Important warning from Johnson Creek Gun Club...

[Jill Bradley]

Hey Everyone,

I am writing to let you know of an issue regarding the club. There are 2 new websites that are using our club as a front to sell firearms. They are johnsoncreekgunclubinc dot com and johnsoncreekgunclubi dot com. We just found out yesterday and have spent all day on this. We have already contacted all the proper authorities. It is scary how they took our pictures, club location and information from our website and are using our club as their own. We don't know anyone in the pictures or testimonials. It seems to be a widespread operation and we are doing all we can to get these websites down. I want to remind everyone that we do not sell guns or ammo at the facitility. We don't even have a licence for that. We are also not having prepaid classes every night. As always, all payments are to be made at the club or you can mail them to the club address. We are working hard with lawyers and the authorities to resolve this situation as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience...
Jill

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[Sstrand]

It seems the antis are afoot . . .

Sheldon

 

[usagi]

file criminal charges, then you can get a search warrant and find out who registered the domains and setup the websites.

 

[Dunerunner]

^^^^^THAT^^^^^

 

[BAMCIS]

Scammers. Gun organizations aren't the only victims. The bad guys are likely in eastern Europe so it is doubtful the cops will be able to do anything about it.

 

[orygun]

Scammers. Gun organizations aren't the only victims. The bad guys are likely in eastern Europe so it is doubtful the cops will be able to do anything about it.

Quite possible, but I think it would pay to exhaust all avenues to find out.

 

[BAMCIS]

Quite possible, but I think it would pay to exhaust all avenues to find out.

Oh I 100% agree. But don't hang much hope on any kind of resolution.

 

[Jill Bradley]

The main resolution I want is to have these websites removed as soon as possible. I want to protect my members and the rest of the public. We worked hard on our reputation and do right by our members. I don't want anyone to send them any money for anything at all, especially something "prepaid". So far, one of the websites is linked to someone in Milton Freewater and the other, to Africa. We actually found out about the sites when we checked the club's voicemail on Thursday morning and someone from, believe it or not, Florida left a message on xmas eve and told us about the sites. Our lawyer says it is called "internet squatting" and is getting more and more popular. He also said they probably picked us because we look like a small reputable range and by us only selling memberships and not guns and ammo, we must not make a lot of money so we won't have the funds to fight them and they will just ruin us and take over as the Johnson Creek Gun Club. They picked the wrong club!

Jill

 

[The Heretic]

file criminal charges, then you can get a search warrant and find out who registered the domains and setup the websites.

I doubt that there is a criminal charge that would stick. It is more of a civil matter.

Since they list the same location, they are obviously a scam trying to get deposits and will never actually sell product or deliver anything.

I doubt it is anti-gunners as this is a common thing that scammers do regardless of retail market, and whoever it is probably doesn't understand that you can't buy guns online like that. It is possible though - I suppose some scammer could be anti-gun or hold a grudge against the club for some perceived wrong against them.

 

[The Heretic]

Scammers. Gun organizations aren't the only victims. The bad guys are likely in eastern Europe so it is doubtful the cops will be able to do anything about it.

The cops won't do squat - they don't handle this kind of thing. You have to go through the internet domain regulatory bodies and make a complaint to the hosting company to get the site taken down.

 

[usagi]

I doubt that there is a criminal charge that would stick. It is more of a civil matter.

Since they list the same location, they are obviously a scam trying to get deposits and will never actually sell product or deliver anything.

criminal conversion. if anyone has sent them money, it's a crime. and you can get a search warrant if you can get law enforcement to file charges.

 

[The Heretic]

criminal conversion. if anyone has sent them money, it's a crime. and you can get a search warrant if you can get law enforcement to file charges.

Fraud by any other name.

Criminal sure, but the local police won't do anything about it since I really doubt the perps are even in the USA. For the most part local LEOs don't handle internet crime. Even the FBI won't handle it if it isn't just small time crime.

Go ahead and try.

 

[8ball]

I am not a lawyer but I have some experience in this area.

It's very tough to combat domain squatters, because they will remain anonymous and move to a similar domain if you successfully take theirs down. As others have mentioned, this is almost certainly some scammer outside the US preying on dumb gun buyers, using Armslist or Gunbroker etc to set up bogus deals.

First option - use a DMCA takedown against their hosting provider, because they have stolen your text and images (I assume). You can do this yourself fairly quickly and their hosting provider is in the US so they are legally obliged to respond. Here's an excellent guide. https://nppa.org/page/5617

Second option would be to trademark your club name, and go after their domains with the UDRP (it's a dispute policy). You'll probably need a lawyer and it's much slower. Google UDRP for some pointers.

Lastly, get them removed from Google search results - see https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?hl=en

Also, you might want to obscure the links in your post (e.g. like northwest firearms dot com). By giving them hot links from NWFA, you are helping their search rankings.

I would also put a big warning on your own website about it, and a link to Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Home for people to report fraud. Wouldn't hurt you to report it there yourself, and perhaps the local ATF office as well, just to cover yourselves. Keep a dated copy of your report.

Good luck!

 

[usagi]

almost certainly the domains and the websites were setup with stolen credit cards and fake names. you should have your attorney send C&D letters to the registries and the ISPs to get them to shut down the sites.

don't be so sure the police won't do anything. i've busted script kiddies in the past -- had law enforcement show up on their doorstep, or had them expelled from university.

this is far more serious.

 

[Garg]

I don't know if this is a silly question, have you called the number? (541) 224-8139

 

[bmgm37]

I googled that number and found a classified ad on utahguns.com for a Colt pistol and the user name is johnsoncreek....

UtahGuns.com - Buy & Sell Guns Free

 

[Garg]

I googled that number and found a classified ad on utahguns.com for a Colt pistol and the user name is johnsoncreek....

UtahGuns.com - Buy & Sell Guns Free

Interesting, looks like a Corvallis number to me. Maybe it's some web wizard trying to get work, by showing off his awesome skills (lol), trying to get your business.

 

[OcelotZ3]

Someone should contact UtahGuns and let them know. The guy registered just a few days ago.

 

[OcelotZ3]

It's a land line in Corvallis...

 

[Jill Bradley]

You are all the greatest! It is so nice to know we have some support. Any help is appreciated. The FBI contact said he called the host provider and they basically told him to get a warrant. The provider is not going to help at all. Why should he, he would lose money from them and that is the most important thing, right? We called the ATF already and they took a report. We called the police and they took a report. We are going to figure this out because I don't want people taken advantage of and especially by using our good name.

Thanks,
Jill