Check This Out

[RadDavis]

http://www.smokerpipe.com/brand-pipes-c-96.html

Bastards.

Rad

[KurtHuhn]

Wow.

Apparently the Chinese have copied Smoker's Haven's site style and stolen a crapload of content as well.

I'm suspicious that the pipes "for sale" don't even actually exist, and are a clever ruse to separate folks from their money and CC info.

I'll bet the domain registration info is fake as well:

Code: Select all

[root@pale-ale ~]# whois -h grs-whois.hichina.com smokerpipe.com
[Querying grs-whois.hichina.com]
[grs-whois.hichina.com]
Domain Name ..................... smokerpipe.com
Name Server ..................... dns25.hichina.com
                                  dns26.hichina.com
Registrant ID ................... hc222083799-cn
Registrant Name ................. xing cheng
Registrant Organization ......... xing cheng
Registrant Address .............. zhongguoxiamenjimei
Registrant City ................. xiamen
Registrant Province/State ....... Fujian
Registrant Postal Code .......... 361100
Registrant Country Code ......... CN
Registrant Phone Number ......... +86.15985850830 -
Registrant Fax .................. +86.15985850830 -
Registrant Email ................ pujingtrade@163.com
Administrative ID ............... hc222083799-cn
Administrative Name ............. xing cheng
Administrative Organization ..... xing cheng
Administrative Address .......... zhongguoxiamenjimei
Administrative City ............. xiamen
Administrative Province/State ... Fujian
Administrative Postal Code ...... 361100
Administrative Country Code ..... CN
Administrative Phone Number ..... +86.15985850830 -
Administrative Fax .............. +86.15985850830 -
Administrative Email ............ pujingtrade@163.com
Billing ID ...................... hc222083799-cn
Billing Name .................... xing cheng
Billing Organization ............ xing cheng
Billing Address ................. zhongguoxiamenjimei
Billing City .................... xiamen
Billing Province/State .......... Fujian
Billing Postal Code ............. 361100
Billing Country Code ............ CN
Billing Phone Number ............ +86.15985850830 -
Billing Fax ..................... +86.15985850830 -
Billing Email ................... pujingtrade@163.com
Technical ID .................... hc222083799-cn
Technical Name .................. xing cheng
Technical Organization .......... xing cheng
Technical Address ............... zhongguoxiamenjimei
Technical City .................. xiamen
Technical Province/State ........ Fujian
Technical Postal Code ........... 361100
Technical Country Code .......... CN
Technical Phone Number .......... +86.15985850830 -
Technical Fax ................... +86.15985850830 -
Technical Email ................. pujingtrade@163.com
Expiration Date ................. 2012-06-01 08:05:33

[TRS]

I doubt they're Chinese. Just read the 'About Tobacco Pipes' article under the 'About Us' heading. Very clear and concise. I love the toll free number too.

[bregolad]

their entire inventory looks to be previously sold pipes from smokingpipes.com.
I recognize almost every single pipe.

[e Markle]

I'm suspicious that the pipes "for sale" don't even actually exist...

Uhhh, yeah, they don't own ANY of the pipes under my name. Unless of course, Sykes is just messing with Premal...

[KurtHuhn]

This is fun. I haven't done a digital forensic investigation this week, and I was having withdrawals....

The IP that the website is on (205.209.184.245) is a /18 netblock and an ARIN allocation, and is (to the best of my abilities) routed to somewhere in or near San Jose. That address range is owned by DCS Pacific Star LLC, and they're already on my personal shit list for abusive 'Net behavior.

The physical location of the server hosting the website means little, however. Hosting companies almost never vet or examine content on their servers, and there's no reason why a Chinese company couldn't get an account to host a website inside the US. If I really wanted to, I could get a colocated server housed in Ukraine and serve websites from there. There is, however, no reason for me to unless I was up to no good.

The DNS server that serves as the SOA for this domain (smokerpipes.com) is part of hichina.com (dns25.hichina.com) and *is* and APNIC allocation (actual IP varies since it is load balanced, but they're all on Chinese netblocks) and sits on Chinese soil. It tough to tell exactly where though, since the bigass Chinese firewall doesn't want to let me see - but it looks like possibly somewhere in Beijing. Beijing is a big place though....

We're actually starting to see a lot of this in InfoSec circles because a lot of companies and providers have started blocking Chinese netblocks, and sometimes all of APNIC as a whole. The reason is the unusual amount of abuse coming from those netblocks - hacking/cracking, spam/UBE, etc. So what the malicious folks are doing is getting accounts from US or EU companies to host their websites, in the hopes that nobody reports the abuse, or they at least get a chance to steal a few dollars before they do get reported.

