Thread: Makita Big Sale

If it looks too good to be true - it’s a scam.

Hint one - If you read few pages on that site you will find occasional grammatical and spelling mistakes

Then, follow the "about us", it links to a site called "Marc Jacobs's"

There is a ridgidig Marc Jacobs company that sells real thing but the there are heaps of fat Marc Jacobs's site that purport to sell everything from tools to female underwear.

See
Just a moment...

Originally Posted by yvan

Have other forumites come across this link and what do they think of the sale?

Cheers
Yvan

I came across one similar . It was fake . I Googled it at the time and people were warning about it . This looks the same . Stupid cheap prices and only a email address for contact. If you give them your $ that's all that will happen. I did google this one Mark Jacobs's , but get warnings about a fake hand bag website.

The legit stores bombard us with legit adverts on our email, via SMS, and any other opportunity they can take, so it doesn't actually help us to detect the "fake / scam" offers among the chaff!

Best thing you can do is change contact preferences for any legit traders that you support so that only "essential" mailouts are received. Delete the rest!!!

I sincerely feel for people who are not tech savvy & do not have supportive friends or rellies to assist them navigate the BS.

The scammers will always have the advantage. They can almost instantly clone a legit traders website, mailouts etc, and can reinvent themselves just as fast even when the authorities, banks, telcos and our own word of mouth networks reveal their activities. Even when we report scam activity to social media sites they seem slow or even reluctant to act.

The havoc they (scammers) wreak on legit businesses is incalculable and can totally devastate them, emotionally and financially.

Originally Posted by yvan

I have just come across this link:

Woodworking Tools - Makita

Makita seems to be offering big discounts on some of their tools but I am unable to confirm if this is a genuine Makita offering.
However, payment through PayPal is available which makes me think that it.

Have other forumites come across this link and what do they think of the sale?

Cheers
Yvan

Smart move to sound out others here, Yvan.

Yvan

90% off is just a little too good to be true!

However, the presentation of the site would be enough to encourage the unwary to snap up such an offer particularly as the sales is flashed up as ending in a matter of hours. When I looked it also kept flashing up that somebody in the UK had just bought a tool.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Regards
Paul

One warning is that the domain name makitabigsale.com was only registered yesterday in Germany.

Also Makita don't sell tools direct, the real website directs you to your nearest dealer.

Lots of scams like this around at the moment - I saw another recently for Macpac clothing at unbelievable prices. If in doubt Google it, chances are others have already sussed them out.

Thank you all very much for the comments.

I must admit that 90% discount is over the top - excuse the pun - and it should have been enough of a pointer to treat the whole thing as suspicious. I was intrigued/lured by the fact that PayPal was available to pay, given that it is considered to be a secure payment method...

Thanks once again,

Cheers
Yvan

Originally Posted by yvan

... I was intrigued/lured by the fact that PayPal was available to pay, given that it is considered to be a secure payment method...

Ensures your money is securely transferred to the scammers.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Ensures your money is securely transferred to the scammers.

Why didn't I think about that?!!!

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Ensures your money is securely transferred to the scammers.

PayPal would pursue your dispute with the scammers and that would run its course until that PayPal account was closed down at which point the scammers would have half a dozen new PayPal accounts with new bank accounts connected waiting to be activated to keep the scam rolling along.

PayPal can't monitor every website out there that pops up with PayPal shown as a payment option. Any one of us that has a PayPal account can use it to get payed until our account gets closed down.

In the meantime anyone who has gone through the scammer's website checkout and used any of the payment options shown has given away their credit card or other payment option details + the following personal information... which will bring on a slew of other scam attempts directed at you via your phone and email address that they now have or sold onto other scammers... ouch!

Email

Shipping Address

• First name
  Last name
• Address
• Apartment, suite, etc. (Optional)
• Country
  
  
  Province
  
  Postal code
• City
• Phone

Originally Posted by NeilS

Stay sharp and stay safe!

Neil