BBQ Website - Scammed - What Are The Options Now?

nutella9 on 16/12/2019 - 13:07
Last edited 16/12/2019 - 13:23

A friend of mine managed to pay for a bbq on a scam website - bbq delight I believe it is (https://www.bbqdelight.com.au/). She doesn't shop online much and had no clue how to tell it was fraudulent. She bought into the pay less, pay by bank transfer nonsense and now is a few hundred out of pocket with no bbq in sight. She's asked me what to do - the local cops don't give a rat's arse and have asked her to complain online. The federal cops say fraud is a state cops issue. Her bank said they can request the money - but it needs to be agreed to by the receiver of the funds - which is completely nuts. The only place that will listen is the ACCC - but they don't really care about small fraud. The interesting thing is that this site is still up and running and people are still being suckered in! What are the options here - I'm guessing she's lost her money - but is there no recourse to prevent more victims?

General Discussion

Related Stores

bbqdelight.com.au
bbqdelight.com.au

Comments

  • DASH8 on 16/12/2019 - 13:09
    +2

    A "friend".

    • nutella9 on 16/12/2019 - 13:10

      Haha…yes…luckily I've been around long enough to know not to ever use a bank account to transfer

      • Whyme100 on 21/12/2019 - 15:32

        Hi Nutella suggest you read the post I just made below

  • geek001 on 16/12/2019 - 13:11
    +1

    Website domains that end in .com.au needs an ABN to be registered. So maybe it might be possible to track down the person responsible that way. You may have to take the person to small claims court though.

    • spackbace on 16/12/2019 - 13:13

      This.

      If it was a shopify site with a .com url, it's going to be a lot harder to find contact details

    • No Username on 16/12/2019 - 13:15
      +4

      The only downside is that they don't verify that you own the ABN. So in theory you can use anyones ABN to create a website.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 16/12/2019 - 13:15

    ACORN

  • malich on 16/12/2019 - 13:55
    +5

    So - your friend could do the following:

    1. Perform a whois check which would give:
      Domain Name: BBQDELIGHT.COM.AU
      Registry Domain ID: D407400000087262055-AU
      Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.auda.org.au
      Registrar URL: whois.auda.org.au
      Last Modified:
      Registrar Name: Tucows (Australia) Pty Ltd trading as OpenSRS
      Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
      Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4165350123
      Reseller Name:
      Status: serverRenewProhibited https://afilias.com.au/get-au/whois-status-codes#serverRenew…
      Registrant Contact ID: tud06bCXfPXGEM3t
      Registrant Contact Name: alisson walsh
      Registrant Contact Email: [email protected]
      Tech Contact ID: tuWyqupzpQLStFcl
      Tech Contact Name: Data Protected Data Protected
      Tech Contact Email: [email protected]
      Name Server: DNS2.REGISTRAR-SERVERS.COM
      Name Server: DNS1.REGISTRAR-SERVERS.COM
      DNSSEC: unsigned
      Registrant: LUCKY 777 PTY. LTD.
      Registrant ID: ABN 22605981584
      Eligibility Type: Company
      Eligibility Name: LUCKY 777 PTY. LTD.
      Eligibility ID: ACN 605981584

    2. Run an ACN lookup:
      https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/RegistrySearch/faces/landi…

    3. Spend the $9 to download the company extract

    That will give you the name of the directors of the company who registered the domain. You can then seek out the individual and hit them up to return the money.

    However, like the aptly named 'no username' stated, ABN's arn't verified when you're registering a domain. So it's possible that the person who made the website isn't associated with the business. In which case, you could hit Tucows (the registrar) up.

    Or just write off the money and learn from the mistake.

    • spackbace on 16/12/2019 - 14:00
      +2

      Ah yep, and the BBQ was posted on here

    • malich on 16/12/2019 - 15:03

      The webpage is being hosted by namecheap.com . I'd also report it to them.

    • kms26 on 19/12/2019 - 13:27

      It appears they have two companies registered.

      BBQ Delight and No 1 BBQ House which is located in NSW.

      Contact details for No 1 BBQ House are:

      Address: 152 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194
      Hours:
      Open ⋅ Closes 8PM

      Phone: (02) 9718 6147

  • oO0Dam0Oo on 16/12/2019 - 14:53

    Might be worth notifying the BBQ manufacturers who sell under licence agreement and likely have the power play to have the site shut down asap.

  • JimmyF on 16/12/2019 - 15:17
    +4

    Her bank said they can request the money - but it needs to be agreed to by the receiver of the funds - which is completely nuts

    Its not 'completely nuts', you sent the money to them as a bank transfer. If you could 'pull' those funds back at any time, then that would be 'completely nuts', as buyers like you would be pulling the money back all the time. Only I can allow money to be taken out of MY bank account.

