Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Another Online Scam - Movie Downloads

We have not gone to a movie theater in years because the convenience of in home viewing outweighs the dubious pleasure of trekking into the city and finding a performance time that fits our schedule. The solution, of course, has been to rent videos first from a local video store and more recently from an online supplier like NetFlix and Blockbuster. You can buy, rent, or download Movies and TV shows of all kinds without leaving the comfort of your home. It is a great convenience and most of the time, you get what you expect.

Movie downloads are big business and this has attracted the bottom-feeders who seek to separate you from your money without providing the expected service.

Some of these scammers are no-name operations like moviewatchlist, or movieadobo but others are divisions of well-known operations like Real Networks SuperPass.

These scammers become very visible when there is a big hit like Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie "Inception". When you Google "Inception", you will see web ads that say "Download Inception!".

Here is an example of the bait that is offered:

This can be seen at http://www.moviewatchlist.com/movie-inception

When you click on the Download link, you come to another page that offers TV show downloads and movies (in small type) for one yearly fee. These pages usually say that these are legal downloads not file-sharing downloads, but you will find no current movies in these listings.

This is the beginning of the switch: No major new releases, just TV shows

If you continue to pursue this, you find that you have signed up for a TV download subscription in which you get access to year-old movies. There will be a link somewhere on the page for Inception but it leads to "free downloads" of illegal copies from a bit torrent source. You smack yourself on the forehead and say could have saved yourself the $35 subscription fee and gone straight to the illegal downloads yourself!

So you get your credit card company to refuse the billing because the product was not as described and you go in search of a legal download that you can pay for. It is harder than you think!

I followed many different download links and they all lead eventually to a screen which requires you to sign up for a membership plan with no mention of the movies that you can download. You should notice that there is NO mention of first run movies or major new releases. Zip. Nada. None.

If you sign up for this you will regret it!  Do  Not  Sign  Up!

I finally found a movie download review service which I heartily recommend. They review the top ten download services and most offer only niche movies or older mainstream movies.

One exception was CinemaNow and this is what they said about CinemaNow:

For quick, studio backed and legal downloads try CinemaNow. This service offers choices for all ages and all tastes, from Comic Superheroes to Cult Classics to Feature Films.

This service is a bit different from other movie download services, they offer a membership plan, movies for rent and for downloadable purchase (digital sell through). CinemaNow has recently included a “Burn to DVD” section that allows you to burn selected titles and play them on most DVD players.

Furthermore, they let you browse their extensive selection without having to register or sign up for a membership-you can see what they offer before making a commitment.

Any "free" offer has a hook in it. It could be spyware that monitors your online buying activity or malicious malware that destroys you files. There are also "free" downloads that are paid for by the advertising inserted into the movie. You don't pay for the download so you get whatever the provider decides to give you.

The only legitimate download is one which charges a fee for the movie you download. Netflix and Blockbuster offer such a service but it requires special equipment. CinemaNow does not require special equipment ad the rental fees are reasonable: How much does it cost? Renting a movie download typically costs $3.99 to $4.99. Check the title's detail page for actual pricing.

Good hunting!

Camera repair - is it a vanishing industry?

I have been getting daily use out of a Sony DSC F828 Cybershot for many years now and it is beginning to fail. I feel a real loss because this 8 megapixel dinosaur has performed faithfully for tens of thousands of shots and has a rotating back assembly which gives it great flexibility in composing shots on the fly.

Picture credit: www.dpreview.com

The prospects for getting this camera repaired are dismal. If anyone has a suggestion, I am open to considering it.

I have Googled Sony Camera Repair repeatedly and it appears that Precision Camera Repair in Enfield Ct is the official repair center for most camera manufacturers including Sony. This is really depressing news because Precision Camera   has more service complaints than the Brooklyn Camera Shops I have written about previously.

They have a great looking web site, impressive service guarantees, and a whole lot of blather about how customers can get fixed-price quotes and can track the progress of the repairs being made on their cameras.

Then, if you Google "Precision Camera repair complaints" you get about 10,100 results which is not encouraging.

I spent about an hour reading complaints and praise for Precision's repair service and it seems that complaints slightly outnumber positive reactions.

To qualify this further, the complainants generally provide names and email addresses while those who praise Precision are mostly anonymous while seeming to have incredibly wonderful service. That doesn't add up.

There were a few people who actually had good experiences with Precision and gave real names, but the majority seemed to be "corporate spin artists" who counter complaints with fantastically favorable reports. These "favorable" reports are similar to the bogus reports used by Royal Camera and the other Brooklyn camera shops that prey on online shoppers.

