Contacted by Mogultech a chinese IC distributor - fishy or not ?

[ratatax]

Hi,
Yesterday I received that email on my pro and personal email address. (see attached)

Out of curiosity, I asked if they had the Atmega chip i'm looking for. They answered in 30 minutes and yes they have it, at 2.5x the normal price but it's fine compared to other chinese distributors I contacted, they were all like 40x the normal price.
However I don't know if I can trust them. By searching for mogul-tech or mogultech on the web I can find some results, mostly chinese websites and some references at Rochester Electronics... What do you think ?
 

[m98]

They provide us with a worldwide shortage of ICs. I like that kind of honesty...

[wraper]

At least appears to be a real company, unlike many websites selling components which are outright scam.

[ataradov]

Your communication with the company started with them spamming you. If they are willing to start business with a sketchy practice, I automatically assume they will continue to do business the same way.

Don't engage spammers, it will only encourage them.

[ratatax]

Your communication with the company started with them spamming you. If they are willing to start business with a sketchy practice, I automatically assume they will continue to do business the same way.

Don't engage spammers, it will only encourage them.

I agree on the principle, but I really need these chips for my business. Maybe they bought tons of them and directly contact potential customers because they struggle to sell ?
I think I'll try my luck...Never had a problem with chinese sellers yet, even those who looked a bit dodgy (bad websites, bad english, slow response time...)

But that may be too good to be true. That chip is $2/pc under normal times. They offer $4.5/pc. All other scam ic distributors I contacted offered between $60-$90/pc

[Tomorokoshi]

I looked up the two web sites on the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20220815000000*/mogul-tech.com

https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.hqewgroup.com

Mogul-Tech seems to go back to 2004, while HQEW Group first shows up in 2020.

At least there is some presence. The same telephone number matches from 2009, so at least they're moderately stable as an organization.

I can't comment on the quality of their parts.