Buying online, online searches and Scams oh my!


 

I was looking for a source for Type 50 tubes (used, new) and came across PSVANE WR50 new mfr.

I've used PSVANE EL34 tubes in a PP NFB amp, they're not that awful, were a set of cheap backups and an early learning experience.

I’ve read several articles on PSVANE tubes (good, bad, ugly), that’s NOT the discussion here (puh-leeze) but in my searching I came across this website as the 18th or 20th link: https://www.newportboardgroupllc.net/

I had a friend once who was a purchasing agent, buying/selling overstock, warehouse sales, out-of-business/bankruptcy sales brokering deals at ridiculous prices ("ten thousand cans of blueberries at a profit of 10 cents a can for me adds up to a Corvette in my garage," he once said) so I wasn't surprised to see a set of tubes selling for $400 elsewhere ($320 best price on Aliexpress) for $77 a PAIR here.

I had a similar experience recently with looking for Hashimoto OPTs - too good to be true, I mean and I didn't buy from them - so I dug deeper.

The address given is on a corner lot farm property in northern Wisconsin somewhere. Not unreasonable as in modern-day e-commerce one can work out of their car or under a beach umbrella with the right tech.

A search on "WHOIS" shows the group is registered in California (Godaddy, same as I use), but ultimate ownership seems to be someone in Singapore.

That's Singapore SE Asia, not Singapore Wisconsin.

I tried sending email but the link was broken as were most of the other info/FAQ links.

I use BRAVE browser so no malware or other nasties got loaded onto my iPad.

While this sure is tempting, it isn't blueberries and no telling what I might get, paypal/bank accounts hacked and drained, a box of broken glass and metal, no box at all.

 

Just FYI and wondering if anyone has come across this site or has had similar experiences?

This "New World Disorder" is fascinating.

Norm

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Showing 2 responses by normb

@chrisoshea 

Yeah, I’d gone through this exercise before, looking up the address, the “WHOIS” bit (coached by a friend in Australia of all places who pointed some of the discrepancies and inconsistencies of the previous scam to me) and since having an absolutely BIZARRE telephone experience about 10 years ago with a “Nigerian prince” who was selling his nation’s Ham Radio equipment dirt cheap (no, I didn’t buy but I did call just for entertainment and research purposes), this ad STILL “caught my eye” and I dug a little deeper. Call it “hope against hope.” I mean, we’d ALL like to get something for nothing (and our chicks for free).

Good to read others’ notes and experiences about similar “deals.”

I’m as much a free market guy as the next classic Jeffersonian liberal but this “New World Disorder” and global innerwebs sales is amazing, isn’t it?