Internet fraud
Watch trade on Chrono24 exposed to security problems
Virtually every day, new announcements and warnings about internet fraud are issued. It seems that the more elaborated the security precautions are, the more elaborated become the fraudsters’ tricks. The internet crime rate continues to grow rapidly. Again and again, online buyers have to come to realize that the presumed bargain was actually a rip-off.
Apparently, also the watch marketplace Chrono24 is affected by these problems. Under the heading “security notes” it is stated that there was an “increase in fraud-attempts during the last months”. And, more specifically: “Do not buy from a seller acting under one of the following names: 'Yenal Bambetov', 'Dmitry Gordienko', 'Tamerlan Akhmadov' or 'Timura Panzhokov'.”
Moreover, in our opinion, the statement “Please keep in mind that a seller’s identity (especially that of private sellers) is not checked by chrono24.com” does not really inspire much confidence among many watch buyers, precisely because more and more criminals have discovered the watch trade on the internet with its high sales for their criminal activities.
That is why TrustedWatch consistently focuses on security and prevention of criminal operations. All registered vendors have been verified comprehensively and also the offers of each member are subject to regular control procedures. In order to further minimize the risk of misuse, no private seller can put an offer on our watch marketplace. Only with these qualified measures, criminals can be deterred and a secure market environment can be ensured. Our customers are worth this effort.
Update November 08, 2008
After our report was published on our homepage on October 31, 2008, the German text under “security notes” on Chrono24 was changed as followed:
Old version:
“Please keep in mind that a seller’s identity (especially that of private sellers) is not checked by chrono24.com.” And there was an “increase in fraud-attempts during the last months”.
New version:
“Please keep in mind that a seller’s identity (especially that of private sellers) cannot be checked entirely by chrono24.com. Unfortunately, there were some fraud-attempts during the last months…”
How the new “not entire” verification is carried out is beyond our knowledge. We find it remarkable, that the fraud attempts now do not happen “increasingly” but “unfortunately”. We have nothing more to add.