Recently I came across a couple gun websites when I was trying to find a best price on an item that has been showing up well above MSRP at many places. I found a couple websites that had big red flags. One red flag is any website that doesn’t seem to want an FFL to ship a gun. Also sites that say they accept crytocurrency is another red flag. I looked into these sites with a “website.com name” scam search on Google and some had very low ratings on places that track the validity and reputation of websites but others seemed to think they were okay.
In a couple cases scam detectors like McAfee and Norton thought they were ‘safe’ but clearly some were not as they had the issue of not requiring an FFL for shipping a gun. Another red flag is a gun or accessory that is too low in price. I saw a couple of those. And recently had an email from Walther arms warning about these 3 sites:
I think some of those have been taken down but one is still up and doesn’t seem to want an FFL to buy a gun. Unfortunately I didn’t save the other ones I found recently to post them here but if you have doubts about any online website just ask here or any of the gun forums to see if others have had issues or not with them.
I also noted the websites I am sure are fake seemed to all have a similar website layout. This one is still up: https://waltherarmsusa.com and is similar to what I saw on other sites. Another thing you can do is run the webites URL on who.is or at https://lookup.icann.org which can show when the website was created and other related info.
Earlier this year I bought a magazine for a gun from www.dpwfirearms.com which turned out to be a big problem. Nothing shipped, could not contact by email for phone. After calling the local sheriff in Eagle Mountain, Utah I found out from the very nice helpful sheriff that they were aware of this guy and he was screwing a lot of people. I know this guy had an FFL and when he finally contacted me after filing a claim with my credit card company he apologized saying he had been sick but based on what the sheriff said I think it was more than just that.
So be careful who you order from online. I suspect many of the fake websites are being run by unscrupulous people outside of the United States.
If they don’t take a credit card, but do take crypto… fuhgeddaboudit.
Also, if suspicious, do a Google Earth search on the address if they have one. You may be surprised that a gun shop is actually a bank… restaurant…car dealership etc…
I’ve also seen sites change their url daily when people are aware of them being thieves. I love spamming those pos.
Yes although most of the ones I saw seemed glad to steal via credit card also. Here is one more I found when I recalled what I was searching before. I’m fairly sure this one is FAKE: https://bestgunssale.com as they have prices way too low on some guns, do not have any physical address listed anywhere on their site, only accept Zellopay, CashApp and PayPal (Paypal does not allow guns to be purchased with PayPal) and they don’t say anything about needing an FFL. While their website looks a bit better than some fakes and they have a phone and email I cannot imagine how this one is anything other than FAKE.
I’ve found a routine test to quickly tell if a site is legit. I add 10,000 of my favorite, rare handgun, e.g. a Sig P238 Legion, to the cart and see if I can check out. If the site let’s me get to the part where I enter my personal info, it’s bogus!
TacXprogear SAME…will take orders…call you an ambassador…then will get you to become a “member” but give nothing of value each month but a headache. My husband and I had to dispute about $75 worth of items we never received. They take orders before the items are in stock and give your contact info to multiple tactical gear “sellers”.
Stay away from TacUSA. I ordered a laser sight, and it was in transit for 1 month, while tracking said it would be delivered in 5 days. I called for refund, waited, then called and threatened with the FTC, and it came 2 days later. I don’t trust thia company at all.
Same thing happened to me with SpekterTactical located in California. Bought a sight in late July, called about a month later and was told it would be shipped within 10 days. Called again in early October, told it would be shipped within the week. Called again Nov 22, got no answer… Emailed that I was cancelling the order and wanted a refund. Haven’t head back, but don’t expect to. Next call is to the state attorney general.
2/4/22: Just received my sight!! It took numerous emails and phone calls since my first post in November. They kept telling me it would be shipped “next week,” “this week,” “in 10 days,” etc, etc, etc.
, which is the main one we have been using for this purpose?