BEWARE - Bogus Bergara website - https://bergarafirearmstore.com

[Ken Reece]

I placed an order through what I thought was the Bergara website. The payment was made via the checkout process. When I did not get an order confirmation from Bergara I attempted to follow up with emails and phone messages. After no response, I finally sent a note to the European offices. I finally got a response that it was a known issue. They claim they have notified the public. Has anyone seen any notification from Bergara? I certainly have not. Needless to say, I am not pleased to be out several hundred dollars. Not to mention the difficulty of simply getting answers from anyone at Bergara US.

Please pass this on to anyone you know in the Bergara community. The sight is an exact clone of the "real" Bergara site and was linked directly from Google.

 

[021411]

Hmm what link did you order through? https://bergara.bpishopping.com/shop.html ?

 

[ocabj]

If someone is spoofing another site of an entity, that entity is not responsible for fraud that takes place on that spoof page. I work for a major public institution and our users are targeted by fake authentication / login spoofing our institution all the time, and that's assuming we somehow find out it exists.. We can reach out to the ISP who owns the IP that the fake page is being hosted at, but there is very little recourse to get something taken down. Cease and desist letters require legal review and even then takes time.

The sight [sic] is an exact clone of the "real" Bergara site and was linked directly from Google.

Search engine results can be poisoned through SEO. This is why I have taught my parents the proper way to go to their regular sites (like financial, medical, etc) and not use Google, but to either type in the link directly into the URL (and not the Google search engine field) and/or save the bookmark.

Furthermore, your thread title is misleading. If someone makes a clone of another website, they didn't 'hack' that website. No breach of the authentic site is required to spoof another site at another URL.

 

[Ken Reece]

It was a direct link from the google search. As mentioned, Bergara is aware and supposedly has notified customers. News to me and I am on every Bergara forum I am aware of.

 

[Ken Reece]

This is simply a public service announcement to help others. I am painfully aware of how it happened and my options for recourse

 

[slowworm]

First post with zero actionable content.

Which URL did you actually go to? There are many possibilities returned in search results. So what's the fake one?

Presumably you used a credit card. If so your first port of call is to your CC company.

Bergara has not been "Hacked" as state it. For that to be a persistent issue they would have had to lose control of the DNS registration and the web site, and to have absolutely no support from either provider. I run a couple of cheap sites for folks on the side and have no issues getting support that would remedy this situation very quickly.

Falling for a fake website scam is not Bergara's problem, it's yours.

 

[Ken Reece]

Thanks for the welcome message Sloworm. I edited the original post so it might be more to your liking. As mentioned above, I am painfully aware of how it happened. I am trying to help the community not fall for a scam.

 

[Baron23]

Thanks for the welcome message Sloworm. I edited the original post so it might be more to your liking. As mentioned above, I am painfully aware of how it happened. I am trying to help the community not fall for a scam.

Dude...what is the fucking problem with just telling us the URL OF THE SPOOFING SITE and which is the real site. That's not hard.

You have to have this info based on the interaction you described.

And no, saying it was a "direct link from Google" is NOT useful, informative, nor is it the info you were asked multiple times to provide.

Asking what the URL of the fake site appears to be a common theme in the responses....for good reason.

Post the URL or whine somewhere else. And yes, this is not overtly friendly....you were asked, you edited your OG post, and you still won't list the fucking URL so STFU about this being a public service announcement cause you are still leaving people ignorant.

Cheers

 

[mv1arms]

How many Bitcoin did the item cost?

 

[Ken Reece]

As mentioned above it was a direct link. I have no idea what the URL was although Bergara does by their own admission and is working on it supposedly with their legal team. Again as mentioned above, this is to make people aware so they do not make the same mistake. Not sure what point you are trying to make. I got scammed. It is my problem I am well aware. Thank you so much for sharing your POV though

 

[Ken Reece]

No bitcoin Spoke to my bank this morning as well. Received a full refund.

 

[Ken Reece]

Is there a way to just delete the whole thread? It appears to not be useful as I intended.

