Guobing Wang is a professional internet thief from China who creates websites, primarily offering cigarettes, for the purpose of duping people into sending him money for cigarette orders that he has no intention of filling. He has recently had to change the name of his cigarette website, which he now calls kkare.com. Previous names of his scam websites were cigarettepurchase.com, cheapcigarettsoutlet.com, and suncigarettes.com.
I ordered a carton of Gauloises Caporals from www.cigarettepurchase.com on May 15, 2013 for $26.50. I was instructed to send money by Western Union wire transfer to a Zhen Huo in China to pay for this order. I sent that money on May 23, 2013, and it was picked up by the recipient on May 24, 2013. I have yet to receive the cigarettes I ordered, nor have I received a refund despite asking numerous times.
I ordered a carton of Gauloises Caporals from www.cigarettepurchase.com on May 15, 2013 for $26.50. I was instructed to send money by Western Union wire transfer to a Zhen Huo in China to pay for this order. I sent that money on May 23, 2013, and it was picked up by the recipient on May 24, 2013. I have yet to receive the cigarettes I ordered, nor have I received a refund despite asking numerous times.
A month after placing the order, I attempted to contact cigarettepurchase.com to find out where my order was. I sent several replies to the order email I was sent when I placed the order, a few emails through their contact form at the website, and an email to the president of the company, Guobing Wang, whose email address is published on the website, but every one of those have been ignored by the thieves. I was bilked out of the $26.50 payment for the order plus the $5.00 it cost me to send the money by Western Union, a total of $31.50.
When I realized cigarettepurchase.com / cheapcigarettesoutlet.com / suncigarettes.com / kkare.com was just scamming people out of their cash, I reported the scam to both Western Union, the Federal Trade Commission, and my state's attorney general's office. I also sent an email to the abuse department (abuse@singlehop.com) of their website host, singlehop.com, informing them that cigarettepurchase.com is a fraudulent operation that is stealing money from consumers by promising to send product in exchange for funds sent to them by Western Union. They ultimately told me they would not shut Wang's website down without a court order.
There are many reviews and complaints on the internet made by those who have been duped by the thieves at kkare.com / cigarettepurchase.com / cheapcigarettesoutlet.com / suncigarettes.com. Some of those you can see here at the LINKS TO OTHER VICTIMS tab above. I would encourage anyone who has had their money stolen by Wang to fill out a complaint at one of those websites so the extent of kkare.com / cigarettepurchase.com / suncigarettes.com thievery is documented on the internet to help warn other potential victims.
Do not trust kkare.com / cigarettepurchase.com / cheapcigarettesoutlet.com / suncigarettes.com, and for goodness sake, DO NOT send them any money unless you want to be ripped off. The reason they have you send them the money by Western Union is because once they get their hands on your cash, there is no way you can get it back unless they decide to give it back to you, and that's not going to happen. If you send them money, I guarantee you, 100%, you will never see the cigarettes you ordered, nor will you ever see your money again. The only way the thieves at kkare.com / cigarettepurchase.com /cheapcigarettesoutlet.com / suncigarettes.com can scam you out of your cash is if you let them.
Other fraudulent websites Wang owns and operates in addition to cigarettepurchase.com are
suncigarettes.com,kkare.com,unitedstatescigarettes.com,cheapcigarettesoutlet.com, internationaltobaccoonline.com and t-shirtscustom.com.
It appears the only way to stop these thieves is to warn others about them so that no one sends any money to them. If you have been taken by these crooks, the least you should do is to file a complaint with a website on the internet, such as SCAMWARNERS or SCAMBOOK, so that anyone researching Wang's fake websites can see that they are ripping off a lot of people; the greater the number of reports the better.
The following is a copy of the order I placed on the crooks' website.
This is a copy of the order confirmation email they sent me:
This is a copy of the email Western Union sent me on 5/24/13 to verify that the money I sent to pay for the cigarettes was, in fact, picked up by Huo:
kkare.com promises cheap cigarettes online, but all you get is the shaft after you send them money. kkare.com suncigarettes.com, cigarettepurchase.com, cheaqpcigarettesoutlet.com or any other website run by Guobing Wang are ripoffs.