    Charge backs and paypal disputes have a 'process' and not all are successful, which is not what you're lead to believe on here.

    • nutella9 on 17/12/2019 - 13:29

      I do see your point - agree it's problematic to 'pull' back funds in a regular transaction. But I suppose there needs to be a process for cases in which fraud is established.

      • JimmyF on 17/12/2019 - 13:36

        But I suppose there needs to be a process for cases in which fraud is established.

        There is a process agaist fraud, use a method of payment that has some type of fraud process attached to it. Bank transfer is just like paying cash, which has none. Which is why the scammer wants you to do that.

        At the end of the day, its a lesson learned. Don't do direct bank transfers with non-trusted people/suppliers and if its too good to be true, then it most likely is.

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 16/12/2019 - 15:24

    Website hosting contact email address is partially hidden: [email protected] (where - represents unknown amount of characters or letters)

    Not sure if that's any assistance, but it differs from the domain registration contact.

  • Baysew on 16/12/2019 - 15:30
    +4

    If only there was a website were members could post bargains they have found from genuine merchants.

  • crashloaded on 17/12/2019 - 09:48
    +1

    I would grill the company that owns the website, maybe you can shrimply ask for a refund.

  • Whyme100 on 21/12/2019 - 14:46

    Hi

    I suggest you trace the money. The payment went to a specific bank bsb and account number. You can determine the bank by the bsb and you already have an account name but the key piece of information for the bank to trace is the account number. Call the bank manager directly and report to them. The bank should take any stated instance of fraud seriously. We have already traced our deposit and reported to the manager who is investigating. Most likely the money from all has now been moved elsewhere/offshore and the company established thru ASIC is a shell. However, we are planning to investigate further.

    It appears that this scam has been in the making for sometime and they were planning to hit on Black Friday sales. This will be a sizeable scam in the end and is only now coming out.

    • Tmb87 on 26/12/2019 - 13:07

      Yep same thing happened to me. I was searching black friday weber sales and stupidly purchased one from this site, 35% off original price which i didn't see as too odd as they were similarly priced the same in last years boxing day sales so thought i would get in early. Half asleep trying to do Christmas shopping. Now the fun part of trying to get the money back. They used a cba bank account which no doubt has now been closed!

  • Andrewaa on 30/12/2019 - 22:38

    I have had the same experience by being scammed by this website, I did some searching and found a name linked to the abn an address and also a postal address but don’t know what to do with it

  • Mlleruby on 03/01/2020 - 14:17

    I was scammed by this website too.similar story to others. I consider myself a savvy online shopper but stupidly assumed it was small business and I was doing them a favour by bank transfer. I have reported it everywhere possible including police. I also got onto my bank and since we are both CBA and I have their name, they are investigating. Probably a $268 lesson learned.

  • Falcon1 on 03/01/2020 - 18:12

    Sigh, I join the group that has been scammed by BBQ Delight in December 2019. I have reported to ACORN and my bank and suggest everyone does too to put pressure on tracking down what is turning into a large fraud. Could someone please share which is the CBA Branch as I will also call on Monday to hopefully add momentum to them tracking the transfer of funds out of that CBA account.

  • mattelinc on 22/02/2020 - 18:44
    +1

    Hi all, BBQ lover here.

    I’m not affiliated to Weber, I’m just a fan that remembered this post.

    Weber would like to hear from anybody who was scammed from this website.

    I don’t know what you’ll get in reference to a refund or anything, but it appears Weber wants to help.

    Here’s the post they have:
    https://imgur.com/gallery/kK7m2sb

    Good luck all! Let us know how you go!

  • spackbace on 24/02/2020 - 13:23

    https://mypolice.qld.gov.au/news/2020/01/14/police-warn-of-o…

    The State Crime Command’s Financial and Cyber Crime Group has identified an increase in complaints concerning fake online businesses offering what appears to be barbecues at very competitive prices. Once the customer pays into the bank account provided by the business they receive no further contact and do not receive the BBQ. Police have commenced investigations regarding this scam and two websites have been identified and are no longer active – bbqdelight.com.au, and weberbbqstore.com.au. The BBQs being offered ranged anywhere in price from $500.00 to $1500.00.

    https://www.weber.com/AU/en/blog/news/be-safe-online-identif…

    As soon as we become aware of a scam website, we notify the appropriate authorities including the ACCC, ScamWatch, local police and any other service that the scammers may be using to trick consumers into handing over their money and personal information.

    We are also looking to hear from affected consumers to help us stop this from happening again. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of this scam, please get in touch with our Customer Service team by calling 1300 301 290 or by sending us a private message on Facebook or Instagram.

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