Scammer: usaearning.com with hidden domain ownership

by Rudolf Faix 5. July 2015 05:12

USA EarningIt is recommended to use an advertisement blocker like Adguard or Adblock plus if you are searching for possibilities for monetizing your website. In such a case you can identify the scammer easily. In this case AdGuard has shown me that the domain usaearning.com is using the advertisements from bidvertiser.com. Why shall you pay some membership fees (for the upgrade) if you can get the service directly from bidvertiser.com for free?

usaearning.com is not able to give you more security than you get from bidvertiser.com directly. At least does bidvertiser.com not hide their domain ownership and you have an address where you can bring them if the situation arises in front of law court cheaper and easily. They even hide their domain ownership. Such services are not trustful. The only like to get your hard earned money without doing something for you. For this is the site usaearning.com nothing else then scam.

bidvertiser.com from Israel is well known for terminating the accounts fast without giving a reason for it. You need only to follow the comments on Web Of Trust. Maybe this is the reason that usaearning.com is hiding their identity by using the proxy service WHOISGUARD Inc. from Panama, but it can be some other reason too. In any case if they are taking money for membership fees then they will be liable in front of the law court in any case. But there is no reason to pay such a suspicious service in this case.

The view of the membership area of usaearning.com by using AdGuard:

USAearning.com member area

By looking into the source code of the site we find:

<!-- Begin BidVertiser code -->
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1" SRC="http://bdv.bidvertiser.com/BidVertiser.dbm?pid=588292&bid=1684284" type="text/javascript"></SCRIPT>
<!-- End BidVertiser code -->

 

The domain registry data from usaearning.com:

Domain Name: USAEARNING.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1933507183_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: WHOIS.ENOM.COM
Registrar URL: WWW.ENOM.COM
Update Date: 2015-06-21T16:08:49.00Z
Creation Date: 2015-05-29T03:55:00.00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-05-29T03:55:00.00Z
Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Registrar IANA ID: 48
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: ABUSE@ENOM.COM
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4252982646
Reseller: Namecheap.com
Domain Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Registrant Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Registrant Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Registrant Street:
Registrant City: PANAMA
Registrant State/Province: PANAMA
Registrant Postal Code: 00000
Registrant Country: PA
Registrant Phone: +507.8365503
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +51.17057182
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Admin Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Admin Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Admin Street:
Admin City: PANAMA
Admin State/Province: PANAMA
Admin Postal Code: 00000
Admin Country: PA
Admin Phone: +507.8365503
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +51.17057182
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email:
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: WHOISGUARD PROTECTED
Tech Organization: WHOISGUARD, INC.
Tech Street: P.O. BOX 0823-03411
Tech Street:
Tech City: PANAMA
Tech State/Province: PANAMA
Tech Postal Code: 00000
Tech Country: PA
Tech Phone: +507.8365503
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +51.17057182
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email:
Name Server: NS1.HOSTBLAST.US
Name Server: NS2.HOSTBLAST.US
DNSSEC:UNSIGNED
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System:
HTTP://WDPRS.INTERNIC.NET/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database:2015-05-28T20:55:35.00Z <<<

 

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Fraud & Scam

Only Affiliate Marketing SCAM offers getting found at the social networks

by Rudolf Faix 4. July 2015 06:24

Pyramid systemAffiliate marketers are you really so stupid and think that you can sell money?

Do you not know that everybody knows that you cannot take out more from a pot than it is inside?

As long as you are not offering a product, which should get sold from the affiliates and the affiliates are getting their commission, is your system only an illegal pyramid system or Ponzi scheme!!! Participating and promoting in such a system can bring you only into jail.

A pyramid system is an unsustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public.

Various forms of pyramid systems are illegal in many countries including the United States and numerous European countries.

As Europe enforced the law that promises in the promotion are enforceable in front of law court, the illegal sales systems disappeared very fast. Only some legal systems like Tupperware, Jeunesse, Amway and a few others are remaining. Some of this companies even needed to change their sales and promotion structure to be conform with the local law. The story about Amway at WikiPedia shows how the law has changed the world of affiliate marketing. You should think about it before you promote such a system - especially if you are not able to pay fines of a few million dollars!

Why you are trying to sell money? Do you really hope that you can find some people, which are more stupid then you are by yourself?

In such pyramid or Ponzi schemes only the people on top are earning. The people at the bottom of the pyramid are only losing their money. It does not matter if you need "only" to pay a small sign-up and/or membership fee. In any case you can use this money in a better way or are you already so poor that you like to get a place to sleep and food for free of charge by going to jail?

