Be Suspicious Of These Specific Home Brew/Craft Beer Websites!

There are 3 identical websites that was just registered for one year and created within the last 2 weeks that are operating under the names Home Brew Shop and Home Brew Supplies. They are capesixbrown.com, capesevenbrown.com and goldbloomsix.com. These websites appear to be geared towards the Craft Beer home brewer/hobbyist and features several various “Beer Kits” and supposedly they are a web-based supplier of these kits. So what is suspicious about these websites you ask?

First..Below is a screen shot of one of the websites..all 3 are identical to this one word for word except 2 of the sites say they are located in Georgia, and the other is located in Florida and also the images shown in the slider are different.

Normally most people wouldn’t give much thought about all that, however when websites pop up that are copycats of a LEGITIMATE business website, you have to be suspicious and question whether these websites are real or up to no good. The legitimate business website they have copied belongs to the Cap n Cork, a brick and mortar business which has been in business since 1985 in Michigan. Below is a screen shot of their website located at www.capncorkhomebrew.com and has been online since 2005.

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Second..all three business addresses on the copycat sites are high profile virtual mailing addresses that anyone can get for about $39.00 a month. There is no physical business that customers can visit although the websites state they were established in 2010. You can learn more about what virtual office mailing addresses are and how scammers use them here: http://businessidtheft.org/Education/BusinessIDTheftScams/VirtualServicesandTechnology/tabid/103/Default.aspx

Third…There is no order buttons, checkout links or payment processor located on the 3 websites and although it says “Visit our online Beer Store for the best beer and wine kits in Georgia” (or Florida depending on which site you are on), there is no link to an online beer store on these websites. But there is a link to the online beer store on the Cap n Cork website that they copied.

So why were these 3 craft beer websites with strange domain names such as capesixbrown.com, capesevenbrown.com and goldbloomsix.com created? As in the case of many other fraudulent sites on the web, obviously they were NOT created to sell Craft Beer Kits, but possibly created in order to appear as a legitimate business to whomever they are trying to recruit “client managers”, “operators” or “account managers” for a work from home job scam much like those we have previously warned our readers about.

So beware and always research ANY company or business that has contacted you about a job..especially if the offer sounds too good to be true.

How These Scams Work

After sending out the initial “recruitment” email to job seekers with resumes posted on job sites usually appearing to come from a staffing agency, they follow up with an email written to appear as coming from a legitimate company however, the offer is always too good to be true offering a work from home job with excellent pay, bonuses and a full benefits package usually including 3 weeks vacation the first year!

They require the “employees” bank account supposedly to deposit the employees paycheck (of course the employee never receives) but actually as they tell you later, a checking account is required so the employee can receive funds from “customer orders” and then send the funds to a third party or their “out of country suppliers or contractors” to complete the customers order.

The employee’s task is to withdraw the deposited funds, go to Western Union or Money Gram, document and wire the funds to the third party (usually overseas) which is usually several thousand dollars! However, the funds the scammers deposited in the employees bank account is stolen of course and the third party “out of country” supplier the employee wired the cash to, is actually the criminals who then vanish, leaving the “employee” holding the bag to repay the stolen funds out of their own pocket or possibly face prosecution once the stolen funds has been traced back to the employees bank account.

Watch this video on our Facebook Page HERE to learn more!

What To Do If You Are A Victim

If you have fell victim to an employment scam like this, you need to contact your bank immediately and close your account IF you have provided your account information to the scammers. Next file a police report with your local authorities and then file a complaint with the FBI’s internet crime center at http://www.ic3.gov/

If you provided your personal information like ss # birthdate etc , you need to contact the 3 credit bureaus- TransUnion, Equifax and Experian,  and place a fraud alert on your report. These criminals can steal your identity and may try and obtain credit in your name. Doing this will alert you for at least 90 days about any suspicious activity.

In the hands of a thief, just your name, address, Social Security number or date of birth, can be used over and over months- even years down the road to:

Open new lines of credit
Seek medical attention
Drain savings and retirement accounts
Provide an alias when arrested
Get a job or file false tax returns
Get Payday Loans in your name
Obtain service agreements for cellular service or utilities
Obtain Government Documents such as a drivers license or passport
And MORE!

That’s why I highly recommend you get some sort of ongoing identity theft protection such as the services offered through companies like LifeLock-Visit Their Website Here or Identity Force-visit their website here! LifeLock and Identity Force are both reputable companies that monitors your accounts and alerts and protects you from identity theft.

Have you received a suspicious email offering you a “job” with Home Brew Shop in Atlanta Ga or Home Brew Supplies in Orlando Fla or other work at home “client or account manager” or “operator” job that you never applied for? Feel free to copy and paste the email in the comments so we can help alert and prevent others from becoming victims.

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