Pollyjollywolly@gmail.com lets nail these jerks. They got me for $55.50
ReplyDeleteHi Polly. Make sure you make complaints to the Federal Trade Commission, Western Union, and singlehop.come (abuse@singlehop.com)
DeleteI have left a reply on the Scam website. We cannot go to the courts. We do not have "clean hands". We were doing something illegal by purchasing cigarettes online. I only lost $37.50 as I thought when something is too good to be true, it usually is.
ReplyDeleteIt's not illegal to buy cigarettes or any tobacco products online; there are many websites in a variety of countries, including the USA, that do it. If it was illegal to do, they would not be doing it.
DeleteIt's not illegal if you subsequently file the appropriate tax forms to pay the taxes, etc that you were avoiding by buying them online. Let's face it though, no one that went to this website and got scammed intended on paying the government any of the taxes they would pay had they gone to a local store and bought their carton. One of the first clues that the site is not legit is the fact that it says "duty free within USA" and all payment details point back to China. 1.) In most states if you order cigarettes from the internet you still have to pay the originating state's tobacco tax, your home states's sales/use tax or a combination of the taxes...so the price would be false. 2.) If you order cigarettes from outside the US they can be held up at point of entry in which you have to pay a fee to open the case and then proove to the gov't that you were not avoiding taxes/duties/fees. Illegal cigarette transit is a BIG ISSUE with the gov't because it means big bucks. The same goes for purchasing alcohol online.
DeleteThanks for that info, Ryan. The reason I purchased the Gauloises from the website is because they were the only ones who are selling them. I searched high and low for the cigarettes, and they were the only ones I could find who had them. The taxes were not an issue with me, but I can see where the government would be concerned about that.
DeleteI guess it was just too good to be true that Wang was selling them when no one else is. When I was searching for them, I got the impression that Gauloises had quit making them.
thanks Robert for taking the time to warn everybody, but the real big scamer is " Western Union," they could stop all scamming but they make billions. sorry you are going after the wrong people....
DeleteActually, Western Union told me that if people who have been ripped off by cigarettepurchase.com send a complaint to their abuse department, they will stop money going to that individual. I know this is true because when I ordered from them last May, I was told to send the money to a Zhen Huo. After filing a complaint with Western Union, they stopped him from receiving money from them; now it is someone else who they are telling people to send money to.
DeleteThe problem is that when ciragettepurchase.com gets people to send money to them, they have them send it to an individual, not the business. When one of the receivers is blacklisted by Western Union, they just have someone else pick the money up whose name Western Union doesn't know..That person will pick the money up from Western Union until he or she gets blacklisted by Western Union, at which time they just have someone else pick it up.
Also, Matthew, if people heed warnings about them and do not send money to them, it will stop their thievery without involving Western Union. That is the purpose of this website - to warn people who are thinking about sending them money that they will just be ripped off if they do. The site comes up near the top whenever anyone googles "cigarettepurchase.com."
DeleteI buy mine at www.cigspot.us they are a company here in the United States. they are only fifty dollars a carton and take only a few days to get to me here in California. You have to pay by bitcoin but they are legit. I have been using them since 2017.
DeleteThank you, Robert! Just trying to find brands that aren't popular can be a problem; thus, I've become resigned to the fact that I need to try to buy via the internet. These scammers are also using U.S. Cigarettes Store.com. Thankfully, I decided to research the company before placing an order.
Deletei ordered the same gauloise caporals as you on august 5th....and still have not received them!!
ReplyDeletesame 26.50+5.00
hilhound@gvtc.com
And you are not going to receive them, nor will you receive a refund. I even gave them a WU debit card to put the refund on a month ago, and they have not done it . Since I asked for a refund and gave them the card number, they have ignored all my emails.
