Scams and Warnings/Alerts/Phishing reports

[jaydub]

So that we have one place we can look for the most recent Scams/Alerts/Phishing etc. I think it would be beneficial if we post our info here.
I hope it might be faster to just click here, rather than look in different threads, and be quickly up to date on the most recent member Scam alerts..

Hope it helps
j

[mark]

Do you mean all types of scams by email, like this below, or only the ones related to domains?

From: Dagmar Alessandri (Dagmar.Alessandri@student.uibk.ac.at)
My associate has helped me to send your first paymentof $7,500 USD to you as instructed by Mr. David Cameronthe United Kingdom prime minister after the last G20meeting that was held in United Kingdom, making you oneof the beneficiaries. Here is the information below. MTCN Numbers: 6096147516Sender First Name Is = JohannesSecond Name = Davis I told him to keep sending you $7,500 USD twice a weekuntil the FULL payment of ($820000.00 United State Dollars)is completed. A certificate will be made to change the Receiver Name asstated by the British prime minister, send your Full Namesand address via Email to: Mr Garry Moore You cannot pickup the money until the certificate is issued to you. Regards
Mr. Garry Moore.Tel: +(44) 702 401 4955.

[afloat.com]

Do you mean all types of scams by email, like this below, or only the ones related to domains?

From: Dagmar Alessandri (Dagmar.Alessandri@student.uibk.ac.at)
My associate has helped me to send your first paymentof $7,500 USD to you as instructed by Mr. David Cameronthe United Kingdom prime minister after the last G20meeting that was held in United Kingdom, making you oneof the beneficiaries. Here is the information below. MTCN Numbers: 6096147516Sender First Name Is = JohannesSecond Name = Davis I told him to keep sending you $7,500 USD twice a weekuntil the FULL payment of ($820000.00 United State Dollars)is completed. A certificate will be made to change the Receiver Name asstated by the British prime minister, send your Full Namesand address via Email to: Mr Garry Moore You cannot pickup the money until the certificate is issued to you. Regards
Mr. Garry Moore.Tel: +(44) 702 401 4955.

probably best to use your common sense

[mark]

I know it's a scam. I asked Adam if this is the type of scam reports he is looking for in this new
section, or does he just want scams that relate to domains only. Simple question.

---------- Post added at 09:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:19 AM ----------

From Adam's post:

"New Section Launched Today - Scams and Warnings/Alerts
We have lanched a new section for you to post factual information about any internet related scam so that others will not suffer the same fate as you or someome you know. This will also ensure these guys get indexed so whene anyone searches them out, they will see your warnings of scammers."

[Adam Dicker]

I know it's a scam. I asked Adam if this is the type of scam reports he is looking for in this new
section, or does he just want scams that relate to domains only. Simple question.

For the most part we are looking for online people to avoid or domain related scams.

no worries.

-=DCG=-

[mark]

Ok thanks for that clarification

[Wilmot McCutchen]

I registered two domains, racquetresearch.com and e-classics.com, in 1998, through Network Solutions. Years went by, and I kept them up by an annual charge on my credit card. Somehow, without my knowledge or consent, both sites wound up purportedly owned by ENOM. On visiting these two sites on April 20, 2011 I saw that everything looked OK and the content was still up. Then two days later I went back and the content on both sites had been deleted and replaced with spam. All links and bookmarks redirected to the spam. So it looked like I had become a spammer and that I, the copyright owner and author of the content, had done the deleting.

It wasn't just random spam, like you might expect from a hacker, but spam relevant to the content of the sites, which had both developed into high page rank sites over the years. On e-classics, which was about ancient Greek literature, the spam was for travel to Greece. On racquetresearch.com, an investigation and ranking site for tennis racquets, the spam was for the sale of tennis equipment.

