Hoax+websites

​  I agree, this activity was fun to do. It made me consciously think about and look at every little detail about the website and to really take a fine tooth comb over any faults. This was easier said than done. One of the most obvious hoax websites was the drop bear site. Without even looking at the details, I knew it was a hoax. Anybody who knows Bunderberg Rum or is from Queensland will know of the famous 'drop bear' ad from Bundy Rum. I made that connection immediately. However particular websites that I had limited knowledge of the content, made it difficault for me to tell if they were hoax webites or not. For example, what is Havidol! I am thinking that anything can sound scientific if you put a scientific name to it. Although I don't think I have ever heard of a "Dysphoric Social Attention Comsumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder" in my lifetime. Sounds like a freaky form of Syndrome X. The explorers webite is another example. I remember doing a project at primary school on Sir Francis Drake so was horrified and slightly amused when I saw that he was born in New Jersey and not his native UK. As mentioned earlier it is very difficult on a limited knowledge to sometimes distinguish between real and fake websites. That is something that I will address as a teacher to my students.

-Damien 4th Sept

Funny stuff!!! i really enjoyed doing this activity - but sadly people are out there who create websites in order to confuse you into believing something that is not true. I detest getting emails asking me to send money in order to collect my so called 'prize' although i may know that it is a fake email students who have never come across something as devious as that may actually believe it. It is so important to teach our kids about critically analyzing literacy not just on websites but on t.v and when reading newspapers or checking emails and letters. There are some fantastic websites out there like the explorers webpage we were asked to look at. I went straight to christopher collumbus and i find it funny to read that he was born in Sydeney in the 1940's straight away my head went into overdrive with deep thought... and then i realised that it MUST be a hoax site even though it looked so real! Even to trained eyes people can be deceived. As teachers we need to be warely and ensure our students can make informed decisions in the internet world as well as the real world!

-Emily 2nd sep  **  //

I am amazed at how much effort has gone into creating some of these sites! It has made me think about how my own children could be easily fooled and produce homework or projects that could be completely incorrect (imagine what it would be like as a teacher reading a homework project on explorers that used the explorers site for information! A rather amusing giggle!!) It is good to know how many sites are out there that are designed to help students recognise misinformation. It has been good to explore some of these hoax sites and realise we really do have to critically evaluate every site we use ourselves or recommend for our students to use. Faye Park 26/09 //

Russell Totham - 25th August - Hoax Websites.**

Stephanie thanks for the links to sites that help determine the authenticity of websites - in terms of their content. I guess by one definition a web site is authentic if it exists. I had a look at the ones referred to in Module 2 and had little trouble seeing that they were in all cases full of amusing and silly information. The ones about Stick Insects, the Pacific Tree Octopus and Australian Drop Bears were amusing and the one About Explorers a little more subtle. The Mechanical Marvels of the 19th Century and Dihydrogen Monoxide both seemed full of rubbish or silly information. Dog Island was funny and the HAVIDOL site a great send up.

I found some additional sites to help check the content of a website - Quality check for your Web site http://patrice.ch/en/computer/web/articles/2001/jul_28 and one that sells software to allow you to perform a range of checks on web sites - http://www.hisoftware.com/products/accverify.html.

Reading other posts it is quite astounding just how much information is out there and accessible; so having a knowledge about where to go for quality checks is important.

//Stephanie Cockerton//
 * 24 August 2009**

I have just looked at the websites on this week's activities and posted a response in the discussion thread; then I had a look on the internet for websites that offer advice on hoax sites and emails. There are so many of these sites that I started to think that some of THEM may be hoax sites. One or two do offer what sounds like good advice, however. Have a look and let me know what you think: [|**Bright Hope Designs**] offers simple advice, bullet-pointed for people who are not sure about the authenticity of websites; [|**Intelligentedu.com**] also offers advice and goes further by putting a dollar value on the time spent by people working through hoax sites and emails; [|**Hoax Busters**]lists websites that have (according to this website) been shown to be hoaxes. Finally, [|**Microsoft**]has taken the initiative to offer advice on phishing and other threats from hoax websites and emails. There were many other sites that claim to offer advice and help, but as I mentioned earlier, I was cautious to trust too many of these 'helpful' sites.

