Hello everyone,
I wanted to post this thread so that everyone is aware of an ongoing scam. You may see Ads of this via Google Ads when searching for specific keywords, or through other websites... so please beware and do not try to purchase a drone from these guys - it is a scam.
The Ad will show an advertisement stating something along the lines of a "24 Hour Sale", trying to sell a Mavic Pro at a "deep discount", for $40 USD. Other folks have reported something similar, at much less steeper discounts, for $200, $400, etc. Remember: If it's too good to be true, it usually is.
The e-commerce website is at: drones4you.myvolusion.com
They've setup a pretty simple website with a few fake products, of course the one being the most inciting the Mavic Pro for $40 USD. Then they'll collect your information, and your Credit Card information, process a payment through Stripe.com (a legitimate credit card processing vendor), and never ship out the product. Obviously, they are operating on a budget here and trying to get as many people as possible by spending some of the funds they collect on Google Adwords.
I personally wouldn't say I "fell" for this, since I used a virtual CC issued by my bank, and at $40 decided to take a chance without affecting my finances, and if it was a scam then I'd enjoy the hunt
They have a total of
52 subdomains under myvolusion.com, for various purposes, all leading to the same type of scam (see attached, "Subdomain Report.pdf"). All of them are being hosted via Amazon Web Services, and they're using a variety of different legitimate technologies to carry out this scheme, including:
- Google Adwords, to hook the victim after they search Google for specific keywords such as "DJI" - See attached screenshot for the specific Ad being posted.
- Stripe.com, for Credit Card processing.
- Godaddy.com, for the domain registration.
- Amazon Web Services, for hosting the website(s).
- Sendgrid.com, for email confirmations after creating an order.
- Google Gmail, [email protected] is being used as the email account to send via SendGrid.com for purchase confirmations.
I was able to find the contact information of the vendor from Stripe.com (the Credit Card processor), which reports a company called "CWC Marketing" as the primary contact for this account, at 478-365-0300. This number is a Verizon number, but that is either performing automatic call forwarding or is disconnected.
However, I created a web server on my personal hosting account, sent an SMS via my Twilio account with a link to the phone above stating something around the lines of "Stripe.com Alert - Customer Complaint, visit XXX link for more information", and
did get a hit, so I logged the IP.
The operator of this website is in Uruguay.
All of the information above has been reported to the proper authorities, including the FBI's IC3 complaint center, and all of the vendors listed above, to their respective abuse/fraud-related contacts.
Please be aware of this scam! Do not fall for this, and remember, if it's too good to be true, it is.
