posted 10-08-2004 03:59 PM         

Ok. Check this out. This guy is good. In a really bad way.
I was gonna go ahead and volunteer as the guinea pig on the purple 97 and hit the buy it now button, but I figured I'd check a couple of things first.

I checked to see if the domain www.ebaysafe.net actually existed. It does: http://www.ebaysafe.net

It looks legit, doesn't it? When you click on any of the links on that page, it takes you to various pages on the REAL SquareTrade site (look up in your address window). What this guy did is copy SquareTrade's home page and used it as the home page for ebaysafe.net, pointing all the links on HIS home page to the corresponding pages on the ACTUAL Square Trade site. Very smart. Wildly devious, but smart. Red flag number 1.

Then I went to network solutions to see who owns it. It belongs to a guy in NY - here's the info:

Registrant:
Eric Staruck
11 Main Street
Schenevus, New York 12155
US

Registrar: NAMESDIRECT
Domain Name: EBAYSAFE.NET
Created on: 04-OCT-04
Expires on: 04-OCT-05
Last Updated on: 04-OCT-04

Administrative, Technical Contact:
Staruck, Eric procycleusa@aol.com
11 Main Street
Schenevus, New York 12155
US
6076389081

Here's the link: http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/results .jhtml;jsessionid=BSYX2LYC5L0QQCWLEALCFEY?whoistoken=0&_requestid=585822

Now look at the Administrative/Technical contact email address: procycleusa@aol.com

That email address corresponds with the signature in the response to Dustis email:

Sincerely,

Internet Sales Manager ]www.ProCycleUsa.net

So I went and checked out who owns procycleusa.net:

Domain Name.......... procycleusa.net
Creation Date........ 2004-10-04
Registration Date.... 2004-10-04
Expiry Date.......... 2005-10-04
Organisation Name.... Eric Staruck
Organisation Address. 11 Main Street
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Schenevus
Organisation Address. 12155
Organisation Address. NY
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... Eric Staruck
Admin Address........ 11 Main Street
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Schenevus
Admin Address........ 12155
Admin Address........ NY
Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
Admin Email.......... capsha3k@yahoo.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.6076389081

Here's the link: http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/results .jhtml;jsessionid=BSYX2LYC5L0QQCWLEALCFEY?whoistoken=2&_requestid=587666

What that means is that the same guy who owns procycleusa.net owns ebaysafe.net. Oops. Big giant gnarly Red Flag number 2.

Notice that procycleusa.net AND ebaysafe.net just came into existence on October 4 - 4 days ago. Oops again there Eric. Bigger oops - it lists his phone number. I didn't check to see if it worked or not - I don't want to tip this guy off that someone's on to him.

I then went to check out www.procycleusa.net, which does exist, but neither of the phone numbers listed are good. One gets a fast busy, the other gives you a recording referring you to some kind of party line. Red Flag number 3.

I went back to ebaysafe.net, looked it over carefully, then went to squaretrade.com - and guess what - it's absolutely identical in every respect, including all the links. http://www.squaretrade.com

Somebody needs to report this guy to both ebay and the FBI. This is a very sophisticated scam, not just some dildo who got a stupid idea and ran a phony auction. This took a lot of thought and a lot of preparation, and even more malicious intent.

If I remember correctly from another thread, TLRandall is one of Texas' finest - a full fledged bonafide officer of the law. Officer Randall - would you care to take this from here?

Have an excellent day : )