 

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Fraud & Scam

vivatic.com - Titus Sharpe - outside of the UK useless

by Rudolf Faix 28. June 2015 10:34

Vivaticvivatic.com seems to be a good visited site, but outside of the United Kingdom useless. You have first to spend money by taking some offers before you are coming to the interesting parts of the site. Alternative you have some surveys, where you can participate only if you have a domestic address at the United Kingdom. Even the offers are useless outside the United Kingdom. As I have entered my address from the Philippines I could not really check all the offered functions. The sign-up is free, but if you are not living at the UK it is only a waste of time.

The surveys even don't get pre-filtered and if a link to a survey is functioning then you get the message that you are not available to participate because you don't have an UK address.

Here is a screenshot how it should work, but you have to complete the listed steps at the right site one after each other:

Vivatic LogIn Screen

 

After signing up you have to chose Vivatic-Choose-your-favourite-3-from-the-UKs-top-offers.pdf (161.64 kb) before you can do something really on the site. If you not chose some offers then you get the message: "You’ve not yet entered our Bonus Bonanza Enter now to grab a bonus £0.50 for every £2.50 you earn through surveys until 12:00 on Monday June 29th"

The most of the available surveys are ending up with the message: "This partner requires all members to have validated their Paypal address and come from the UK. Please validate your PayPal address to access this survey.".

Some are even bringing the following message:

Server Error
404 - File or directory not found.
The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

And one brought:

Warning! Could be unsafe!
 

Adguard has blocked access to this page

This web page at www.surveysavers.co.uk, has been reported as a phishing page and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Adguard has found that this page may be a forgery or imitation of another website, designed to trick users into sharing personal or financial information. Entering any personal information on this page may result in identity theft or other abuse.

With other words the site has everything what it makes it useless. If you think that you can earn by promoting the site, then you'll get the next surprise about the conditions for referring a friend:

Refer A Friend
Recommend Vivatic to your friends and earn £2 for every friend who signs up and earns £10.

Note that the £10 can't include earnings from this referal scheme

As it is not possible to earn on the site something if you are living outside of the UK, is it in the most countries nothing else than an illegal pyramid system. Maybe it is possible to earn something if you are living in the United Kingdom,but I think you are spending more for taking the offers from the site than you can earn!

If we take a look at the Alexa Site statistics from vivatic.com, then we see that the most traffic is coming to the site from India:

Alexa ranking of vivatic.com

The huge traffic from India makes the ranking. As mostly the people from India are not reading the conditions would they be very surprised if they see that they are making a lot promotion for the site and earn nothing for their affiliate links.

Additional are the people very fast by deleting inactive accounts. I had signed up at June 22, 2015, have taken a look into the system 2 or 3 times and as I tried to log in today (June 28) after receiving a promotion (spam) email my account has been already deleted. Funny is that they did not delete my email address from their promotion system. For me is the site SCAM and scammer are normally too lazy for using their brain and for a serious business!

 

The domain registry data from vivatic.com:

Domain Name: VIVATIC.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1620557418_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2013-09-04T14:25:37Z
Creation Date: 2010-10-15T18:57:09Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-10-15T18:57:09Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Titus Sharpe
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: 97 Charlotte Street London London w1t 4qa
Registrant City:
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code:
Registrant Country: United Kingdom
Registrant Phone:
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: titus.sharpe@marketingvf.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Titus Sharpe
Admin Organization:
Admin Street: 97 Charlotte Street London London w1t 4qa
Admin City:
Admin State/Province:
Admin Postal Code:
Admin Country: United Kingdom
Admin Phone: +44.20790701414
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: titus.sharpe@marketingvf.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Titus Sharpe
Tech Organization:
Tech Street: 97 Charlotte Street London London w1t 4qa
Tech City:
Tech State/Province:
Tech Postal Code:
Tech Country: United Kingdom
Tech Phone: +44.20790701414
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: titus.sharpe@marketingvf.com
Name Server: PDNS01.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: PDNS02.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2015-06-28T5:00:00Z <<<

Some domains related to Titus Sharpe - titus.sharpe@marketingvf.com:

  • bifoo.com
  • buyerking.com
  • cairoo.com
  • cidris.org
  • dodgefarmtech.com
  • festivalcruises.com
  • health-tourism.net
  • ish-ead2009-eg.org
  • luxuryegyptholidays.com
  • newfrontiersinbiofuels.org
  • slubiodiv.org
  • stluciancf.org
  • trunka.com
  • ukinindia.com
  • vivatic.com
  • yamaha-uk.com

 

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Fraud & Scam

mansioncasino.com - a casino with a bad reputation and a hidden ownership

by Rudolf Faix 14. June 2015 12:37

MansionCasino.comThe online casino affiliates have been years ago a good business for affiliates. More then 20 years ago one of my friends in Austria earned very good by promoting online casinos. It seems the time has changed a lot and/or the casino owners have been coming too greedy that they need to use spyware and adware in their own software for spying their users. Whatever the real reason is, we can only guess it.

