Rip-Off Report: SmokerPipe.com Scam Site
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Kevin Godbee - Jul 8, 2011
- 4 min read
Pipe smokers beware! Do not place orders with SmokerPipe.com. They are a scam site.
This site was first brought to our attention by Greg Pease calling in the report after-hours last night. Upon further investigation, we found that pipe maker Rad Davis posted the following on Facebook.
"WARNING!!! This is a scam website. They’ve pirated Smokingpipes and Smoker’s Haven to create their site. They don’t have the pipes listed. All seem to be lifted from Smokingpipes.com."
They have obviously copied the design of http://www.smokershaven.com/. The scam site is on the left with the legit site on the right. (Click the photos for actual size screen captures.)
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The domain is registered to a Chinese company and hosted by a California company. The hosting company lists an email address for DMCA complaints, but they do not even have a legally compliant DMCA notice, as they need to have a physical address and person’s name along with other information that they do not list. All they have is an email address.
Here is an excerpt of their DMCA notice found here: http://www.dcsmanage.com/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=2
B. Reporting Copyright Violations. DCS Pacific Star, LLC. (www.dcsmanage.com) complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"). DCS Pacific Star, LLC. (www.dcsmanage.com) encourages Users to report an alleged copyright infringement involving a user by sending a notice to: abuse@dcsmanage.com
The current ip address of the site is: 205.209.184.245. The domain is new, having been registered on June 1, 2011.
The Whois registration info says the domain is owned by Xing Cheng of Xiamen, Fujian, China. Email contact is listed as pujingtrade@163.com. The phone number is: +86.15985850830.
Here is a screen capture of the full Whois information in case it becomes hidden in the future.
We had this article ready to go by 7:30 am EDT, but were holding it waiting for comments from a few pipe makers, SmokingPipes.com and Smoker’s Haven.
We have not received comments yet, and it appears that complaints about the site have already been filed and it has been taken down within the last hour or so.
It’s nice when things work the way they are supposed to and the good guys win in the end.
July 8, 1:15 p.m. | Updated A previous version of this article stated that the site was already down. At the time it was, but this was apparently temporary. As of 1:15 pm EDT, the site is up. We also have some comments that have come in …
Sykes Wilford, SmokingPipes.com – We have filed a DMCA notice and reported them to Verisign for misuse of their seal.
Adam Davidson, Adam Davidson Design – It’s a total copy. Pipes are one of a kind, as you know, yet they have the same listings as smokingpipes. I saw something like this earlier, actually. Might even be the same site. The listed all of the brands from smokingpipes and all of the pipes too. You could find a Jess for cheap. Not sure if people can actually use any cards, but there is some sort of pirate out there, for sure. Do your best to break ’em.
Brad Pohlmann, Pohlmann Pipes – All these pipes have been sold. Those are not my prices. Whoever is doing this is perpetrating fraud.
We have also found evidence around the web that this site operator spams forums and blogs with their links. Even our own site, PipesMazazine.com received spam comment with links to another site owned by the same person.
AVOID this site too. It is the same ownership, same host, same ip address: http://www.tobaccopipeshop.com/
They’ve done it again, copying another site. The legit site they copied is http://www.eacarey.co.uk/
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On one of our visits to the site, we received a McAfee warning as shown below.
The ip address shown in the warning is different than the site’s ip, but it is still originating in China, and could be embedded in the code. There is a possibility that they are not only trying to steal money by making illegitimate sales of non-existent merchandise, but they may be trying to implant Trogans or Viruses to their site visitors to steal their personal and financial information.
Stay tuned to PipesMagazine.com for future updates.
July 11, 1:30 p.m. | Updated The two sites have been taken down by their hosting company.
August 1, 11:00 a.m. | Updated The sites are back up. We are calling on all readers to email their DNS provider with complaints about both of the sites; http://www.smokerpipe.com/ andhttp://www.tobaccopipeshop.com/. One of our readers emailed them with no results, but if everyone emails them, then maybe we can get these sites taken down for good. Email complaints to: english@hichina.com
Written by Kevin Godbee
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Such shameful practices, have people no morals?
Wow! what a shame…and very confusing too. SuperTHX for warning.
Same fraudsters also run http://www.tobaccopipeshop.com/
Really great work on our behalf, Kevin! Apparently the site went down before I was even aware of it. Not that they’d have much success with me, I’ve already blown my budget with this site’s sponsors! 🙂
I only use merchants that have been favorably used by other pipe smokers and smokingpipesmagazine members. Thanks for the heads up.
The site is back up and the article is updated with another site they own doing the same thing.
That is totally amazing – the sites look so real, smoker friendly and professional. I just hope members of the pipe smoking fraternity have not lost too much money to these fake sites! Plus the disappointment of waiting for that cherished pipe to fially arrive! THANKS for the warning!
Great work on your part. Thanks for the information.
One tip off for sites like this is the fractured English utilized. Check the usage on the example above. Clearly not somebody you want to deal with.
The smokerpipe.com bogus site came up last night in a google search for an ebay pipe reference. I thought the amazing selection was too good to be true. We appreciate the heads up. Stick to site sponsors only!
Interestingly, this post just got hammered with 100 spam comments that were all caught by the spam filter without being published.
What a shameful practice it is to slender names and brands of honorable pipe-makers through this unheard piracy!
Thank you for publishing this information,it comes as a warning to all !
I second clovisman’s post: the English is incredibly bad! If I had accessed such a site and read such copy, I’d make sure I got rid of any cookies they might have left behind, as well as not going any further in the site. Good catch, guys!
I’m very new to the world of pipe smoking. I have to laugh because one of the first pipe sites I ran into was that scam site! Luckily the “engrish” was so bad that I moved on. My brother got me into smoking a pipe and introduced me to you guys. Good work!
Thankyou for that info about the site good heads up work-FC.
The sites are up again. Just saw a Radice I purchased from smokingpipes on their website. Vile.
Just to add that I am a Director of the real EA Carey (www.eacarey.co.uk), one of the sites mentioned above, and i can confirm that after a brief respite the copycat site is back up. Buyers please be careful! I would like to think that the differences between our site and the copy are obvious but it does appear that people are being caught out and there appears to be nothing we can do. Very disappointing.
Thx for the headsup!
Many thanks for the warning.
Great job in exposing these thieves!!! I’m a new pipe smoker and love pipesmagazine.com. Thanks!!
Without knowledge that this was happening, I ordered a pipe and tobacco from eacarey.com. Guess it was legit, thank God b/c my goods arrived about a week ago. I ordered it on approximately 8-19 or 8-20. Whew!