DeleteIF ONE OF YOU GUY STILL HAVE ORIGINAL EMAIL REPLIED BACK FROM YOUR EMAIL ABOUT ORDER ( USUALLY SCAMMER REPLIED BACK WHEN YOU SENT THEM THE WESTERN UNION CODE . GET THE MESSAGE HEADER FROM THE EMAIL REPLIED TO YOU WILL SEE ALL INFO WHO SENT IT , EMAIL ADDRESS OF SENDER, DOMAIN INFO ...ETC {IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO OBTAIN THE MESSAGE HEADER ...GOOGLE IT VERY EASY) ONE OF THE PERSON WHO MAY BE APART OF THE SCAM IS IN CALIFORNIA , USA ...YOU WANT TO KEEP THAT EMAIL TO FORWARD TO INVESTIGATOR, AND ALSO SENDER USING GMAIL ACCOUNT THAT COULD BE REPORTED TO GOOGLE OR GMAIL FOR ILLEGAL , FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES SO THEY CAN SHUTDOWN THEIR EMAIL.
ReplyDeleteI have several emails from them. I will check on that and definitely report them to Google.
DeleteOK, the email address the are using is 294214732@qq.com. qq.com is a Chinese website. I am going to try to do some research on it to see if they have a place to report abuse.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHere is the webpage to file a complain to FTC
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/GettingStarted
Robert , we all know that FTC having ton of cases daily so just a few reports of one website commuted fraudulent and scam doesn't make any move at all however if every single one of us ( victims ) file a complain more and more then some day the complain file will be touched and investigation process would be conduct .
ReplyDeleteI agree, Loc. Victims need to file a complaint with every agency possible to get these frauds stopped, and I encourage anyone who has been ripped off by them to do that.
Deletehere for all smoker the only one selling cigarettes online with good customer service you can trust is here i don't have any problem to buy from them
ReplyDeletehttp://www.direct-dutyfree.com/
of course pricing is not too good to be true neither ...LOL but still lower than you buy from retail store.
here we go please report this scam of cigarettepurchase.com to this website :
ReplyDeletehttps://www.scambook.com/submit
Ripped me off $ 180.50 from July 17, 2013 I never received my order, nor of course my money back, stoles me through western union payment.
ReplyDeletePlease ANY responsible of law intervene at last, after www.cigarettepurchase.com continues to operate in the internet usa.
They ripped me off for a carton of cigarettes too. Too bad there wasn't a way to refer them to a Chinese governmental agency. That would really put the heat on them.
ReplyDeleteMake sure you report them, Anonymous. I'm afraid that there are no Chinese authorities that care enough to do anything about it, but you should report them to Western Union, your state attorney general, and your local police as well as the Federal Trade Commission. I know that a state attorney general will follow up on a complaint because I have gotten correspondence from mine after filing a complaint about their website.
DeleteI got ripped too, but I gave up onit, I dont wanna get into this mess, but just letting you know, I got ripped off, and I emailed them, they said wait for it,
ReplyDeleteThanks, Anonymous, for letting everyone know. I would encourage you to submit a report to http://www.scamwarners.com just so others can see how many folks have been ripped off by these crooks. There are already a lot of reports filed on the internet, but the more there are, the more others will pay attention to them and not be victimized by these thieves.
DeleteI placed an order one week ago. I was uncomfortable with the idea of sending a Western Union payment, but went ahead. For one week one, my order status has shown pending. I asked for an explanation but never received a response. I should have done a google search one week ago instead of today, I could have saved myself the cost of buying a scam lesson. Thanks for having this information available, I hope anyone looking to buy cigarettes online will first do a search on websites like cigarettepurchase.com
ReplyDeleteYeah, been there, done that, Anonymous. I wish I had done an internet search to check out their reliability too so I could have found out that they are just a bunch of crooks.
ReplyDeleteThis blog does come up in google if someone searches their name, and hopefully, some got the message before they got ripped off.
Yep, done the same to me, but WU sent them the money twice, so I have lost £170.00, can their website not be closed down to inconvenience them ?
ReplyDeleteThe only way to close the site down would be to hack into it. I'm not hacker or internet savvy enough to know how to do that though.
Deletewell after reading all these comments all of you stopped me from sending them money so thanks. i got ripped off online by a optical place based in brooklyn after many months i got my money back but it taught me a lesson .. when spending money online ALWAYS check out the company. and read peoples comments !!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear it, Troy, because these thieves would never give you your money back. Glad we were able to stop more money from making it into their grubby hands.
