registered for one year only.

They are registered in different names with different addresses, and using Hotmail email addresses.

wictrade.com

Registrar: HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.

Expiration Date: 2011-04-30
Creation Date: 2010-04-30
Last Update Date: 2010-04-30

Registrant Name ................. zhou xiaolin
Registrant Organization ......... zhou xiaolin
Registrant Address .............. SuNanYuGuZu ZiZhiXian DaHeXiang DaShaCun 37 Hao
Registrant City ................. zhang ye
Registrant Province/State ....... GS
Registrant Postal Code .......... 734400

Email: [email protected]

rictrade.com

Registrar: XIN NET TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

Expiration Date: 2011-01-01
Creation Date: 2010-01-01
Last Update Date: 2010-01-01

Registrant:
Organization : Zeng HuaJun
Name : Zeng Hua Jun
Address : FuTianQu TianXingLu ZhongJunDaSha C Zuo 1107
City : Shen
Province/State : Henan
Country : CN
Postal Code : 518019

Email : [email protected]

In addition to the info above, both domains are on a major spam blacklist for activity that is common to fake electronic sites and users have reported their own compromised computers being used to send their spam. Rictrade has been reported on other discussion boards as a scammer too.

Be careful when going to new sites, they may have viruses embedded in them.

Get a good antivirus and use a browser with blocking addons. I use Firefox and the addon Ghostery. Ghostery blocks tracking cookies and helps keep them from knowing where you surf.

The OP may have gotten contacted by a China seller, there are lots of them on Ebay. They may be wanting to sell stuff without paying a fee to Ebay.

I've ordered (accidently, forgot to check location of item several times ) several items that were shipped from China that arrived in about 10 days and listed as gifts on the tags. Not sure if it's totally legal or not, pretty sure Ebay has had reports but haven't shut down sales from China.

-deleted antivirus recommendation - there are plenty of good sites to research antivirus options, we try not to promote here - dotti

Welcome junkymagi,

Recommending safe browsing is always good (though you do want to be careful with Firefox add-ons, as recent information shows that some of the add-ons themselves can introduce exploits and allow an opening for malware!)

I too have had items shipped directly from China, though I have ordered them through ebay. One of the primary differences between those sellers and the websites we are talking about is that in general, the legitimate sellers will at least use Paypal, which gives buyers some protection if used properly, and the fake websites often ask for money transfer via bank transfer, Western Union, or Moneygram, which allows them to collect the money and vanish, and leaves no resource for the buyer.

Thank you guys! The friend of my mom replied and said that his e-mail was hacked that's why he is sending those emails for wictrade.com thank you!