I have been writing for more a year about the amazing scams perpetrated by the Brooklyn camera shop known as Royal Camera, City Camera, Tcscamera.com, and bananaboatcamera.com, and Prestige Camera (aka: A&M Photo World, Regal Camera, Broadway Photo, Preferred Photo)

If you see any of those names in an online ad, look elsewhere for your purchase.

It is really discouraging to see the camera repair business descend to that same level.

SPAM WARNING - BEWARE OF QUECHUP

UPDATE: My inbox is full of email from people on my contact list who have received these bogus invitations from Quechup. I apologize for the inconvenience. See the story below:

The latest scam to hit the Internet is Quechup.com.
They are generating spam that supposedly comes from your friends.

If you receive an email from me or anyone else inviting you to join Quechup, delete the email and DO NOT Sign UP.

I received an invitation supposedly from another blogger and while I was checking the site out, Quechup may have has mailed an invitation from me to everyone in my email address book, even though I expressly requested that they should not do so.

Quechup claims to be a "social network."

It is owned by iDate and is actually some sort of dating service.
Don't go there and don't bother to check it out.
You will definitely regret it.

Scam artists are persistent

I didn't intend for this site to become Scam-Stop central, but I can't resist commenting on the persistence of people who are so single-minded in their attempts to part you from your money. I am also amazed at those who spend time trying to outwit the scammers! There seem to be plenty of both types around!

The latest wrinkle in the online scammer's arsenal of tricks is the flock of "favorable commenters" who produce glowing testimonials after someone has written about systematic abuses by a particular company. In fact, this confirms that the company is really trying hard to keep the scam working.

These scammers use Google just like the rest of us and when they find that they are being exposed as lower life-forms, they mobilize their letter writing crews and post indignant comments on the offending websites. These cover-up emails usually come from the same IP address and all contain the same spelling mistakes.

I recently wrote about the "free" logsplitter advertised by home-garden-rewardpath.com and started getting letters almost at once from people defending this company as "good guys". The first few were from fake email addresses, but they have improved their approach and are now using real email addresses.

What they are trying to do is to offset the critical remarks on forum groups and on weblogs like this one. Unfortunately their praise of the scamming company is short on details and never uses their real name.

Here is how their comments appear in a list of complaints about a company. See if you notice a pattern:

This is a rip-off! (full details included)
These guys are absolute scumbags! (full details included)
I had a wonderful buying experience!  (anonymous)
I will never deal with this company again! (full details included)
I got everything I wanted!  (anonymous)
I am suing these guys!(full details included)
Warning! Do not do business with this company (full details included)

Use your own judgment in buying online and Google the company name with the words like: problems, ripoff, scam, and bad service. There are a few names I suggest you circle in red and avoid like the plague: CCI Camera, Royal Camera, Bananaboat Camera.

If you do get ripped off, you can report Internet crime at: http://www.ic3.gov/
If you receive an offer via email from someone claiming to need your help getting money out of Nigeria — or any other country, for that matter — forward it to the FTC at spam@uce.gov.

I also discovered that some people enjoy dealing with scammers. Perhaps they feel they can outwit them. You can read an email from one of them after the jump.

It must be Spring, the scammers are out in force again

There are more scams than ever this year. In addition to the ever-present Nigerian Letter scammer, there are now scammers who prey on artists and craftspersons.

The latest to hit Floyd is the scammer who offers top dollar for art or merchandise and sends you a cashier's check, or an American Express Travelers Check, or a PayPal payment, with one additional request. The buyer wants you to cash the check, etc. and send part of the money to the shipping company that will be picking up your work.

Once you send off money to the shipping company, the check and even the PayPal payment will vanish or are cancelled.

There are a couple of things about these transactions that should set off warning bells for you. 1.)The buyer offers more money than you expect, and has very little curiosity about the details. 2.)The buyer is often, but not always, from out of the country. 3.)They are buying the artwork as a gift for someone. 4.)The deal usually sounds too good to be true. 5.)One more indicator, the message shows signs of being written by someone unfamiliar with American English.

If you are approached by a prospective buyer and more then one of the points noted are present, be very careful. You might even want to Google the person's name and some details of the offer. More than likely, you will find that this person is sending out similar letters to many different people.

Here is one example of a recent scam offer:

Dear seller,
My name is Engr. Allen Smith, from PHILIPPINES. i am interested in the purchase of your above named (ARTWORK/PAINTING) advertised on one of the best internet market site, i am very ok with the details you have provided on the internet advert and i want to buy it as soon as possible. I will like you to email me the below information

Here is another:    

Is the your art works for sale? if so please mail me back i will be able to aford  between the price range of $600-$1000.i will be glad if you can help me by sending me pictures of the onces at that price range.

I browsed through your work,you have a lots of stuff in there.i will be sending it to my boss mum in houston,texas for her 70th birthday(coming up in first week in april) and i will love something different and beautiful that is why i am counting on you to do the job for me(us in particular,i mean the staff).