DeleteI was also considering of buying from suncigarettes but thought they were probably a scam since their price were less than 1/2 the price of other web sites. I didn't realize that they only accept Western Union but if I did, that alone likely means it is a scam. Thanks to this site, I'll no longer consider purchasing from them or others that are selling at a low price and/or only accept Western Union.
ReplyDelete"Call me Ishmael..." since a name is always nicer than 'Anonymous'. There is absolutely NOTHING to warn prospective clients of this website (not even from Western Union, who have more reason than anyone to protect their good name and their integrity) that this is one massive scam. I just wish I had checked out your estimable 'fraud.blogspot' before I committed hari-kiri and sent them £36:20.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Marseilles, France for a while many years ago and have smoked Gauloises Caporal ever since I returned to the U.K. Recently, when SEITA (the French manufacturers) sold out to Altadis, it became very difficult to buy them here.Two years ago, Altadis ceased exporting 'tabac brune' to the U.K. altogether. Since I live in Edinburgh, Scotland, I can't jump on a cross-channel ferry to France to buy my tobacco so where and how am I supposed to source them!?? The Internet is the obvious solution but it has GOT TO BE better regulated than it is, especially when reports of scams are made to facilitators like Western Union. I've already been through all the recommendations made above but until the suncigarettes.com site is taken down (or, better still, 'hacked' to death by someone who knows how to go about it), there will be more and more victims like us adding their stories to your site.
Thanks for making your experience available to us; the 'bad guys' always get blown away in the end. Eventually.
Sorry to hear you got burned by those clowns, Ishmael, and thanks for the Gauloises information. I smoked them back in the sixties and rolled my own for a while in the early 2000's until their packs of tobacco disappeared from the shelves here in the USA. I guess the sell out to Altadis, whenever that was, basically destroyed the brand forever. At this point, I've basically written them off for good.
DeleteI almost bought from this website as well, then I found out that they offer only western union so I found a better site that I have been using for quite some time and please if you are going to buy cigarettes online please do it safely alot of fraudsters out there. the website that I stumbled across is www.cheapashes.com as you will see they are an american company and there phone number is out of Missouri. I just dont want anyone else to be scammed.
ReplyDeleteFirst Name : QingQiang - Last Name : Meng - Address : Hung Lin Road on the 30th - Zip Code : 361009 - City : XIAMEN - Country : China - Phone : 8659250126235
ReplyDeleteLogin: https://www.westernunion.com send money and select Cash at agent location
Here is the current address they're using as of May 31.2015
I filed at the Federal Trade commission today after giving them my bank credit card info. and 96.50. The western union thing came in tiny type in email after I used my card. Suncigarettes page cannot be found as of this morning June 1st. Thanks for all the info you've shared and sorry to see us all get hurt by these scams. It was my 1st time trying to buy cigs online and I think my last.
ReplyDeleteI use www.cheapashes.ca they are the best of the best and I love them, I never tried these clowns but I don't trust western Union that's another good thing about www.cheapashes.ca they have credit card payments
ReplyDeletewtf
ReplyDeleteI cant get copons for eagal
Jake I also use www.cheapashes.ca they are a great website and I am glad that I found them. No western union and free shipping just cant beat it.
ReplyDeletecheapashes.ca doesn't come up either.
DeleteFirst off any company that wants you to western money them money should be a clear red flag from the getco. The website I have been using for quite some time is www.cigscity.us they are the best in my opinion, I will continue to use them.
ReplyDeleteI also like using www.cigscity.us they have free shipping which alot of these other websites do not have. Although they state on there website orders may take up to two weeks I have all of my orders within a week. I will continue to use them
DeleteI get a 404 error on cigcity.us.
DeleteThanks for posting a reputable website where people can buy and not get ripped of, Jason.
