Need Help, Is this a scam??

[melgirl1120]

http://www.bestbabyemporium.com/page/page/3779687.htm

I belong to a mommy/baby message board and this link was posted, a ton of moms ordered from this site, cheap cheap stuff with free shipping!!! I even made a fake order of $600 worth of stuff and shipping was still free!! Lots of moms are worried because nobody can contact anyone from this site by either phone or email, messages have been left and NO replies!!

I was wondering if you could help me find out if they are scammers or not!!!

Thanx in advance

Also when they send your confirmation order their email addy is- <unknown>

[FW Admin]

The WHOIS output:

Domain Name: BESTBABYEMPORIUM.COM
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Whois Server: whois.enom.com
Referral URL: http://www.enom.com
Name Server: NS2.DOMAINCITYSERVERS.COM
Name Server: NS1.DOMAINCITYSERVERS.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
EPP Status: clientDeleteProhibited
EPP Status: clientUpdateProhibited
EPP Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 14-Aug-2006
Creation Date: 14-Aug-2006
Expiration Date: 14-Aug-2007

The Registrant contact details are:

Registrant Contact:
James Wellman (bremond@excite.com)
+1.6044304588
Fax:
875 N shepherd
houston,
US

The contact details are the same for Administrative and Technical. Registered for one year (which sets off alarm bells). Has anyone been able to contact this individual about it?

[melgirl1120]

No, nobody has been able to contact this person!! Many ladies have tried to call but only get an answering service type of thing!! Also people have sent plenty of emails with no reply's!! Many ladies emailed to cancel their order including myself and got an email back saying that my order has been canceled from this email- einthoven1863@sbcglobal.net

[Goz]

The website is cloned from here. Their main domain DMART2000.COM was registered in 1999 so they seem to be bona fide.

The phone number in the WHOIS (+1.6044304588) comes back as being in Vancouver, despite a Houston address being given. Unfortunately it looks like a scam to me.

It may be difficult to identify the person responsible for the scam, and to get a refund from them. In the UK a credit card company is generally jointly liable for any loss you suffer from a fraudlulent trader. If the law is similar in the USA/Canada then you should approach the credit card issuer for a refund.

[Nyla]

In the States, you can certainly contact your credit card company and let them know any charge from this merchant is unauthorized/contested if a charge shows up and there is no merchandise shipped.

Of course, the more likely scenario, if it is a scam, is that the scammer iis not after a fake charge against your credit card, they're going to use your credit card details to order merchandise from other online merchants and hope you don't notice the charge until they already have the merchandise. Probably best to either have your credit card company either put a fraud alert on the card, or cancel it and issue you a new number.

For those who placed an order with their credit card, they should phone the 800 number and speak to the credit card company directly about the situation.

Has anyone reported the dodgy domain or notified the (apparently) real merchant that had their site cloned, yet?