Oh, the joys of being wise. Or maybe not quite wise, but perceived as wise by those who should know better. I received a call from one of my many brothers-in-law (brother-in-laws?):
Him: “Are you busy?”
Me: “No, just working.”
Him: “Good. Are you near your computer?”
Me: “No, but I could be. What do you want?”
Him: “Look up itidata.org.” (note: I’m not going to include a link, since they appear to be a typical sleazy “Make millions working from home and in your sleep” site.)
Me: “What, is this another one of your “get rich quick” schemes?”
Him: “Just look it up and tell me what you think.”
Me: “Okay . . . yep, a scam.”
Him: “Are you sure?”
Me: “Well, it looks like one, and . . .” tap-tap-tap “yep, per any link I can google, it looks like one. You pay them 99 bucks and they ignore you. Sounds like a scam to me.”
Him: “Oh, okay, bye.”
So I decided to take it a little further and check the link they provide to an “independent consumer organization”, consumerreporter.org. On the right is a collection of icons that should link to consumer protection agencies, but do not. The rest of the page is a giant ad for itidata.org, done in the same style as the itidata.org page. Hmmm, interesting for an independent organization. Maybe they both just hired really bad web designers.
Next step, run a whois on both of them.
| itidata.org | consumerreporter.org |
| Domain ID:D108488244-LROR Domain Name:ITIDATA.ORG Created On:13-Nov-2005 11:26:54 UTC Last Updated On:13-Jan-2006 04:02:30 UTC Expiration Date:13-Nov-2006 11:26:54 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:Go Daddy Software, Inc. (R91-LROR) Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED Registrant ID:GODA-015243144 Registrant Name:Registration Private Registrant Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc. Registrant Street1:DomainsByProxy.com Registrant Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 Registrant Street3: Registrant City:Scottsdale Registrant State/Province:Arizona Registrant Postal Code:85260 Registrant Country:US Registrant Phone:+1.4806242599 Registrant Phone Ext.: Registrant FAX: Registrant FAX Ext.: Registrant Email:ITIDATA.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com Admin ID:GODA-215243144 Admin Name:Registration Private Admin Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc. Admin Street1:DomainsByProxy.com Admin Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 Admin Street3: Admin City:Scottsdale Admin State/Province:Arizona Admin Postal Code:85260 Admin Country:US Admin Phone:+1.4806242599 Admin Phone Ext.: Admin FAX: Admin FAX Ext.: Admin Email:ITIDATA.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com Tech ID:GODA-115243144 Tech Name:Registration Private Tech Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc. Tech Street1:DomainsByProxy.com Tech Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 Tech Street3: Tech City:Scottsdale Tech State/Province:Arizona Tech Postal Code:85260 Tech Country:US Tech Phone:+1.4806242599 Tech Phone Ext.: Tech FAX: Tech FAX Ext.: Tech Email:ITIDATA.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com Name Server:PARK15.SECURESERVER.NET Name Server:PARK16.SECURESERVER.NET |
Domain ID:D107769797-LROR Domain Name:CONSUMERREPORTER.ORG Created On:11-Oct-2005 15:51:33 UTC Last Updated On:11-Dec-2005 04:10:26 UTC Expiration Date:11-Oct-2006 15:51:33 UTC Sponsoring Registrar:Go Daddy Software, Inc. (R91-LROR) Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED Registrant ID:GODA-014576237 Registrant Name:Registration Private Registrant Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc. Registrant Street1:DomainsByProxy.com Registrant Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 Registrant Street3: Registrant City:Scottsdale Registrant State/Province:Arizona Registrant Postal Code:85260 Registrant Country:US Registrant Phone:+1.4806242599 Registrant Phone Ext.: Registrant FAX: Registrant FAX Ext.: Registrant Email:CONSUMERREPORTER.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com Admin ID:GODA-214576237 Admin Name:Registration Private Admin Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc. Admin Street1:DomainsByProxy.com Admin Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 Admin Street3: Admin City:Scottsdale Admin State/Province:Arizona Admin Postal Code:85260 Admin Country:US Admin Phone:+1.4806242599 Admin Phone Ext.: Admin FAX: Admin FAX Ext.: Admin Email:CONSUMERREPORTER.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com Tech ID:GODA-114576237 Tech Name:Registration Private Tech Organization:Domains by Proxy, Inc. Tech Street1:DomainsByProxy.com Tech Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353 Tech Street3: Tech City:Scottsdale Tech State/Province:Arizona Tech Postal Code:85260 Tech Country:US Tech Phone:+1.4806242599 Tech Phone Ext.: Tech FAX: Tech FAX Ext.: Tech Email:CONSUMERREPORTER.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com Name Server:PARK17.SECURESERVER.NET Name Server:PARK18.SECURESERVER.NET |
Going a step further, I check out the consumerreporter.org faq page and notice that besides looking a bit more professional than their main page, uses an i.p. address. Running whois on this results in the following:
whois 64.70.241.51
OrgName: Affinity Internet, Inc
OrgID: AFFI
Address: Corporate headquarters
Address: 3250 W. Commercial Blvd.
City: Ft. Lauderdale
StateProv: FL
PostalCode: 33309
Country: US
NetRange: 64.70.128.0 – 64.70.255.255
CIDR: 64.70.128.0/17
NetName: AFFINITY-64-70-0-0
NetHandle: NET-64-70-128-0-1
Parent: NET-64-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS.VALUEWEB.NET
NameServer: NS2.VALUEWEB.NET
Comment: ADDRESSES WITHIN THIS BLOCK ARE NON-PORTABLE
RegDate: 2000-04-03
Updated: 2004-11-16
OrgAbuseHandle: ABUSE649-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Abuse
OrgAbusePhone: +1-954-334-8080
OrgAbuseEmail: abuse@affinity.com
OrgTechHandle: ZA94-ARIN
OrgTechName: Affinity Internet IP Management Group
OrgTechPhone: +1-954-334-8080
OrgTechEmail: ip-admin@affinity.com
# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-04-13 19:10
Interesting. Now I have yet another group to google, which quickly provides me with a link to Artists Against 419, an incredibly awesome organization involved in bringing down 419ers and other internet/email scumbags.
At this point, I don’t think there’s much more I need to say, other than if you get taken in by these folks, you probably shouldn’t have had access to that $99 in the first place.
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