= I have researched the topic of //Evaluating Websites// and I thought I would include links to two printables here, that I believe will come in handy for when we become teachers. They are both from the International Reading Association. The site recommends the [|Online Comprehension Strategies Diagram]be displayed in the classroom as a reminder and the [|Is this a Hoax?] worksheet be given to the students when they are searching the internet for information. May not interest everyone but I thought I would share with you all. (Sally, 23/8/09). =

I have just posted some comments to the discussion board…

Most of the hoax sites were quite humorous and the Tree Octopus website apparently was a famous internet hoax some years ago according to Wikipedia. With most of the sites the fact that they were hoaxes was obvious. The Explorers website however looked convincing. I agree with Naomi - It was only through reading about the explorers that the hoax was revealed. Some hoax sites are very obvious. The Stick Insect and Mechanical Marvels websites were very well produced but the content was clearly humorous. Other hoax sites are not as obvious and it is not until one starts reading the content and thinking about it in terms of one’s own knowledge that the hoax is seen.

I am now researching to find sites to use in the classroom. I will have to be careful to ensure I am using reputable websites. Catherine Chalmers 23/08/09

I have to say WOW! Some of the sites were really obviously hoax sites and I had no problem identifying them. I did have question marks at the explorer site but after reading the other posts, I realised how I had been duped. Some of the sites really made me laugh and I can hardly believe they are up on the web. But this also rings warning bells because students will believe these things. They are impressionable and don't know how to discern, so the onus is on us, as teachers, to make sure the information is credible. I was even confused when I saw the copyrights at the bottom, but I quickly realised that that is no guarantee for credibility. Some of the sites were easy to pick because of the use of personal opinions. 

**Glynis Gaertner 22 August 2009**

 * __Hoax websites__**

After looking at all the websites Sharon had listed (week 20) I became very aware of just how little I know about websites and the infomation in them. A lot of these sites have incorrect information which made me laugh, especially in the explorer's website where Christopher Columbus was born in 1951 and then went exploring in 1942 and 1939. Young children who have not learnt much about world history and have limited understanding of time lines/numeracy could quite easily take this information to be true. Another favourite was the endangered rainforest octopus who "Greenpeas" supports the cause. Again children with low literacy skills would read Greenpeas as Greenpeace (the real society). This exercise has made me more aware of some of the dangers I will need to cover when teaching in the classroom. Most children when set a task are usually keen to get the job done quickly and therefore could easily go into one of these sites and take the information as being true and include it in their assignment. Most of these sites looked very professional and even included links to other sites, thus making it even harder for young children to pick the site as a hoax. I know now that I will need to be more vigilant in my supervision of the children in my classroom. Naomie O"Loughlin 16th August, 2009.

16th August 2009 - Alison Jales

I agree with you. My adult EFL students have the same problem recognising if information on websites is reliable or not, and they have been known to put blogs in their academic essay reference lists! Unfortunately, it's necessary to have quite a good general knowledge and experience to be able to judge which websites from a search list are likely to be accurate, appropriate and useful. I wonder if with children it would be better to do some searching first and then bookmark a number of sites (perhaps using delicious) so students can still choose where to search, but within limits. I know that it would take time to do this, but you could leave the bookmarks for use on another occasion thus building up a collection of bookmarks. It would also mean you wouldn't have to supervise the children individually pointing out when they were reading something that was not true.

16 August 2009 5.10pm - Janine O'Loughlin I agree too. I'm still surprised by the number of adults who believe every sappy email hoax about a sick kiddie somewhere who wrote a heart wrenching poem, or who feel the need to share titbits of "information" about "political conspiracies" with me, that have been circulating since before the internet was invented! If adults can't be discriminating then how can we expect kids to be? I highlighted this as one of the dangers of Web 2.0 technology in my blog because see children at school who really believe that if it's on the internet it must be true. Maybe if children were shown some of the nonsense and false information and encouraged to look at it critically, then they could start developing their critical literacy skills early on. We need to teach and demonstrate critical thinking and evaluation skills to our children and our students. I like Alison's idea of bookmarking sites and limiting searches - it would probably help the children to focus too - sometimes too much choice is just confusing.