DeleteOh boy! Thank you all for this info. I was going to order from them as well, but thought I'd check out the company before hand.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing you checked on them first, Bren. Very good, intelligent move
DeleteAre you paying more than $5 / pack of cigarettes? I'm buying high quality cigs from Duty Free Depot and I save over 50%.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy I buy with smokeisland.us They never have an issue getting me my smokes here in California
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! I just came so very close to ordering some cigs from this site, including registering with Western union, but became suspicious because the massive range and low prices seemed too good to be true. I then found that the Facebook and Twitter links just looped back to the original site, and a web search couldn't find any Facebook account. But my search did find your site here! How on earth does WU still allow payments to this crook? Anyway, thanks again.
ReplyDeleteI was told they keep changing the names and addresses of the people to whom the money orders are sent as each name gets blacklisted, Anonymous.
DeleteGlad to hear people can find the blog on Google so they don't get ripped.
I almost bought off here myself. I usually shop through a company called tobaccorow.us, but these guys had such great prices. I stopped when I found out they only accept western Union. Also there packages are from out of the country, thats a major problem for us here in the US. I will keep using tobacco row. They just put up there website and moved out of there marketplace store, and offer free shipping with a tracking number for all orders in the United States.
ReplyDeleteI thought about using these people a while back. I didnt tho I use smokeitup.us they have free shipping and have tracking with a money back guarantee just in case something happens with my package
ReplyDeletehey smokeitup.us is the site that I use too. I live in California they get here really quick.
DeleteI live in Michigan I use Smokeitup.us too you have to go pick up a moneypak to pay, but it is completely worth it. I just ordered from them today!
DeleteI get my cigarettes online at ciggiecity.us. They come with a tracking number. I pay by Moneypak, although they do offer bitcoin as a way to pay as well. They only take 3 days to arrive here in michigan. I have been using them for a while now and saving a lot of money. They are based out of Kansas
ReplyDeleteI have been buying from ciggiecity.us as well they are a good website.
ReplyDeleteI have been buying my cigarettes at ciggiecity.us as well. I just received an order in today.
ReplyDeleteI have been purchasing from ciggiecity.us for a while. I pay by moneypak and get my orders within a few days here in Arizona.
ReplyDeletethat ciggiecity.us is a scam site
DeleteI ordered from ciggiecity 3 weeks ago and they said they shipped it but I received nothing. I tried calling and emailing but no response I assume it's a scam as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I only order from Stogieworld.us I have been using them since before they had an actual website. For Years They have delivered my products to me. Yes You have to buy through moneypak or bitcoin but they save me alot of money especially with how much cigarettes cost here in Vermont. They ship out of Virginia and only take about three days to deliver here to vermont.
ReplyDeleteI have been using the stogieworld.us one for a while now. I highly recommend it! I pay by moneypak, I live in Alaska
ReplyDeleteI would agree https://Stogieworld.us is a great website I will keep using them! If you dont want to be scammed maybe you should check into them
ReplyDeleteI have been getting my smokes online at smokecity.us I live in SD and although cigarettes are not hard to come by they are not cheap like they are on smokecity.us. I pay by moneypak alot of companies are doing that due to credit cards not letting you purchase cigarettes anymore online. smokecity.us is a great website though.
ReplyDeleteI have been using smokecity.us as well a good company ships quick and discreet
ReplyDeleteJust got my first order in from smokecity.us thanks for posting they are legit!
ReplyDeleteI get my cigarettes online too. However I buy them from cigspot.us they are a United States based company. They ship anywhere in the world. you do have to pay by bitcoin or gift card though. However they only take a few days to get here to California.
ReplyDeleteCIgspot.us is down. looks like they have been that way for a while. So I will just stick with www.cigexpress.us they are a decent website and their prices are not bad. Alot better than what I pay here in California. You have to pay by bitcoin on their website but shipping is free and they do not take long to get here. They are discreet as well.
ReplyDeleteRichard you are not the only one that uses www.cigexpress.us I have been using them for a long time. I am astonished on how many people get taken on these other websites. I am just happy that I use cigexpress.us
ReplyDeletewww.cigexpress.us is legit I have used them many times
ReplyDeleteI have started to use www.cigexpress.us as well they are an excellent website with great deals on cigarettes.
ReplyDeletewow the bots on this site have really taken over! One word. Ciggiesworld.
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