Since the smokerpipe.com domain was only registered on 6/1/2011, I suspect we won't see it around for very long before it disappears and another one pops up.

[RadDavis]

All the pipes exist, they just don't belong to the Chinese guys. They copied Premal's site, and Sykes' inventory.

If you click on any of my pipes, Ernie's, or ANY of them, note the number they claim to have in stock ready to ship. They have 56 Lars pipes in a single shape!

All of the articles and stuff are lifted from other legitimate sites.

Rad

[bornagainbriar]

That's some sick business there.

My full time day job is in the firearms business, and we encounter stuff like this all the time, where US designs, some event patented are copied by the Chi-coms and then resold into the US. What is REALLY sick, is that the American consumer knows it, and continues to buy it anyway because cost is a far higher issue in the character of a man than integrity. Guys buy the Chi-com copies for pennies on the dollar and then complain that /Americans are out of work and the economy sucks. Losers. I know for a fact that there are many brand name, household firearms names, that are importing parts and purporting them to be domestic.

One kind of wishes that those in the pipe industry, both producers and consumers, would be the last great bastion of integrity and chivalry.

[SimeonTurner]

LOL, Ernie's first pipe for sale is my favorite. The description in the text specifically references smokingpipes.com. HA!

Ernie, how did you make 63 of those pipes identically? That's incredible.

[e Markle]

Ernie, how did you make 63 of those pipes identically? That's incredible.

Pure, unadulterated dedication. Actually, each angle of the pipe (on SP) is of another pipe in the series. You'll notice you can't even tell there's a difference between any of them. Dedication, Simeon. De-di-ca-tion.

[SimeonTurner]

I aspire to have a pipe on this site someday. I will re-dedicate my efforts.

[TRS]

Ernie, how did you make 63 of those pipes identically? That's incredible.

During the summer, when the demand for toys is low, Santa Claus contracts his elves out to Ernie at sweatshop rates, where they're forced (in the brutal heat) to make dozens and dozens of exact replicas of each of his pipes.

[e Markle]

During the summer, when the demand for toys is low, Santa Claus contracts his elves out to Ernie at sweatshop rates, where they're forced (in the brutal heat) to make dozens and dozens of exact replicas of each of his pipes.

Sadly, we lost two to heat stroke last week. The polar half-pints just aren't built for the desert clime. But the pipe empire must advance, sooo...

[RadDavis]

I aspire to have a pipe on this site someday. I will re-dedicate my efforts.

Everybody who's anybody has their pipes on this site. If you, Todd Johnson, and Bruce Weaver made decent pipes, you'd all be on there too.

Ernie and me, we'uns got class.

Rad

[baweaverpipes]

I aspire to have a pipe on this site someday. I will re-dedicate my efforts.

Everybody who's anybody has their pipes on this site. If you, Todd Johnson, and Bruce Weaver made decent pipes, you'd all be on there too.

Ernie and me, we'uns got class.

Rad

Once again, Rod, you have proven yourself to be evil and dismissive.
Now I'm off, with chainsaw and hatchet, to make another absurdity. I don't have my chisel and rasp, that Johnston feller stole them.

[JHowell]

I aspire to have a pipe on this site someday. I will re-dedicate my efforts.

Everybody who's anybody has their pipes on this site. If you, Todd Johnson, and Bruce Weaver made decent pipes, you'd all be on there too.

Ernie and me, we'uns got class.

Rad

Rad, that's pretty brave of you and Ernie to just come out and admit that -- most guys are embarrassed. Well, you don't have to suffer. I don't have first-hand knowledge of this, but I understand the doctor can prescribe this special soap . . . whoops, sorry, I thought you said "crabs."

Damn, thought I could help. Never mind.

[Taspiper]

Like Kurt said I reakon it's just a scam for credit card info. It seems to be rife everywhere I just wouldn't of thought they would try it with pipes. Sad thing is though how many unsuspecting people get caught. Shit!

[DaGamba]

Well, the "about us" section kinda tells them off. It's pure Ingrish. And pretty funny....

[KurtHuhn]

Well, guys, it looks like I've had some success getting this site shut down. The domain still exists, but at least the hosting provider has pulled the account and shut down the server.

I forget when I sent them an email - Maybe Friday night. The site was still active at 06:30 this morning, so accounting for a 3 hour time difference between here and there, it probably was one of the first things they did this morning.

Sad thing is, since the domain still exists and was registered by a Chinese registrar, we might actually see this website again pop up on another IP at another unwitting service provider.

[TRS]

Good work Kurt!