Psystar: Hoax or fraud?

By | April 16, 2008, 3:02pm PDT

Update as I was writing this post: So I just talked to a woman who answered the phone at Psystar. She said the company would post a statement on the website regarding all the questions regarding the company by tonight or tomorow. I asked her if they were actually shipping the computers and she said “the website is fully functional.” I repeated the question and she said they were on schedule for the first shipments within 7-10 days. I asked if they were actually processing credit cards and she said the website is fully functional. I asked her to confirm that Rodolfo Pedraza is the principal of the company and she said, “you can confirm it yourself, sir.” I asked her why the address on the website has changed and she referred me to the press release coming tomorrow. Now to the regularly scheduled post:

***
Curiouser and curiouser is the saga of Psystar, alleged seller of a Mac clone and ready and willling to take on the full power of Apple Inc.

Charles Arthur reported in the Guardian that the address on the company’s website changed from 10645 SW 112 St, Miami to 10481 NW 28th St, Miami. And as of this writing the address is 10471 NW 28th, which appears to be right near the Miami Airport.

Gizmodo readers have scoped out the first two addresses and found the first to be a residence and the second to be a T-shirt shop, where the owner has never heard of Psystar.

Tom Kravitz at News.com posted the corporate docs for Psystar at this PDF, which show its registered to Rodolfo Pedraza.

Gizmodo also features a screen shot of numerous companies registered to Pedraza, noting the only company that appears to be active is FloridaTek. But when I called the number at FloridaTek, I heard laughter and a man answered “Hello.” Not the most professional greeting. I asked for Rodolfo but he said he wasn’t available right now.

At a minimum a hoax. But to what end? More likely a fraud to suck in gullible Mac fans, if they are in fact processing credit card numbers. Tom said he ordered a machine and paid more than $500. He might want to contact his credit card company. As for me, I’m checking in with the Florida Consumer Protection Agency tomorrow.

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Richard Koman

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Richard Koman

Richard Koman is an attorney admitted to practice in California. As a technology writer since the mid-1980s, Richard Koman has documented the role of computing in the transformation of the graphic arts, the growth of the Web and the birth of the peer-to-peer phenomenon. He worked as a book and web editor for O'Reilly Media throughout the 1990s, editing several influential websites and numerous best-sellers. As a lawyer, as well as a tech writer, he brings a unique perspective to the blog's intersection of law, government and technology.

Talkback Most Recent of 10 Talkback(s)

  • clarifications
    . first of all you could have done the check concerning the existence of the compagny by yourself, I could do it, not even knowing comercial compagny regulation in the US
    . second what is proposed is technicallt completely possible, at the prices available on the web site
    . third, I have in my surrounding compagny that are that small, that young which are selling hardware on the web
    . fourth, given that the florida registry for compagny do not give birth dates, it is impossible to know if rodolpho pedraza was indeed involved in all the compagnies listed
    . fifth rodolpha perdraza was involved for year at floridatek, which focuses on network infrastructure, which is not alien to computer assembly
    . sixth, the main registrar for the compagny is not rodolpha pedraza, but Roberto Pedraza

    based on these facts which are accessible to you with a little ( like 20 minutes to do the search and the cross checks ) research, hiow can you imply that this is either fraud or hoax, without stating that it is possible that a small local pc assembler just installing could offer mac clones for the selling ?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    s_souche
    16th Apr 2008
  • A few suggestions
    #1- Learn how to write in English ... or at least learn to SPELL CHECK. Most of your post sound like a babbling rant that makes no sense.

    #2- From the few items that are readable, you seem to ignore IMPORTANT facts like FAKE MAILING ADDRESS and the questionable legality of selling Mac clones.

    #3- There company is registered to RODOLFO Pedraza, not Roberto like you claim. Only 3 letters of both words are similar. You must think that we are pretty dumb to confuse the two very distinctive (spanish) names.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    wackoae
    16th Apr 2008
  • A few for wacko
    1.) Don't be an ass. Focus on the message, not the messenger.

    2.) The mailing address isn't fake.

    3.) Both Rodolfo and Roberto Pedraza are listed in the business registry for Psystar.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    PDX57
    16th Apr 2008
  • Live by the sword, die by the sword
    Before you take it upon yourself to correct the misspelling and/or grammar mistakes of others, it's a good idea to take care of your own propensity for errors.

    The first word in #3 should be "Their", not "There".

    If you're going to use "ADDRESS", the singular, in #2, you need to install an "a" in front of "FAKE", as in "a FAKE MAILING ADDRESS".

    "sound" in #1 should be "sounds".

    The three (not 3) letters referred to in #3 are the same, not "similar".

    That sword's sharp, isn't it?

    On a final note, it would probably be a good idea to remember that things on the Internet are available, with few exceptions, worldwide. The fact that someone goes to the trouble to post in English should be sufficient. If you're too busy to take a little extra time to study the posting and make a real attempt to get to the meaning of the posting, then simply don't read it. To do otherwise is to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, just how petty and small minded you can be. Not something I'd wish to broadcast to the world, were I you.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Dr. John
    18th Apr 2008
  • Looks like fraud to me
    If they're taking prepaid orders but nobody can find their physical location, it's fairly certain it's a con game. In the unlikely event that the business turns out to be legit, I'll be happy to retract and apologize.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    John L. Ries
    16th Apr 2008
  • ZDNet Gravatar
    wackoae
    16th Apr 2008
  • RE: Psystar: Hoax or fraud?
    Looks like someone is selling these on eBay under the username "egyptianleopard". http://tinyurl.com/582mxr
    ZDNet Gravatar
    kdf11a
    17th Apr 2008
  • eBay seller
    Notice that the eBay seller has a total of only 9 feedback
    messages - all as a buyer - nose as a seller. Even curiouser,
    all of the viewable feedback is for small ticket items.

    Strange that someone (supposedly in Ohio) would start their
    eBay selling career with this kind of unique and big ticket
    item.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    mrosch
    17th Apr 2008
  • RE: Psystar: Google the address
    I decided to use Google (http://maps.google.com) to see the address. The satellite photo of 10471 NW 28th, Miami, FL seems to be a residential neighborhood. It's near the MDCC campus. Hardly a "factory" in any traditional sense, but I suppose a "Mom & Pop" operation might be possible, if not unlikely.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    NoCalDrummer
    18th Apr 2008
  • RE: Psystar: Hoax or fraud?
    I have an ex-business partner who tried to do this. He sold
    computers on television with no intent to provide support -
    later even failing to ship anything to his hapless victims who
    thoughtlessly gave him their credit card numbers. He is
    serving 7 years in a federal prison with no parole. You see?
    Some of these stories have very happy endings.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    JacWm
    21st Apr 2008

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