Hope to hear from you soon

These read like something penned by a school kid. If you get something like this expressing interest in an item worth several hundred dollars, you might wonder whose credit card they are using.

Selling on eBay may not have the cachet of selling from your website, but the feedback scores for buyers give you a better chance of spotting possible trouble. A buyer or seller with very little history is watched very carefully.

If you accept checks or any of the payments mentioned above, you can help yourself by waiting until the check clears before shipping any merchandise. And, don't fall for sending part of the money on to anyone!

To report Internet crime go to: http://www.ic3.gov/

More about CCI Camera alias Royal Camera

I am still getting a steady stream of comments from unhappy customers of the Brooklyn camera shop with many names. Whether it is called Royal Camera, City Camera City, Tcscamera.com, or bananaboatcamera.com , it is still the same shabby storefront operation in Brooklyn.

Not everyone writes to complain.  Some customers write to thank me and others are taking action. I received an email today from Dario Diaz, an attorney who is preparing a lawsuit against this store.

If you have any information to offer Dario and his client, please consider helping them out. This is the second lawyer who has shown interest in seeking damages from Royal Camera, CCI, etc.

I am an attorney in Tampa, Florida that is preparing a lawsuit against CCI Camera City, aka Royal Camera, et. al.  I ran across your site and would be interested in finding any complaints against CCI made by Florida residents.  Obviously, my main concern is the client I am currently representing in a bait and switch transaction.  But, I would really like to get additional people who have had similar dealings with CCI to be either witnesses in my current case, or to represent individually or in a class action against CCI.

If you have any information or might be able to help with anyone in Florida who has similar dealings with CCI, I would be glad to speak with them.  Thanks.

Dario D. Diaz, Esquire
ccisuit@dariodiazlaw.com
1101 N. Armenia Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33607-5307
Phone: (813)259-1017
Fax: (813)259-3790

For those Florida residents who have felt the sting of a CCI camera scam, this is your chance for a little payback. Don't sit at home and fume. See what you can do to get restitution and make the Internet safer for camera buyers.

Feel free to share any news of your success. An informed and active marketplace is the best weapon against shoddy business practices.

To make it easier to find all of the information about this company in one place, I will create a website which contains every post I have made and all of the comments I have received about this store. Meanwhile, my last post, Online Camera Ripoffs Continue, is worth rereading while I put the new BadCameraStore website in place.

More about the "free" logsplitter scam

home-garden-rewardpath.com has a scam going where they offer a "free" logsplitter which is actually a premium for signing up for several expensive services and products. Read the many pages of fine print to see how much you have to buy to earn your "free" logsplitter.

I have recently received some emails that confirmed my earlier post about this company. One of the real giveaways of a scammer is that they generate anonymous emails telling us that the company is really wonderful to deal with, there is no catch and we are maligning a wonderful company, etc., etc.

Here is the latest example of one of these false testimonials:

Name:     Austin Wolff

Email:     mr.A@hotmail.com

Hello there. Im not sure why you think this site is a scam. First they send you a check in the amount of the log splitter, you do not need to sign up for a ridiculous number of offers, and lastly I have completed this site and MANY others to recieve a good deal of money.

I sent an email to mr.A@hotmail.com:

Austin,

How fascinating!

Tell me more about your experiences with this company.

David

I got an immediate response that the email address was false. This is the second of these faux recommendations I have received, so until I hear otherwise I am recommending that you avoid this offer as though it was a letter from those friendly Nigerians who want to put money in your bank account.

Beware the "Free" Logsplitter Offers

Scam Alert      Scam Alert      Scam Alert

home-garden-rewardpath.com is the latest entrant in the online scam derby.

Their ad pops popped up occasionally in the list of Google Ads on this page. I have reported this company to Google and expect that they will remove this advertiser from their ad base.

UPDATE: I have blocked their ads from appearing on this site.

Home-garden-rewardpath.com  offers a "free" Ryobi 4 Ton Electric Log Splitter. All you have to do is to take a "survey" or two or three and somewhere in all of this you will get your credit card charged several times in order to earn this "free" log splitter!

It is important to note that this scammer has no connection with Ryobi. They have this notice at the bottom of their webpage:

Home-Garden-rewardpath Gift Program is not endorsed, sponsored by or affiliated with Ryobi Ltd., Ryobi 4 Ton Electric Log Splitter or any merchant listed above. Such terms are registered trademarks of their respective owners.

I am also going to send this post to Ryobi because it is very bad PR for them to allow this offer to continue. People will think that it is Ryobi doing the rip-off.

Has anyone else been scammed by this company?

If you want to read the steps involved in this "free" offer, here is the data from the home-garden-rewardpath.com website: