April 16th, 2008
Psystar: Hoax or fraud?
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:
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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.