 

[jb0311]

Don't worry about the local retirees getting their blood pressure up here. Some of them have nothing better to do than sit on their porch and shake their fist at everyone that drives by. No need to hold their hands or pay them any mind. Just carry on. Good to know that this is a known scam as i never saw anything from Bergara on this either.

 

[Ken Reece]

Thanks, jb0311

It was embarrassing enough to post that I was the dummy who got scammed. Didn't expect that response from this forum. I just did a google search again and the top result when looking for B14r magazines is the dummy site - https://bergarafirearmstore.com

I wish I had their SEO person. Getting a ranking like that over a real site is not easy to do.

 

[b6graham]

there's like 10 bergara scam sites when i search

 

[Ken Reece]

Wow! I must be really lucky. I have been online since the dial-up days and have not been scammed in the past except for a shady eBay buyer. Do you have some sort of program that verifies the authenticity of a site? or just clicking on the link and viewing the hidden full address? even then, how can you be sure when the site is an exact clone? I have been a technology nerd for years, but have never really ever had the need to look into this aspect deeply. I would never have expected a scam site to have ranked the highest on a google search. Lesson learned.

 

[Baron23]

Thanks, jb0311

It was embarrassing enough to post that I was the dummy who got scammed. Didn't expect that response from this forum. I just did a google search again and the top result when looking for B14r magazines is the dummy site - https://bergarafirearmstore.com

I wish I had their SEO person. Getting a ranking like that over a real site is not easy to do.

 

[hlee]

Okay, class, can anyone identify the markers of a scam website?

So, I can just drop a rifle in the shopping cart and buy it? Not even a warning that it needs to ship to an FFL?
Zelle?
10% off with Crypto?
Pretty much any site with firearmstore in the name is a scam site.

 

[akmike47]

Found the one site that has something OOS everywhere else, definitely a scam.

 

[akmike47]

Okay, class, can anyone identify the markers of a scam website?

View attachment 7892430

So, I can just drop a rifle in the shopping cart and buy it? Not even a warning that it needs to ship to an FFL?
Zelle?
10% off with Crypto?
Pretty much any site with firearmstore in the name is a scam site.

Zelle/crypto being th payment options are the scam hallmark

 

[AZ Dan]

EVERYTHING is in stock? Only accepts Zelle and crytpo?

If you didn't know it was a scam, that is your fault. This type of website scam is WIDELY known in the gun world....dozens of other firearm manufacturers have also been cloned by this same type of site structure; Bergara is not unique.

 

[021411]

I went looking for scam gun websites on purpose - I found 635 of them

I had heard some people saying that there were lots of scam websites with firearm brand names in the urls scamming people. I looked at some of the examples that were mentioned on other forums and started to see some patterns. I decided to use my e-Commerce, Domain and Internet skills to see if...

www.snipershide.com

 

[MDof2]

I'm starting to have ZERO sympathy for people getting scammed online where they pay with Zelle, Bitcoin, etc.
Buy a gun, act now, and get a couple jugs of Varget as a free gift too! Fuck. Seriously.

Visa, MC, Amex, or get bent.

 

[Peahi2]

I'm starting to have ZERO sympathy for people getting scammed online where they pay with Zelle, Bitcoin, etc.
Buy a gun, act now, and get a couple jugs of Varget as a free gift too! Fuck. Seriously.

Visa, MC, Amex, or get bent.

And just send us Zelle or bitcoin....and no usual FFL verbiage.

 

[Peahi2]

Thanks, jb0311

It was embarrassing enough to post that I was the dummy who got scammed. Didn't expect that response from this forum. I just did a google search again and the top result when looking for B14r magazines is the dummy site - https://bergarafirearmstore.com

I wish I had their SEO person. Getting a ranking like that over a real site is not easy to do.

Thanks for finally sending that. Official looking website...kind of

 

[femadog]

Found another site very similar. Something seemed off and I was going to ask here if anyone dealt with Bergara Gun Stock and if they are legit. THis limk popped up and it had the exact same looking checkout page. Hard to believe no one in the world seems to have a LH 22 Trainer.......