There are two problems that come up repeatedly as temperatures drop: carbon monoxide poisoning and firewood scams. For the latter, however, there is no detector sold commercially, requiring consumers to be particularly vigilant. Despite the warnings from the authorities, the warnings from the ONF, the number of articles appearing in the press or attacks by ethical pirates of firewood scams is increasing. Sandoz, one of these piratesalso recently trashed one of the many sites of fake wood sellers.
With its 600,000 subscribers on YouTubeSandoz, “militant hacker” according to The world, has been tracking scammers, grazers and other scammers since 2017. And he has knocked heads since then, all told on video on his channel. “My current investigation concerns a particularly damaging scam linked to the sale of firewood, with a network of fraudulent sites based in Benin,” Sandoz explains to 20 minutes. His latest investigations which led the hacker to the site “nord-bois.net” and its German version, “nordholz-discount.de”. “I also listed around twenty other sites managed by the same person,” he confides. Sandoz was able to infiltrate several of these sites and discover the extent of the damage, more than 40 victims since January for “Nord-bois.net” alone and a loss of 70,000 euros. He deleted the content of the site and left a trace of his passage, warning Internet users that it was a fraudulent site. For this site, it’s dead, but there are many others left. To avoid falling into the trap, here are some tips.
Clothes probably don’t make a monk
Without spending too much time, it is possible to create a site that is larger than life, both in its design and in its content. Often, scammers do not invent anything and gain credibility by impersonating real companies, as is the case for “Nord-bois.net”. “Check the date the site was created. Fake sites tend to be recently created. And use tools like that Whois Or ScamDoc to examine the details of the domain,” advises Sandoz. On ScamAdviserthe analysis of “Nord-bois.net” shows that “the website owner uses a service to hide his identity”, that he “is (very) young” or that he “appears to be hosted by a company having a bad reputation.
“Even if a site looks professional with legal notices, this does not guarantee its legitimacy. Do thorough research on the company allegedly behind the site,” adds Sandoz. Simply entering “Pagesjaunes.fr” the postal address listed on the suspicious site will also help you. Either it doesn’t refer to anything and you’re set, or it refers to the real company you can deal with.
“It’s better to be paranoid than to fall for it”
“Scammers often lure victims by offering attractive deals and very low prices. Generally, fake sites will cut prices to the point of ridiculousness to attract victims, says Sandoz from experience. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. » On the “Nord-bois.net” site, for example, a cubic meter of beech or hornbeam logs was offered at 63 euros. Contacted by 20 minutes, the ONF estimates that the current market price is “more like 90 euros per stere in Hauts-de-France, and even 120 euros in Belgium”. An unbeatable price, with free delivery, which pushed Kévin, a resident of Pas-de-Calais, to order and pay ten steres on the fraudulent site.
“It’s better to be paranoid than to fall for it,” insists the hacker. This does not only apply to sites offering firewood. Until recently, certain clues were clear: spelling mistakes galore, questionable graphics, copying and pasting general conditions of sale from real sites while forgetting to change the name… “With the rise of intelligence artificial, fake sites can now appear very professional,” he continues.
“Use search engines to find site reviews”
Here again, you have to search before ordering. “Use search engines to find reviews of the site, feedback from other users, and make sure that the site is not listed as a scam on dedicated platforms,” advises Sandoz.
And don’t blindly click on the first Google sponsored result. We did it for you and it didn’t fail. By searching for “firewood” in the search engine, you first come across the sponsored site “Sterexpress.fr”. It’s a scam, usurpation of the real company “Stères express”. According to information collected during its intrusion into the “Nord-bois.net” site, Sandoz claims that scammers regularly offer the services of specialized agencies to launch advertising and SEO campaigns. So beware, because once your money is gone, you will probably never see him again.