17 August 2009 2.50pm - N Airey Whilst I was browsing web pages on identifying hoax web sites I came across this check list. This would be ideal to hand out to students when teaching them about hoax web sites and even a handy reference for us to use. I found this and lots of other helpful resources at []

snopes.com can sometimes be helpful when checking out hoax sites. One of my girls was stucked into the Tree Octopus, so over the next few days we will be exploring how to tell if sites are reliable. There is a definite trend, especially in the school were I work for the students to believe just because it is on the net! Justine 19/8/2009

August 20, 2009 13:46 - Antje Petry I found that by looking at a website and checking first who is the owner, than if the site has a copyright, using a reliable security program to check for risks and if the site contains references that can be checked and are not owned by the same person or company as the origianl website, you can avoid many hoax sites. Of course the content of the site needs to be investigated as well, this is the point where I have fallen victim to the explorer website. This website is owned by a school district had teacher resources and references, if I would have taken the time to check the actual content of the site I would have found not just the context of the explorer to be a hoax but also checked out other related links. One of them even stating that this site was intended for students to learn about using the web for information.

When looking at the hoax sites I quickly realised how easy it would be to not recognise a hoax without having some prior general knowledge of a subject. The clever photography in the 'mechanical marvels' site show how easy it is to make false information look realistic. Students certainly need to be taught ways to identify hoax sites themselves when researching on the Internet, and as a teacher I plan to carefully check out information sources before using them in class. (Trudy. 20-8-09)

Of the web sites listed I only found one that I thought may be a 'real' website, and that was the one about dihodryn monoxide. The others all seemed to have something in them that was a bit far fetched, such as the stick Insects for the blind. I think that the implication for students and teachers using the web for research would be that they should always look for more than one source of information so that they are able to double check thier information. I would feel pretty silly as a teacher telling my students that Christopher Columbus was born in Sydney and then went on to discover America! It is a good skill to learn to always double check your information before believing something as a fact. Megan (22/8/09)

The "poison" dihydrogen monoxide is water - 2 hydrogen atoms to 1 oxygen atom. This is probably the most insidious form of internet misinformation. Nothing in the information presented is a lie - but every bit of information is tainted by the initial assumption that this compound is a poison. The reader's expectations and mindset are manipulated cleverly. I know that this website is funny (if you're in the know) but even some of us were fooled. I had the advantage of being shown this one by my son (his science teacher had shown the class the website as an example of poor scientific reasoning and misrepresentation). Janine (23/8/09 - 8.00pm)

 Hoaxes aren't new and you could demonstrate to students that they should carefully evaluate information from all media including television, radio, newspapers and magazines. They could watch this famous television program about the [|spaghetti harvest in 1957] or read an article from [|The Onion newspaper]. Just because these stories are a hoax, that doesn't mean they couldn't be useful classroom resources. You could even get students to write their own.

Alison (23/08/09 - 23:25 pm)

After looking through a few different hoax websites I was thinking to myself "surely no one could believe this"! Especially the one about drop bears, I found it quite amusing to read. You would think that whilst reading people would discover it was a hoax because it has no evidence throughout the piece. However I guess i could see how some people may believe it if not living in Australia or not knowing alot about our country. I love the picture of the cute cuddly koala with vicious fangs!!! Bec (24/08/09 - 6.57pm)

After spending some time exploring the web sites provided I have realised that while we have been questioning the need for teachers and their role in web 2.0 technologies learning, it has reinforced to me the vital importance of the teacher. The teacher needs to carefully facilitate the use of web 2.0 technologies and carefully source appropriate resources for students to utilise. They must explicitly teach the sourcing of appropriate materials and how to tell what is relevant and valuable and what is not. Fortunately there are clues that can be made evident for students to consider while exploring a site to identify its suitability and/or correctness and as shown by some of my peers through our wiki there are some supports available to assist with this problem i.e. read.write.think resources. I can understand how students may be easily tricked into believing what they are reading and be unaware or unable to separate fact from fiction particularly if the topic is unfamiliar to them. Bronnie (24/8/09 6:32pm)

Hey Guys! Some of those hoax websites were hilarious! Guess I'll be looking out for tree octopuses and killer koalas from now on!!! I feel that a good way to assess how valid a website is, is to look at the address. Anyone can create a .com or a .net website, there are no restrictions. I found this useful website about identifying hoaxes http://www.cyberangels.org/ Mel ✄


 * Hoax Websites.

