First Verification Step

I talked to a company today after receiving an unsolicited email regarding iPhones for sale.  When I started to verify them by asking for their business information, such as address, phone number, and business license they replied saying that information was sensitive.  How can this information be sensitive?

It is not.  Any business should be able to tell you their address unless they do not want to due to not having a business location, location in an apartment, or another reason.  Though I have always pointed out that business location does not disqualify anyone.  But the lack of giving a location should.  A phone number falls into the same catagory.  Anyone can purchase a prepaid cell phone and make up their location, but to not give a business number when requested also seems unusual.

Finally, all business registrations can be looked up in their respective state.  This is because they are public domain and thus public knowledge.  Any business therefore should freely give you their business license information.  This is also the first step to building a trusting relationship, but this alone does not mean a business is legitimate.

After passing on the response I received from the business I received the following email.



Glenn,

Thank you for sharing the information about the response you got from the company not wanting to share their business license information. It was brought to our attention there were people duplicating messages and having them sent out with the same list of contacts, and with the same products with price variation. I have been doing some research into seeing if there was any legitimacy to these sites, but have come up short with an excuse when asked about fly and buys. The message stated that fly and buys were accepted in New Jersey and when I asked if this was possible, the answer was I could not do this on first orders, shipping to address only! I had came to the conclusion either both were scammers, or one had copied from the first email sent out. hopefully this will be resolved and only your legitimate site will stand out among the rest. Your posting of your business information displays your honesty to your members and for that is appreciated.
Thank you