Website Name
SwitchOnlines.com
Website Type
Online Nintendo Console Store
Is SwitchOnlines Fake or Real?
Fake
Why Is SwitchOnlines Fake?
SwitchOnlines is an online store that claims to be selling Nintendo consoles, handhelds and accessories and low prices. The prices being offered are too good to be true. For example, the website is offering the Nintendo Switch brand-new at $249.99 at a time when even used Switches are selling for upwards of $350 due to a shortage. We have seen other websites similar to SwitchOnlines, such as NintGameset and Rocheng that turned out to be scams. Let’s find out if this one is any different.
A domain name lookup of the website shows that it was registered on 3rd October 2020 in Nevada, USA. The registrant’s name and contact information have not been provided. Though the domain name has been registered only around two weeks back, the footer of the website claims that it is running since 2009 which is clearly a lie.
The website is bare-bones and does not even contain an About Us page. There is no information given about the company even though the website is using official Nintendo logos and marketing images. SwitchOnlines’ usage of Nintendo’s trademarks seem to be illegal as there is nothing to suggest that they are an authorized reseller or associated with Nintendo in any way.
The Terms & Conditions page also seems to be fake as the same text has been repeated multiple times. There are also random company names like ‘dressforsale’ and ‘Official Shop’ mentioned in the Terms & Conditions.
SwitchOnlines does not seem to have any social media presence. The contact details provided are a phone number, email ID and address. All the details seem to be fake due to the following reasons:
- The phone number carries the area code of Connecticut even though the domain is registered in Nevada. TrueCaller displays the name as ‘Spyder Man’. Therefore, this number probably does not belong to a business at all.
- The address provided is of a residence in Virginia. Therefore, the domain registration, phone number and address are all of different states in the USA.
- The email ID carries the domain name of an inactive website – weswitch.online – and was found to be not working when tested using VerifyEmailAddress.
There are no reviews for SwitchOnlines on websites like Scamadviser and TrustPilot, which is not surprising considering it is a new website. However, there is a review available in the form of a comment on my Facebook page. The customer has stated that they ordered a Nintendo Switch from the website but received a dollar-store phone case.
It seems quite obvious that SwitchOnlines is a scam. Nothing about the website seems legitimate. The prices seem to be fake as they are offering brand-new switches for $100 less than the price of used ones. The website footer says it has been active since 2009 even though the domain name was registered only in October 2020. The terms and conditions page contains the same text repeated several times and mentions random company names.
All the contact details seem to be fake too. The email address has a different domain name and does not work. Though the domain is registered in Nevada, the phone number is of Connecticut and the address given is of a house in Virginia. The only review available states that the customer received a cheap phone case instead of a Nintendo Switch. It is advisable to avoid shopping on SwitchOnlines as there is no reason to believe it is a genuine website.
To read about other fake e-commerce stores, click here.
How to Get Your Money Back from a Scam
Remember: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
If you have been the victim of an ecommerce scam, you can take the following steps:
- Lodge a complaint at the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
- File a complaint with the payment portal and ask whether the payment can be reversed.
- File a complaint with the Consumer Complaints Forum
- Leave a negative review on review portals such as Scamadviser, TrustPilot, OnlineThreatAlerts and SiteJabber
- Report the website to Google using the Suspicious Site Reporter extension for Chrome
- Give a low rating to the website on Web of Trust. You can also install their extension for the same.
Disclaimer: This review is intended for information only and should not be relied on when making financial or business decisions. If you are a website owner and would like to provide clarifications regarding your business and/or website, please get in touch using the Contact Form.