Need info on "Colosal Store" (www.colosal-store.com).

[Heather_LCSW]

I am interested in buying a laptop from Colosal Store (www.colosal-store.com). I am not familiar with this name. Their price is good, but not to the point that's "too good to be true." However, it's still a lot of money involved.

There is no "About us" on the website to learn more about them. The "Contact Me" page on its website shows a New York address and a toll free number. I checked on USPS.com which verified that it is a valid address, but I cannot tell if it's registered to Colosal Store.There is no other information (or payment options) upfront. I checked with Whois.org which shows that the website domain name-"colosal-store.com" was created on 2007-11-01. The registered organization address is in California. I e-mailed them to ask for more information yesterday, but I have not heard back from them. All these little things added up and I started to suspect.

I am hoping that you all can help me identify if this is a trustworthy seller or a fraudulent one.

Thank you very much!

[nomaxim]

Welcome to RR.

I prefer Domaintools for WhoIs info, it provides a lot more info. For this website the WhoIs info shows,

Domain Name.......... colosal-store.com
Creation Date........ 2007-11-01
Registration Date.... 2007-11-01
Expiry Date.......... 2008-11-01
Organisation Name.... carolyn martin
Organisation Address. P O Box 99800
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. EmeryVille
Organisation Address. 94662
Organisation Address. CA
Organisation Address. US

SSL Cert: *.secure.hostingprod.com expires in 1679 days.
ICANN Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
Created: 2007-10-31
Expires: 2008-10-31

Domain was registered about 3 weeks ago to a private registration service, CA address, no way to tell real address. The Registrar is in Australia, (registered there on 31OCT2007) hosted on Yahoo (registered there 1NOV2007). The SSL cert leads back to Yahoo, Geocities, and is registered for 4.6 years, the website itself is only registered for one year. I'm not sure if Yahoo through Geocities offers SSL or not. Domiantools also shows that there are 93544 other domains hosted on this IP address.

A reverse address look-up using Whitepages.com shows,

37 Results matching "72 Bowery, New York, NY"

None of them are a 'Carolyn Martin or a 'Colosal Store'. looks to be mostly jewelry stores. NOTE that Colossal seems to have been mis-spelled.

I see no payment information. If they don't accept a CC walk away.
I recommend a credit card only, not a debit/check card.

Please let us know how it goes.

That Emeryville PO Box address is used by many scammers, as well.

Personally, I would look to the better-rated sellers here.

If you do decide to try them, just be sure to use your credit card so that you are protected from fraud. If they don't accept credit cards, run.

[jlmartins]

I'm no expert on these issues. I used your question for testing my scam search and can confirm finding a couple of unpleasant results when searching for "99800 94662". This certainly sounds fishy. Caveat emptor.

[cissyxchen]

It's a scam.

The layout and color scheme make it a deja-vu for me. It looks exactly like the store front of a scam site under a different domain name some months ago. I just can't remember which one is it.

[Atomic Rooster]

They are a scam. I just went through the order process to see what it got me. After completing their online order form, they send you an email detailing how to make payment. Here's what it said:

Our department require the payment to be done through Western Union money transfer service. Please visit: www.westernunion.com to locate your nearest Western Union office. We choose this payment method in order to speed up the transaction. You have to pay with cash at any Western Union Office near you.

1. Locate the nearest Western Union Office.
2. Make the payment with cash using the following Colosal Store Agent details:
Name: Roger Wright (The name where the money need to be sent)
Address: 72 Bowery # 200
City: New York
State: New York
Zip code: 10013
Country: United States

They do not accept any other payment!

From their FAQ -

Q - Are the products that Mocos Store offers factory fresh ,brand new, and come complete with full US and International Warranty?

A - We can assure you that unless otherwise stated, every product that Mocos Store sells is brand new, factory fresh and comes complete with a full US and International warranty.

Who the heck is "Mocos Store"?

[nomaxim]

Originally Posted by Atomic Rooster

Who the heck is "Mocos Store"?

WhoIs shows,

Registrant:
WhoisProtector Inc. (mocos-store.com)
550 Burrard Street, Suite 200

Vancouver, BC V6C 2B5
Canada

Registrar: DomainPeople, Inc.

Domain Name: mocos-store.com
Created on .............Tue Apr 10 22:17:27 2007
Expires on .............Thu Apr 10 22:17:27 2008
Record last updated on .Tue Apr 10 22:17:39 2007
Status .................LOCK,

Google search results.

The WhoIs still has a picture of the website homepage. Looks to be the same except for the name.
Must have been a previous scam attempt.

[Heather_LCSW]

Thank you all!! I learned a lot in your replies which made me believe even more --the best shoppers are the educated ones.

I will stay away from them. I am glad that I asked before I jumped in!!

Thank you again!!

[nomaxim]

Originally Posted by Heather_LCSW

the best shoppers are the educated ones.

The best protection you have against fraud is yourself.