www.choam.org/tbp/weblog/2003/11/26/000132
Even as a saavy Web user who doubts everything in her mailbox, it was hard NOT to send them money. The overwhelming curiosity was hard to resist - especially as a job seeker. A part of me is amazed and a little JUST a little admiring of the forethought that went into this well-executed scam. I mean, you dont have to troll the entire Internet to find names of people who want to pay for this service;
They tell you that you can make connections free, but you have to register with a password. Think about it, they already have your email address, how many people might sign up as a registered user using the password that they already have on their email account. I have been receiving a lot of spam from organizations claiming that they can intercept peoples emails for you.
Z_ORG_CODEPU01 8 - Comment by Alex in Houston Posted December 18, 2003 02:33 PM Permalink just happened to me! However, what I did is hit the contact us information and threatened them with a SLANDER Lawsuit! Although they may not be writing anything about me or my information, they are passing it along, thus contributing to possible lies that can ruin anyones reputation and do severe damage. I will actually press charges if they do not delete any current and future information they have.
As someone mentioned in another post these individuals were astonishingly clever at developing this site. I got duped because I just had a job interview and I thought perhaps someone was checking out my reputation which quite frankly, I should not be concerned about in the least. Just glad this site is here to help others who are smart enough to check this out before actually handing someone your credit card number.
Ive been recieving these mails occasionally for a year & always wondered if it was just a scam to get me to sign up. Anyone could have rubbed someone the wrong way at some point despite their best efforts, so this really could give just about anyone pause for worry. Im just glad I found this thread so I can ignore those mails in peace from now on.
To make a long story short my ex has a habit of trying to ruin anything good that may happen in my life I am sure that everyone has had one of those once in their lives. So, I went on to the site and it said that a business contact was looking for information and a personal contact, who knows me very well, was willing to give it up. It has a link that says I can contact either of these people but when you click on it you are taken to the registration page asking for your money. Trying to stay level headed I signed up with the free registration and used a password I dont use for anything else. I emailed and received a fast reply that looked like a form letter maybe they are trying to become a real company since all the big companies send are form letters. They said what they do is legal and it is just like 2 people talking about me at the coffee shop without me knowing.
I guess as they get smarter we need to as well : 17 - Comment by MO Posted December 26, 2003 02:48 PM Permalink Wishful thinking that my now re-married x could be anonymously contacting me to indirectly apologize for deceiving me and the cruelty of his behavior, I was suckered in. I now realize it is a scam, since I have not received a response back.
I saw the email and had been having problems with an old friend of mine, if that is what you can call them. One of a person who has information and one of a person who wants information. I wish I would have checked it out better, but we learn from our mistakes. I have repeatedly emailed them demanding that they refund my money and even emailing them links of all the scam info I have found on them. They pretty much told me to take it like a good person does and that their site is running fine so there is no reason for refund. Well after all of the e-mails I have yet another post on my email address. I have contacted the first 2 twice already without a response and now the new one. I am also going to file a complaint with the BBB they have 5 complaints 2 resolved 3 unresolved. On the BBB, it states they are in San Frisco but if you look around the different aware sites, they are located in the Philippians. I just hope that more people do a search on them before buying into their BS By the way, the only person I could find a post on besides myself was President Bush.
Yes, I almost bit the first time I received an email from them because just like a few people I have a person that scewed me out of some very special things in my life and I had concerns at first that maybe they were trying to slander me. I went to the site the first time I received an email and noticed there were 3 entries already where someone had either information on me or looking for information about me. This email address is very guarded in the way of those that know me having it. Yes, it may be on some spam lists but then who on a spam list would pay to get information about me. Anyway I sent the site a very forceful letter for them to remove the entries and that I caught on to their marekting practices. I also DID NOT remove my email address from their list so I would get another email notification from them. At this point I wanted to play with them and see what their next ploy would be. I received another notifcation from them about 2 weeks ago that someone has information to share about me. When I went to their site I noticed there were already 3 entries dating back 2 weeks. Then over the past 2 weeks or so I have received 3 more notifications that there were more entries. Each time I would go and noticed that their were more entries but each time a new entry appeared I received an email for each of them. The first notification you get they place at least 3 entries so when you go to the site it immediately peaks your interest, then periodically their system generates another entry and then sends you the notification. The first time this happened I wrote a nice little letter to the site Contact US and told them this is deceptive marketing techniqures and they have more to worry about because the Federal Trade Commission would like to be notified about some site like this. The best part is they will investigate at this dollar and it will cost me nothing. So I had advised them to shutdown their site or they will be contacted by the FTC. About 20 minutes ago I received my 4th notification on round 2 from them. I just went to their site and let them have it and how unfair it is that in todays world with things the way they are with the terrorism and stalkers that they selected this manner of advertising and marketing to get peoples money.
I think they should be turn into the FTC for further investigation. Since TUCOWS is a marketing/advertising company there are probably many more sites out there that are preying on people like this one. I cant wait to hear the reply I get back from my last message that I sent to them thru contact us subbmission form. Mark 20 - Comment by MarkA-From Penn Posted December 28, 2003 06:04 AM Permalink Please also note above that I by accident placed their URL in the incorrect section of the form and now it shows as a link with my name.
I can see where these unsolicited email messages are frightening the common decent individual. If someone who knows me wants to put something upleasant about me on this site then so be it. We cannot stop common gossip however I do not know of many people that would say anything degrading about me unless I have an enemy I am unaware of or if someone played a cruel joke. I do not think you or I or anyone else receiving these messages has to worry about anything. The most that can be published is your home address, phone number and soforth but that is information that can be obtained through public records. Dont worry about this but if so inclined, go to the FTC website and file a simple and easy complaint.
I can see where these unsolicited email messages are frightening the common decent individual. If someone who knows me wants to put something upleasant about me on this site then so be it. We cannot stop common gossip however I do not know of many people that would say anything degrading about m...
|