Norfleet Transportation, Inc.

This company advertises online escrow services designed to protect consumers making online vehicle purchases. We urge caution against giving your money to this company. We believe this company may be using the identity of an actual logistics company who is now defunct to defraud the public of transaction funds placed in escrow accounts.

Our findings based on our initial investigation of contact information and website claims shows that the company information does not coincide with local business registrations, licensing entities, and corporate filings. The telephone number shown is actually is a fax number, there is no publically listed phone number, and the address for the company appears to be a mail drop box. The website contact information provides only an e-mail address. The company does not have an Escrow license with the California Department of Corporations, and the website claim of "licensed and bonded," does not specify who they are licensed or bonded with. The Corporate filings for the company with the California Secretary of State show the Corporation status as "forfeited," or "suspended." The website for this company, created on June 12, 2008, also displays the BBB Online logo which has a hyperlink to the BBB Trustline website. This company is not a member of our Bureau, and is not authorized to display our BBB Online logo. The website registration shows Lacey Scalzi, P O Box 99800, Emeryville, Ca. 94662.

If you are considering purchasing "big ticket" items at online auction or classified ad sites, you probably know the value of using an online escrow service. For a small fee, it will hold your payment until you confirm that you received the product you were promised within an agreed upon period of inspection. The service then forwards your payment to the seller. If all goes well, the terms of the sale are met and everyone ends up satisfied.

However, all is not well if you have unknowingly chosen to do business with a fraudulent escrow site. The Better Business Bureau has received reports of escrow fraud involving the online sale of cars, boats, motorcycles, jet skis and similar items. Scam escrow services attract shoppers through spam e-mails, "recommendations" by unethical sellers or fraudulent displays of fake logos from BBB or other well-known seal programs.

We routinely reccommend the following tips for finding a reputable auction escrow service. Trust your gut feeling. If the site offers unbelievably good deals or requests info not pertinent to the sale (such as your Social Security number). The cheapest service is not necessarily the best service. Investigate the track record of several escrow companies before you make a selection. Go to www.bbb.org to confirm that a business is a BBB member or to pull up a reliability report on its marketplace record. Even if the site displays a BBBOnLine seal, confirm its participation at www.bbbonline.org. Check the Web site of the escrow company. Sites with domain names ending in .org, .biz, .cc, .info, or .US should be avoided. Find out when the domain name was registered using the “Whois” tool at a domain name registrar. If the name was just registered a few weeks ago, that should be a red flag. Watch for poor grammar, misspellings or lots of typos. These may typically be a sign that the site is phony. Make sure the website tells you where the business is located (street, city, state) and should also give a phone number. No contact information should also be a red flag. Without a physical address, you cannot check with state authorities to determine if the service is licensed and it will be harder to check its record with the BBB. If the site provides a telephone number, call to see if you can speak to a person. If you get a generic voice mail that asks you to leave a message, do not waste your time. Find out whether the service is licensed and bonded and confirm that with the appropriate state agency (usually the state in which the escrow service is located). Avoid using an offshore escrow company.