On racquetresearch was (and still is) a domain for sale sign, with some outfit I had never authorized or even heard of (strategicdomains.com) listed as the contact for the sale. I checked whois and my name did not appear on either of the sites. Instead, ENOM, Inc. was the purported owner of both and both were locked. I discovered that there was an unpaid charge for web Hosting, so after paying $299.40 to Site Leader for another year of web hosting for the e-classics.com site, which was the amount due according to Site Leader, the content for e-classics reappeared and the spam went away. Even after the payment, however, whois still has e-classics.com in the sole name of ENOM.

The spam is still up at racquetresearch.com. I transferred the domain name last year to Jaacob Bowden, with a year of prepaid web hosting through May 2011. May 9, 2011, is the deadline for renewing the registration. Site Leader is the web host and responsible for renewing the registration, but ENOM is the purported owner of the domain racquetresearch.com and there is no way to contact ENOM. Site Leader and ENOM are trying to sell the domain name before it has even expired. Is there no way for me to renew the registration on behalf of Jaacob Bowden so Site Leader and ENOM won't get a windfall from allowing it to expire.

I am getting the impression from the simultaneous appearance of spam on two sites (I only have put up two sites) and its disappearance on one of them after I had paid an excessive charge for its web hosting to Site Leader, that I am a victim of a scam that might properly be called "web hostaging." And if the racquetresearch.com domain (page 1 on Google for "tennis racquets") expires through ENOM and Site Leader failing to renew it for their customer so they can make a bonanza by selling it for themselves, what could you call that? How can I rescue the good name and content of e-classics.com and racquetresearch.com and get them away from Site Leader and ENOM? I have attempted to email them but they do not respond.

[Acro]

Never allow a web host to keep domains you paid for, under their control. All these years the domains were managed by a Siteleader email address. You need to contact them to resolve this.

[Wilmot McCutchen]

Thanks, Acro. I don't recall ever giving permission for this to happen. I trusted Network Solutions, the original registrar in 1998 when these domain names were assigned. They say it is not their problem, and that I should contact the registrant. I can't find out who the registrant (legal and equitable owner of the domain) is presently. Is the purported registrar, ENOM, holding the domain name as trustee for the person who paid for the domain? Who (what name) is the person who is the beneficiary of this trust?

[Cartoonz]

You never had control of these domains in the first place, siteleader did.
They still do, so you need to contact THEM and work through this.
The Registrars will not fix this for you, only Siteleader can... and you might have to force that issue but I would strongly suggest trying the nice approach first...

This is exactly the reason you should never ever allow a Hosting company to hold the admin account for your domain names.

[Wilmot McCutchen]

I did as you suggested and received the following reply:

We understand you would like to renew the Internet services which you once had in your account.

You will need to renew the annual Internet website service. With your permission and approval,
the credit card information we have on file (5XXX-XXXX-XXXX-XX31) can be used.

The fee is $329.40 In addition, our suggestion is to renew for a 10-year renewal period for a fee of: $199.50. The 5-yr. renewal extension is: $99.75
In the interim and in good faith, the site has been restored.

[Cartoonz]

Wait a minute.. .what is the "fee" of $329.40 for, exactly?
You want control of your domain names and they seem to want to charge you both for the registrations of those AND the "fee"?
That's nonsense.

---------- Post added at 05:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:09 PM ----------

you need to do whatever it takes to get FULL control of those domains (your email address and info as Admin) and get those domains out of there ASAP... so don't pay for more than ONE year of registration for the names and move them to a registrar of your choosing.

[Wilmot McCutchen]

Thanks, Cartoonz. Today I paid the "fee" of $329.40 plus the charge of $99 for 5 years of domain registration. I don't know what the fee is for -- it's a "pay or else" situation in which I have no bargaining power, like a ransom demand. I had to get the spam off the website to salvage my good name. How can I get the Admin info changed so this spam torture can't happen again?

[hostnametoip]

The website that the scammer’s email links to will have an address (URL) that is similar to but not the same as a real bank's or financial institution’s site. For example, if the genuine site is at 'www.realbank.com.au', the scammer may use an address like 'www.realbank.com.au.log107.biz' or 'www.phoneybank.com/realbank.com.au/login'.