Too funny, I enjoyed looking and reading through all the sites. This will be a good way to illustrate hoaxs to the students, they will all laugh at the tree octopus and the killer koala. A good way to hold their attention while discussing a serious subject. The explorers was great to show the students how easily it can look professional. Even if Jacques Cartier is holding a diaper!!

Katrina**

Hi all, I enjoyed looking at these websites but feel a little worried. Everyone is saying the Explorers site was a hoax but I thought it was the only one that was not. The false info in the explorers bios was a deliberate tactic to teach kids about reliability of online resources and they in the web quests the kids were directed to sites that would give them the chance to find the accurate info. Based on my judgement all the other sites were hoaxes. Thanks to people who have posted links to resources that help students make these judgements because I relyed on my general knowledge and critical literacy skills to judge the hoaxes and for children who are not looking to detect a hoax, sites such as the tree octapus one could catch them.

Niko 25/8/2009 9:30pm

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">I loved reading through the hoax websites. I am amazed what people can set up and what others will believe! When my family are bush walking my husband has my children worried about drop bears by thowing a stick in the trees and saying -"watch out for the drop bears!" Needless to say I have printed out the article so he can see how drop bears have evovled! When I check out hoax websites/emails I use a web site to check authenticity. This is the link to the site - [].

Jo Piening 27/8/2009 2.39 Hi Everone, I too am astounded at the amount of hoax websites. Why do people take the time to bother creating these sites. Our school had a meeting this afternoon for parents and staff and those interested to attend a course that showed the dangers of cyber bullying and hoax websites. This was the first time in the four years I have been at the school that I have seen this offered so I am happy they are finally going to extend these warnings into the wider community. I was so dissapointed I could not attend ( due to excursion) and I can't wait to gather some info about it tommorrow. I will keep you posted if I find out anything we have not discussed.

**What a great learning experience this has been. Some of the hoax websites were obvious, and others far more subtle. Thanks to those who have provided the links to sites offering advice on hoax sites. It will be so important as teachers to look at all sites critically, and to question the purpose of the site, and the underlying attitudes and beliefs. Kids can be so trusting, and believe everything they see on the net. As adults we can sometimes be fooled too! We needs to develop our own critical literacy skills, and to teach children those skills if they are to be using the net.**

Well isn't it interesting what people spend there time on creating.... :) I was rather impressed with the amount of effort some of them made. However on a serious note- it is more evident to me now that although the internet is a great way of finding information, it also has its down falls. When I was at school I never had to question whether the research book I was using from the library was credible or not- however times have changed. Students do use the internet and it is very convinient, as long as they know where to look and what to trust. But thats why teachers and parents will always be needed. :) I found the following website very useful for information and ideas on preventing cyberbullying etc.- [|www.netalert.gov.au] [Bec Cotter- 29/08/09 11:05am]

I think I might send the link to the Drop Bears site to some American friends of mine. Over drinks 10 years ago a group of us Aussies convinced them they were real (they must have thought we were a reliable source!)

Another thing came to mind when I was talking to my teenage niece about an essay she was doing on Bob Dylan. I was asked her where she started her research (wikipeadia) and if she crossed checked her information and how. Her answer was quite defensive "Of course I did - I'm not stupid." I asked what sites she used to cross check her information, and they were just random fan sites. She got very annoyed and defensive when I asked her why she should believe these sites. Before then, I didn't consider how embarassed students may be for believing incorrect information on hoax websites and how this embarassment can make them withdraw. I think that students need to be aware that anyone can be fooled by certain webpages and that there are strategies that can be used when judging the contents of a site. Nicole Ryan 29/8/09 14.26

<span style="color: #2ca52c; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">It's amazing the trouble people go to when building hoax websites. Wow! I must admit that until a year or so ago I did not realise that wikipedia shouldn't always be trusted. Seeing as you can actually add your own information and change what is already there, it is open to anyone doing anything! I have been aware of email hoaxs for a long time and now whenever I get an email that sounds a bit suspicious, I check it out before forwarding. If it is a hoax I usually try to politely inform the sender that they have been had. I know that with my youngest child, he tends to believe everything he is sent or finds on the internet. He can be so easily fooled into believing almost anything...and he is a reasonably intelligent 13 year old. A.C. 31/8/'09

