Sunday, 6 October 2024
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Schwalbe raises alarm on fakeshops

Schwalbe is the latest brand to warn of fraudulent online retailers, having discovered online stores that falsely refer to the Schwalbe brand without actually offering Schwalbe products.

The manufacturer has seen several cases in recent months where e-commerce sites make reference to Schwalbe in prominent places: with the logo, product photos or even entire item descriptions, suggesting that it is an official Schwalbe store: “These deceptively genuine looking fakeshops are used to defraud buyers, who pay money but never receive any goods.”

To protect customers from fraud, Schwalbe has taken a number of measures: Firstly, a permanent domain monitoring programme is underway, which searches the Internet for sites that make reference to Schwalbe and create the impression that they have a business relationship with the brand. At the same time, the family-owned company has been taking legal action against all fakeshops. Several cases have already been successfully concluded in this way and the sites are no longer accessible.

Schwalbe’s official website can be found at www.schwalbe.com. In Europe, products from the tire manufacturer can only be purchased through wholesalers and retailers. In North America Schwalbe tires and tubes can be purchased additionally over the official Domain www.schwalbetires.com.

Schwalbe has a quick checklist on what to look out for in suspicious stores online:

– Checking the payment methods (be careful if only prepayment is possible)

– Test call in case of doubts, since fakeshop numbers often go nowhere

– Checking commercial register numbers