Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Hill Philipp & Associates Corp.

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was speedy delete, vandalism (hoax) and no showing of minimal importance in reliable sources; think we've seen enough here. Will check to see if this has been remade on any other language's Wikipedias as well. - Smerdis of Tlön - killing the human spirit since 2003! 14:01, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hill Philipp & Associates Corp.[edit]

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Article appears to fail to meet the guidelines of WP:ORG. I find nothing in GNews apart from press releases and their derivatives. There is nothing in the article itself to suspect significant impact in order to meet the notability requirements. As prior speedy delete, notability improvement templates and a PROD have been removed without any improvement in sources or rationale (apart from the number of employees being added) I have raised the article for discussion. Fæ (talk) 14:08, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Business-related deletion discussions. -- Fæ (talk) 14:09, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note: This debate has been included in the list of Hong Kong-related deletion discussions. -- Fæ (talk) 14:10, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Speedy delete. The only reference here is to an alleged website. Google News has never heard of this. Since even non-notable businesses usually have press release and routine announcement stuff turning up in Google News, I am wondering if this might be a hoax. - Smerdis of Tlön - killing the human spirit since 2003! 15:41, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Agreed, for a company where the article claims they have 1600 employees they are suspiciously invisible. The Wikipedia article is now the top match in Google and unfortunately their domain name is registered anonymously (most real companies would be obliged to make the registration public). If this is a real company they should get a new PR manager as their invisibility makes them look like a scam. Fæ (talk) 16:01, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  - Comment. This business is invisible on Google News Archive, Books, and Scholar; all of the general Google results are from blogspot.com sites or online distributions of press releases, all within the month as noted. This article apparently also exists on German Wikipedia, de:Hill Philipp & Associates Corp., the gist of the text looks the same there. Someone who speaks the language might want to call their attention to this discussion. The Engelhard Chemical Company mentioned in this article is apparently real; they were acquired by BASF.[1] Nothing suggests that they ever were involved in finance or banking in Asia. - Smerdis of Tlön - killing the human spirit since 2003! 02:44, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
    - The page on :de has been deleted; citing this discussion. JohnCD (talk) 13:18, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
      - Gee, those guys don't hang about. Fæ (talk) 13:22, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Delete as hoax. According to the article, Hill, Philipp Associates Corp. is based in Hong Kong, and the official web site lists branches in Singapore, the UK and the USA. But I can't find a company of that name registered with the appropriate agencies in any of those places, all of which have databases that can be searched online (Companies Registry, ACRA, Companies House, SEC). EALacey (talk) 19:43, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Also not found under the names "Philip Hill", "Philipp Hill" and "HP Bank". EALacey (talk) 20:33, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- I will add that although the company has supposedly existed since 1972, the press releases turned up by Google go back no further than late September of this year. EALacey (talk) 20:03, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  - Comment. I can think of no good reasons why an apparently serious looking hoax article about an alleged financial institution that can't even get a newspaper to pick up its press releases should be here, and I can think of several bad reasons. Unless some kind of evidence of legitimacy is forthcoming in the near future, this should be speedily deleted as vandalism. - Smerdis of Tlön - killing the human spirit since 2003! 20:13, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Speedy / Snow Delete - With the above independent investigations I am concerned that the existence of a Wikipedia article may be actively used for a fake bank/financial institution scam. I recommend speedy deletion, the article creator is free to apply the WP:DRV process if they have a case and can supply independent sources at a later date. Fæ (talk) 21:31, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Comment - ~~given the checking necessary, this doesn't in my opinion qualify for WP:CSD#G3 blatant hoax (though I won't quarrel with any admin who disagrees with me and zaps it).~~ (Changed my mind - see below). As long as the article carries a "hoax" tag and a link to this discussion, it won't be of much use in supporting a scam. JohnCD (talk) 22:02, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Delete as hoax (changed to spedy - se below). What's on the web is all press releases, and the fact that none is dated earlier than last month is damning. To add to the evidence above: searches for the chairman and the CEO don't find anything relevant: the article says the HQ is Hong Kong, but the website gives contact addresses only in Singapore, London and Chicago; RDNS for the website returns 207.182.135.3, which is xlhost.com and geolocates to Columbus, Ohio. JohnCD (talk) 22:02, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. I've just visited 30 St Mary Axe, which the HPAC website claims is the address of its European headquarters. The reception staff there were unaware of the institution's existence and agreed to bring the website to the attention of building management. EALacey (talk) 08:17, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Speedy delete as blatant hoax. Thanks, EALacey; if the company is not known at its supposed London HQ, that is enough to change my mind about this being a blatant enough hoax for speedy deletion. I have tagged it db-hoax to get another pair of eyes. JohnCD (talk) 13:40, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.