<span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 140%; text-align: left;">**Like many others i got a laugh out of the hoax websites especially the use of stick insects as guide dogs and must admit to using the drop bear story on my American friends like Nicole mentioned. What these sites made me think about most was how important it is to supervise our students and children when using the internet. So often computer time is given as free time or time to work independently. We should be aware and interested in what our students are viewing. I am also amazed at how creative people are with their hoaxes but don't know where they find the time to create these sites. K.Spry 31/8/09** **//​//** I was amazed at the level of commitment some people have to mislead others. I am so glad to have come across the hoax websites and I was oblivious to them, had heard of them but never needed to check the validitiy of any of the websites I have used for research; I tend to stick to websites I know have authentic ideas, such as the journals in UniTas library. K Pepyat 4/9/09

=
**I agree with others that the websites were really funny but it also showed the truth that people are out there creating fake sites. It might be easy for us to identify the fake sites but not so easy for children. Thanks for all the links about helping to identify hoax sites. Claire** ======

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Like so many of you...some of those websites are funny! But, wow, what a scary thought of how mislead our students can be! I was amazed that people actually find the time, to mislead others in such a way, and it's rather worrying especially as a parent, and of course an educator. As both parents and educators, I think it is essential we understand what our students or children are accessing, so we can guide their own judgements and to ensure the information they are using using is actually correct! Cheers Lacey Sep 7th

<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">After having read the posts by others in the Information Technology course about hoax websites, I could not help by wonder what my childrens’ school is doing to combat the influence of hoax websites and the availability of incorrect information from unreliable resources on the internet. So, I decided to pay them a visit and find out how they incorporated the use of the internet into their teaching without worrying about students using wrong information in their learning. Although the list is not comprehensive, the following are a number of ideas I was provided with as ways to minimise students’ being influenced by wrong information: 1. Install a site advisor (e.g. McAffee) into the computer internet system of the school: this cross references all websites students are looking at and tells them if they are reliable, suspicious or not reliable. Reliable websites are marked with a tick, suspicious websites are marked with a question mark, while unreliable websites are marked with an x. 2. Put parental controls: this restricts students from accessing sites that are inappropriate and minimise their searches to educational websites or organisations within certain databases. 3. Use “google” advanced search options: this filters the commercial websites. 4. Teach students about the simple rules of using the internet safely: - ensure there is an author for the site. - ensure there is a date on the site. - ensure you get a feeling of professionalism when you first look at the website. - ensure the website does not consist of discussions. - ensure that you always cross check information for validity (don’t take information as correct and true from only one source). Although most of us are now aware of the ideas listed in item 4 already, the first 3 items were new information for me. I hope this information becomes useful for you in your future teaching as well. (Olga Ashour 12 September, 2009)

<span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">What a great eye-opening activity. This is the type of activity we should be exposing our students to <span style="color: #00aaff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 169%;">hands-on <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> experience is always effective. I guess that is why we all seem to be benefiting (as well as being <span style="color: #c700ff; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 130%;">entertained <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">) from carrying out this activity ourselves.

I guess when a site has a genuine looking format it is easy to understand our students (as well as ours!) reaction is to take the site as authentic. Possibly something quite important for students to learn - looking genuine/authentic does not mean it actually is. It does not seem to be in our nature to be sceptical - the word <span style="color: #00aaff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 143%;">'gullable' <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> is ringing in my ears! I guess sticking to the <span style="color: #ffff00; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 182%;">GOLDEN <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> rule of only using scholarly sites and information, as well as <span style="color: #2ca52c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">'.edu' <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> and those that come highly recommended from fellow teachers etc. <span style="color: #00aaff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 182%;">ALWAYS <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> taking a critical approach is not going to cause any harm! (it is not being sceptical, it is being <span style="color: #ff5c00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">CYBERSMART <span style="color: #000080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">. We all need to be able to distinguish fact from fiction online and learn the copyright basics. We all need to develop good browsing and searching skills so we are only visiting safe sites and finding appropriate information. We need to know how to review a site before using it. Finding out how old the information is, who wrote it, does the site have contact details, a privacy policy or copyright statement are things we need to be doing. Teaching students to always source their information from more than one site, and to always compare the information that they find on multiple sites etc. If in a library you can ask for a list of safe websites and search techniques. Take a look at the Australian Communications and Media Authority site [|www.acma.gov.au] for some really applicable information on all areas of being cybersmart. I found the informative advice at this site (which also links to www.cybersmart.gov.au) to cover all basis. <span style="color: #00aaff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Jenny Hamilton 13th September, 2009 [|www.acma.gov.au]

