Complaint Review: Addis Transactions - Kiev Internet

Addis-Transactions.com is a Craigslist and Ebay scam by a new fake bank operation as of Feb 2013 pretending to help sellers and buyers do transactions. They collect money upfront from buyers. According to whois.com the IP address for the firm is in Kiev, Ukraine. According to international fruad busters aa419.org they are a fake bank scheme. In addition to posting phony reviews to take up the first 5 pages of a Google search a deeper search into pages 7 and beyond reveals the truth about the scam.  The promoters saturate the internet with positive reviews:(fundsavingexpert.net and ericjohnpress.org). The scam works like this: They post ads for valuable items such as musical instruments and inexpensive cars. they are listed at a believably good price and when the buyer replies the Ukrainian engages the buyer with the following email:
"Still available and I am sorry for the late answer but for some reason your email ended up in my spam folder and I don't check my spam folder very often. Unfortunately I am not home right now because my sister was involved in a car accident last week and suffered a head trauma so I had to come here and take care of my nephew until the doctors investigate her and make sure she's alright. I don't mean to impose and this is no excuse for anything, I was just explaining my situation. I'm selling this through AST anyway so the sale has nothing to do with my situation.

I believe you know what AST is if you are selling or buying online often but if you don't, no problem I'll be happy to walk you through the process. Drop me an email if you are still interested and I'll be happy to answer any questions you
may have."

When you ask for further information about the product and AST the buyer gets this email which has pictures of the non-existent product that have been cut and pasted off of Ebay or Craigslist and the following text:

That email is followed by:
No problem, I'll explain the process myself and sorry I used acronyms, I should have specified the whole name from my first email. Their website is www.addis-transactions dot com, they are a consignment service that sells peoples items online for a fee. The process shouldn't be a hassle at all; it's a fairly simple process: you leave an item you want to sell in their possession or have them pick it up from your home and they will handle the payment, shipping and handling for you, all the
seller needs to do is find a buyer.

At this point, they have the van in their possession, so assuming  you would like to buy it, the process is very simple. You need to register on their website, they will contact me to confirm you are the buyer and if everything checks out, they will send you an invoice with the payment and transaction details. You send the payment to them by following the invoice instructions and they will start the shipping.  At the point where you receive the van, a 7 day money back guarantee starts which allows you to inspect and approve it, or you can just have it returned with no questions asked if it's not as described
in my original ad or in my emails. So if you decide to keep it, they will pay me, if you decide to return it they will give you a full refund immediately. I personally think that 7 days are more than enough to inspect anything.

The registration is free and they will not ask for any personal information such as credit cards details or anything like that, they need only your information as a buyer so they can issue an invoice and know where to ship. At the time of the registration you can also specify a preferred shipping date, you can request a bill of sale if it serves you any good, etc.

The shipping process will take between 3 and 5 working days and it`s free for buyers, actually the whole process is free for you, they deduct the shipping and handling fees from their commission and if you decide to return the item
they will charge me because they will consider that I failed to specify certain details about the van or I haven`t described it correctly. Basically the idea is to have the van and the payment at the same time and make the exchange with
a possibility of returning the item if it's not what you expected.

Hopefully I explained everything, if you have questions please ask. You can also take a look on their How it Works page or on the Frequently asked questions page where you can find some answers. Sorry for the long email and I hope this doesn't look too complicated because it really isn't, it's a simple five step process. I hope I explained it well and if you have other questions, please ask.

Thanks

PS: if you have specific questions about the van, please ask and I`ll do my best to answer them.

So you have been warned, told where to look, and told they are out to steal your money.

Hope this helps!

E.Z.