October 17th, 2023

Spot PHISH and protect yourself from scams

Ever get an email and think there was something “phishy” about it?

In a phishing scam, fraudsters try to trick you by sending emails that look like they’re from a legitimate business.  Get to know the warning signs to avoid being reeled in. Phishing emails typically use a made-up scenario to get you to provide your personal or banking details or click on a malicious link.

Spot the scam by looking for these signs:

• The email claims to be from MPP Solar (or other entities that appear to be legitimate business, e.g. DHL/FedEx) and asks for personal information, bank account numbers, or passwords.
• The email is sent from a fraudulent email address (e.g., info@mppsolar.net, sales@mpp-solar.com).
• There’s a sense of urgency. The email might claim that there’s unusual activity on your account and you need to secure it immediately.
• A link directs you to a fake website or log-on page where you’re prompted to enter your details. (Tip: If the web address is wrong or your browser warns you the site is unsafe, that’s a red flag.)
• There are spelling and grammar mistakes in the email, or design flaws like a distorted logo.
• The email claims to be sent from your own email address, with lengthy explanation on how you have engaged in some illicit activity and threatens exposure if you do not comply with payment. The scammer will likely request you to pay in cryptocurrencies.

Protect yourself with these tips:

1. Never reply to emails asking for your log-on credentials, financial information, or other personal details.
2. Be suspicious of urgent requests and emails that take you to unsecure websites prompting you to log on or enter personal information.
3. Avoid clicking links or attachments from unknown senders, as they could spread malware or viruses to your device.
4. Delete messages from email addresses you don’t recognize or—better yet—send them to your junk folder.

If you ever receive a suspicious email that claims to be from MPP Solar, please report it to us.

Thank you for your attention.

August 16th, 2023

Fake MPP Solar Email SCAM (… mppsolar@dr.com)

We have recently been informed by several customers from Europe who have unfortunately become victims of an elaborate email SCAMS created by individuals who used a similar email to MPP Solar.  One customer was unaware of the email addresses in the thread and after sending payment of over 20,ooo Euro to the scammer, communication had abruptly stopped.  Customer then re-checked email and noticed “xxx mppsolar@dr.com“ and and contacted us directly.  After our review of the wire instruction sent by the scammer, it was easy to confirm that the wire details was fake and belong to an unknown account in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The scam involved the scammer creating 2 fake email addresses, one similar to MPP Solar email, and another one similar to customer’s email and then initiated communication with both parties at the same time.  By comparing the responses from MPP Solar and the customer, the scammer then can attempt fraud with careful planning.

While scams like this are nothing new, they still very much exist.

For your own safety, please be very very careful when trading online.  Be sure to verify all account details and email addresses before sending payment.  It is also advisable to contact us by phone if you have not placed orders before. 

Should you have any concerns or suspect you may be contacted by a scammer, please contact us for help and clarification.

Thank you for your attention.

February 20th, 2022

Difficulty with Yahoo mail server

We have recently noticed several returns or delays of our emails by Yahoo servers, similar to the screenshot below.   It is not clear at this point why only this problem only appears when we send emails to customers using Yahoo email accounts, but we are not having any issue with any other email domains.  Therefore if you are expecting reply from us but have not received any for the past few weeks (and are using a Yahoo domain email, including and not limited to “yahoo.com”, “yahoo.com.au”, “yahoo.fr”), please use a different email address to contact us.

Thank you for your attention.

Auguest 4th, 2022

MPP Solar (Taiwan) does NOT operate on Aliexpress

Recently we have received numerous emails and complaints from unaware buyers who placed orders on Mainland Chinese e-business platform – Aliexpress – and later discovered that the inverters they’ve purchased were clones and not authentic products.  Furthermore, no subsequent support was provided by the seller and some customer were in fact told to contact MPP Solar directly for warranty support issues.

We wish to take this opportunity to emphasize again that MPP Solar (Taiwan) neither sell on Aliexpress nor are affiliated with any of the sellers on this platform.  Please exercise caution when placing orders on Aliexpress where illegal fake/clone products are easily found.  

Example below is a seller based in France who has advertised a product of ours.   We do not know the identity of this seller and are not in any way affiliated with it.   It is easy to spot the seller is also selling a well known clone brand of MPP Solar from China — “Easun”.

Thank you for your attention.

February 10th, 2022

We are proud to share an excellent video documenting a professionally installed solar project in Thailand from our partner AERO Solar using 3 x MPP Solar 5048MKX 5kw 48V solar inverters.  This beautiful off grid solar system contains 10.8KW of solar array, 15KW off-grid inverter system and 18KW lithium battery bank.

AERO Solar is based in Bangkok, Thailand and has been helping Thailand build a better environment since 2014.

5048MKX is a 5KW 48V high PV input voltage (500V) design solar inverter featuring “zero transfer time” with built-in WIFI transmitter.  It is capable of expanding up to 9 units max in parallel, maximum 45KW.

For more details about this project, see video link below.

December 26, 2021

MPP Solar has only 1 website: www.mppsolar.com

It has been brought to our attention by our distribution partner that there is a www.mppsolar.NET domain selling (or attempting to) FAKE MPP solar-branded inverters to confuse customer.  A quick WHOIS check indicates this website is registered by a company from Guang Dong province in China, same location as where MustPower – the mainland Chinese company who has registered and stolen “MPP Solar” trademark in China and USA – is based.

