Difference between NRS and NRS Outdoor Safety?

[tketcham]

I was going to order a pair of NRS Boundary Socks and instead of ending up at NRS.com I ended up at NRSOutdoorSafety.com

What's the difference? Or is NRS Outdoor Safety a scam site? If not, why the two sites?

 

[paddler123]

Looks like a scam, or at best a reseller. The nrsoutdoorsafety.com domain name is registered in China and has been around less than a year. The nrs.com domain is registered in California since 1995.

 

[tketcham]

Thanks. I've placed a fair number of orders with NRS so this new web site caught me by surprise. Glad I caught it though.

 

[eckilson]

Looks like NRS doesn't it. Not sure I would have caught it.

 

[recped]

I was just doing some window shopping at NRS and came across this page:

How To Detect a Fraudulent NRS Website or eCommerce Store

Learn to identify counterfeit and fraudulent NRS websites and ads, resolve disputes with credit card companies, and protect yourself from scammers posing as NRS dealers.

www.nrs.com

It must be a significant problem if they are posting public warning pages.

 

[tketcham]

Looks like NRS doesn't it. Not sure I would have caught it.

They mimic NRS's website very, very well. At first I thought it was some kind of alternative online store for water sport/safety professionals. Something similar to what Filson offers for foresters, loggers, ranchers, etc. Darn artificial intelligence is going to ruin web retailing if this is how convincingly they can spoof websites.

I just submitted a fraud alert with the FTC. Hopefully they're still funded.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I'm running into the same kind of thing with bicycle accessory companies. First hint is the too-good-to-be-true prices.

 

[Gamma1214]

They mimic NRS's website very, very well.

Yep. They even cut & pasted the "about" write-up where they talk about their Moscow, Idaho headquarters. (they did, however, remove the phone number from the "contact us" section).

 

[scoutergriz]

I'm seeing more and more of this in all areas, not just retail. A former employer's company shut down when he died suddenly, but his son still owns the copywrites and legal title, yet last year I saw a hiring add for the business. I called the son and he knew nothing about it, they had the name, logos, and even some original pics of the fleet and various jobs.
Turned out the "company" was in Bangladesh and was running an immigration scam promising expedited entry (with a huge fee of course) to work in Canada when no jobs actually existed. they've since been shut down and have warrants for their arrest, but I highly doubt they'll ever come here to be served.