Is buyforbabies.net legit?

cloaked7

I did a google search for the 76039 Ant-Man set that was abruptly retired and is sold out on lego.com.  buyforbabies.net showed as a purchase option in google, so I went to the site and they had the Ant-Man set for $24 free shipping.  The website looked OK, but I had never heard of them and the toll free phone number listed on the site looked odd.  I thought - I can pay with my CC and be covered if something is amiss, so I put some 76039's in my cart and went to check out.  Some strange payment options were available - Cash on Delivery and then only PayPal. (more concern on my part)  Silly me tried the PayPal option for payment, but it didn't accept my password so I really thought something was up.  I immediately went to PayPal and changed my password.  I don't think buyforbabies.net is legit.

cloaked7

I just got off the phone with PayPal.  It appears that I was right.  When I tried to make my payment it could not transfer the money, because there was no PayPal account on the other end to accept it.  So, it looks like they were just after my password, which has now been changed.

BrickCreator

Clue #1: .net
Clue #2: 1800 - 1570 - 033 (looks more like a UPC than a phone number)

Glad you got on the phone with PayPal right away. Fast thinking to immediately change your password!  

Andor

Nice Save!

madforLEGO

Someone needs to change the title of the thread to 'Is buyforbabies.net legit? NO' :-)

paul_merton

I don't know why your PayPal password wouldn't have been accepted, as the payment flow on that site does seem to take you to the real PayPal website, rather than a phishing form. Did you check you were actually on the PayPal website before you typed your password in?

Also, the use of a .net domain really doesn't act as an indicator of fraud. Many legitimate sites use this top-level domain (and equally, there's nothing to stop a fraudster from using a .com domain if it's available).

However, the domain was only registered in October 2015, yet the website claims it has been running since 2008. Also, there is no physical address on their Contact Us page, and the "BBB Accredited Business" A+ rating logo links through to a completely different organisation. Those are the real reasons to be wary.

kiki180703

Also, when you add something to your cart, it says "Loadding" =)

kiki180703

I tried to checkout (with a fake name and address obviously) and it redirects you to paypal.com and not any phishing sites.

kiki180703

I made some research and the owner and admin of the website is in Panama. You read right, Panama!!!! ;)

paul_merton

^ The domain was registered through WhoisGuard (essentially making it anonymous). It's them who are in Panama, rather than the actual owner of the site/domain.

cloaked7

paul_merton said:

I don't know why your PayPal password wouldn't have been accepted, as the payment flow on that site does seem to take you to the real PayPal website, rather than a phishing form. Did you check you were actually on the PayPal website before you typed your password in?

Yes, it did take me to PayPal.  That part was a bit strange.  It did accept my password, although I thought the problem was that it didn't.  I thought I fat fingered my password and carefully entered it again and got a message about the transaction not being able to complete.  That was when I got real concerned.

When I contacted PP they said they saw my logging in.  The issue was that there was not a PP account on the seller's side to accept the transaction.  That was a good thing, because had the transaction went through it would not have raised that last red flag to me and caused me to change my password.

As other people have noticed, there were some other red flags about the site.  The 24/7 phone number was not valid.  The on-line assistant didn't function. 

paul_merton

Ah, that makes sense then. There probably wasn't any need to change your password in that case, but no harm in being sure!

cloaked7

^  Yeah, better safe than sorry, I figured.  I have A LOT of $$ in my PP account.  Well, did have!  :-)  I transferred all but $50.00 out of PP right before I changed my password.  

KingAlanI

I transfer money out of my PP account ASAP anyway, and I usually withdraw it from the destination bank account right away.
A balance would be useful to not wait on transfers or fund fee-free personal payments. Do you keep a balance for that or some other reason?

cloaked7

I think PP is secure, as long as your password is secure. (which is the case for pretty much any on-line account)  I have never had any issues with PP.  I keep my eBay money in PP for months.  It would be a hassle for me to transfer money out each time I received a payment.  But, to each his own.