Wow after completing the week 20 ‘information literacy’ activity how many sites are hoax sites and how hard it is (sometimes) to know which ones which. I can now see who many students are receiving wrong information. There are many reasons why (I found) why people set up these sites, some are because they love the topic like to site about The Dog Island, []. I went to the disclaimer and it stated that this site was set up for the love of dogs. I don’t mind that people do this, everyone is entitled to share their opinions and interests but why don’t Google set up a categories for each search that help sifted out these sites so students don’t receive wrong information. Another thing that needs to be addressed is, how do we teacher these students how to understand what a hoax site is? Like Jenny above this post has stated and also Sharon on a number of occasion’s sites that end in .edu or .org are ok to use. Sites that end in .com usually want to sell something like a product or message. Also sites such as [|www.education.vic.gov.au] have links that support teachers and students to be cyber smart. Some of the links are: · http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/ This site gives parents, teachers and students a better understanding out technology from the internet to mobile phones. · Australian Communications and Media Authority. Which the above is supported by, is an association that helps regulate the no call register, e-spam and security as well as online practice. [|www.acma.gov.au]

Gabriella Baldassarri 15/09/09

<span style="color: #2ca52c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**__// HOAX WEBSITES //__**

Obviously there are people out there with a lot more time on their hands than me!!!! My son was recently was convinced by a teacher at his school that we would be ablre to see Mars just like we can see the moon, my husband and i both got excited but after researching this event we discovered it was a hoax. The teacher was very embarrassed. [] check this out to find out more about the Mars hoax. The site we checked out about the endangered tre octupus had me also thinking about how there was so much content and how a student could easily be fooled by its content and may use it for an assignment. I will now go and speak to my son about hoax sites and let him show me what he discovers. Already he has worked out that youtube is always safe after looking up dragonball Z and discovering that the cartoon had been dubbed and it was inappropriate for him luckily we are always looking over his shoulder. So now he explores schooltube and i find that lays my mind to ease. <span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Tara-Lee Irvin 21/09/09. After looking at the hoax sites I wasn't surprised. I got caught out real bad one time by a hoax website. They looked so legitimate. ABN, contact details etc. The following is the details of what happened.

MSN/E-mail: topsupplye-sale3@hotmail.com website: [|http://www.topsupplye.com]

I viewed their web site (it looked very impressive and very professional) I then requested a price list, everything seemed to be genuine and the emails were fast and friendly, after 2 or 3 times communicating back and forth with one of their distributors, I agreed to make a small purchase totaling under $700US, my only stipulation was I requested to make my first trade using Paypal, but they declined and insisted on direct deposit, I took a chance and a month later, I have sent them 22 emails, none of which they have replied to, I don’t believe now I will hear from them again. They set themselves up with an ABN number and everything appeared ligitimate. This was the final letter I got and now when you google the company they are no longer there just a forum informing people that they are an illegal enterprize. So many people got caught. They set it up for a fortnight and shot through. Dear friend, Thanks for your time. We have the Brand new Original brand **//<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Hard dirve such as //** **//<span style="background: yellow; color: #c00000; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Western Digital ,Maxtor,Seagate,Hitachi //****<span style="color: #002060; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. ** Branded new 60% discount on whole sale prices. These are **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Original brand, new, factory sealed packaging, international warranty.MOQ:5pcs. Accept drop ship. **  We offer delivery by **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">EMS/DHL/TNT express courier under 3 days to your destination and delivery is to door step. **   We accept payment by **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Western Union, Money Gram and T/T **. Your early reply will be highly appreciated. Best Regards, Sarah Fei(Sales Manager) MSN/E-mail: topsupplye-sale3@hotmail.com website: [|http://www.topsupplye.com]
 * <span style="background: yellow; color: red; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The Hard drive pricelist is in attached .pls check for more discount,if bulk order . **

2 things I could have done better, First, looked at some forums to find out about their reputation as distributors .The day before I sent them my money, a fellow seller in NSW sent them $25000US and has heard nothing back from them either and second, insist on paying with Paypal, because in circumstances like this, Paypal would just refund my money. Lesson learnt Caroline 21st September 2009