It is no news to the world that China has been long been a safe breeding ground for ripoffs and knockoffs of many famous international brands such as Starbucks, NIKE, Under Armour, Range Rover, Subway, Walmart, and MUJI.  Some of these giant conglomerates have spend millions and years fighting legal wars, but most smaller companies simply do not have such resources to do so, especially in Chinese courts where legal justice is highly dubious.

We would like to take this opportunity to confirm to all customers and partners worldwide that MPP Solar (Taiwan) has only ONE official website and it is www.mppsolar.COM.  Any other domains/URLs attempting to disguise themselves as “MPP Solar” are unauthorized and likely very risky.  We strongly urge you to be very careful when viewing these websites as they are either trying to sell you knockoff / poor quality clones and may even contain malicious codes that endanger your privacy.

Thank you for your attention.

*Extended reading: 

• Behind the counterfeit goods industry in modern China | Daxue Consulting
• It’s Perfectly Legal for Your Chinese Manufacturer to Copy Your Products – Harris Bricken
• You Were Copied in China – So What? You’re Relevant! – PTL Group (ptl-group.com)
• The Clone Wars: 12 Chinese Copies Of Popular Cars (motor1.com)
• The 10 Most Shameless Chinese Ripoffs of 2016 – Thatsmags.com
• Chinese Western-Brand Rip-Offs (businessinsider.com)

May 6th, 2021

Plagiarism is easy. 

Trademark squatting has long been a big problem for foreign companies trying to enter the Chinese market where dishonest Chinese individuals or companies register valuable and well-recognized brand names and their trademarks in advance in China, thereby limiting foreign entry.   Long legal wars aside, this usually ends up with the original trademark owners having to pay a large sum of fees to the other party to legally use what was rightfully theirs.

In recent years, these same dishonest Chinese companies have taken things abroad to other countries.

Over the past few weeks we have sadly learnt that the “MPP Solar” trademark in the USA has been registered and stolen by Must Power, an inverter trading company based in Shenzhen, China who has been known for various unethical and illegal practices including IPR plagiarism and selling counterfeit MPP Solar inverters all over the world.   To confuse the market, they have even further re-branded inverters in several different names.

While it is surely not the first time a mainland Chinese company has committed such illicit and unethical act by stealing other companies’ brands and logos by registering trademarks in advance to control and limit the legitimacy of the original company, we feel that most victims do not speak out.  We have confirmed knowledge there are at least three inverter / UPS companies whose trademarks have also been stolen by Must Power through advance registration in several countries.

Despite legal efforts are already underway to oppose this, we realize it may be a long legal battle.

We would like to take this opportunity to urge all our distribution partners to be highly alert of this situation as it may yet happen again in other countries and more importantly, we’re asking for support from our customers and friends to recognize the true malicious nature of Must Power company.

Thank you for your attention.

*Extended reading: BREAKING NEWS: USPTO report examines the impact of Chinese government subsidies and other non-market factors on the recent rise in patent and trademark filings in China | USPTO

April 30th, 2021

We are proud to share the latest update from our friend “Texas Filipino” about his experience using MPP Solar LV5048 120v/240v split phase output inverters.  His system uses Tesla batteries which many users have been asking about using with MPP solar inverters.   When programmed correctly to match inverter settings, MPP solar inverters can work with a wide range of different Lithium batteries or variants, including Tesla.

The LV5048 was a 5KW 48V 120/240V split phase output inverter and had been our best seller in the North American region until it was replaced by LV6048 (6KW 48V).  Despite the upgrade there has been no change in the core features so users can still apply the new model to the same setup.

For more details about his story, see video link below.

*We have also updated our gallery page with images of MPP Solar systems used with Tesla batteries.  For more information, please see Installation Gallery.

March 29th, 2021

While it is already fairly common knowledge to many that there are counterfeit / fake MPP Solar inverters from China, there are still customers who are new to our products and we wish to take this opportunity to address this concern and help buyers spot counterfeits before becoming an unaware victim.  Of course, due to the evolving practice of counterfeit the following are only general tips that may help spot these fake products and the best way to be sure will always be checking with us directly for verification.

APPEARANCE

This is one of the most common ways to spot a counterfeit.  The counterfeit products from China often either bear no MPP Solar logo or are missing proper serial and manufacturer declaration stickers on the side.  They may also come in a plain form without logo, or with removable logo stickers in front (shown below) and claim to be  “generic unbranded” version of MPP solar inverters.   These are clear signs of fake products and should be avoided.

PRICE

One of the biggest selling point of counterfeit MPP solar products is that these unethical suppliers will always undersell at a lower price.  Look for authorized and genuine MPP solar distributors and ensure the products you are buying does not say “Made in China”.  MPP Solar is a Taiwan company.

MARKETING

When buying online, be careful of false reviews.  It is extremely easy to copy images from MPP Solar or authorized dealers’ website and use them as front to fool buyers into thinking they are buying genuine products when they are in fact not.  Some fake MPP solar inverter companies such as “Easun” or “Powland” will tell you that what they sell is “identical” to MPP Solar inverters except it is in a different brand name.  They will also have very similar packaging and user manuals.  Buyers should be extremely careful when buying from an unauthorized sources.  Again, these are NOT genuine MPP Solar inverters so please be careful.

We have been approached by many buyers already with complaint that they do not receive any technical support or after-sales services from buying these fake products.  For your own interest please do not support counterfeit products!

*for more information, please see our earlier post about illegal copies of our inverters from mainland China.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us for clarification.

Thank you.