My opinion that someone, which hides his name at the domain registration data by using a proxy service, has something more to hide then only his privacy gets confirmed in this case.

Fact is that I got the following warning by opening the site from mansioncasino.com:

Warning! Could be unsafe!
 

Adguard has blocked access to this page

This web page at www.mansioncasino.com, has been reported as a phishing page and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Adguard has found that this page may be a forgery or imitation of another website, designed to trick users into sharing personal or financial information. Entering any personal information on this page may result in identity theft or other abuse.

As one warning comes seldom alone I got immediately the next one after proceeding to the page:

WOT reputation of mansioncasino.com

I have one comment picked from the the comments at Web Of Trust for the site mansioncasino.com:

User picture

Malware or viruses

Spam

Distributes Adware see
https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/dda8fbf57f9ddc8c2b04ed65d59c59d054d89...
Hidden Registrant related to / owned by same company as Casino.com.
Affiliates / Microworkers posting Fake comments on Site Advisor see https://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/msgpage/mansioncasino.com/postid "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Especially the adware link inside the above message is interesting:

VirusTotal

All these adware and trojans are built for stealing information from your computer and deliver promotion to you.

Win.Adware.Agent-6597 is a malicious application that is designed to circumvent computer security, compromise a system, and deploy various advertising elements. These can include pop-up windows, browser redirects, and other problems. Some Win.Adware.Agent-6597 poses an additional threat by allowing personal information and computing activity to be collected and tracked.

The dangerous virus Win32.Troj.Undef(kcloud) is developed by the hackers to get the remote access to your computer, and steal your confidential data. This information may include the passwords, username, credit card numbers, and browsing history. The hackers use this data in the online frauds, and resultantly you lose your hard earned money. Besides that, this deadly dangerous virus modifies the windows registry by adding corrupt entries that cause regular crashes. Once installed, the Win32.Troj.Undef(kcloud) make your computer extremely slow by occupying the resources installed on the system.

I don't really like to test if they have removed or replaced the trojans and adware already. Such a report makes the site only more worse then only hiding their identity in the domain registration:

Domain Name: mansioncasino.com
Registry Domain ID: 101010471_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.ipmirror.com
Registrar URL: http://www.ipmirror.com
Updated Date: 2015-06-10T04:15:49Z
Creation Date: 2003-07-25T00:32:47Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-07-25T00:32:47Z
Registrar: IP Mirror Pte Ltd
Registrar IANA ID: 890
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: TLDSupport@cscglobal.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8887802723
Reseller: 
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited http://www.icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID: 
Registrant Name: c/o Premium Registration Service
Registrant Organization: Corporation Service Company (UK) Ltd
Registrant Street: 1st Floor, 2-5 Benjamin Street 
Registrant City: London
Registrant State/Province: 
Registrant Postal Code: EC1M 5QL
Registrant Country: United Kingdom
Registrant Phone: +44.2074604060
Registrant Phone Ext: 
Registrant Fax: +44.2075494101
Registrant Fax Ext: 
Registrant Email: whoisprivacy@cscglobal.com
Registry Admin ID: 
Admin Name: c/o Premium Registration Service
Admin Organization: Corporation Service Company (UK) Ltd
Admin Street: 1st Floor, 2-5 Benjamin Street 
Admin City: London
Admin State/Province: 
Admin Postal Code: EC1M 5QL
Admin Country: United Kingdom
Admin Phone: +44.2074604060
Admin Phone Ext: 
Admin Fax: +44.2075494101
Admin Fax Ext: 
Admin Email: whoisprivacy@cscglobal.com
Registry Tech ID: 
Tech Name: c/o Premium Registration Service
Tech Organization: Corporation Service Company (UK) Ltd
Tech Street: 1st Floor, 2-5 Benjamin Street 
Tech City: London
Tech State/Province: 
Tech Postal Code: EC1M 5QL
Tech Country: United Kingdom
Tech Phone: +44.2074604060
Tech Phone Ext: 
Tech Fax: +44.2075494101
Tech Fax Ext: 
Tech Email: whoisprivacy@cscglobal.com
Name Server: pdns1.ultradns.net
Name Server: pdns2.ultradns.net
Name Server: pdns3.ultradns.org
Name Server: pdns4.ultradns.org
Name Server: pdns5.ultradns.info
Name Server: pdns6.ultradns.co.uk
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2015-06-10T04:30:12Z <<<

The domain, which is managing the affiliate system from mansioncasino.com, is iaffiliates.com. iaffiliates.com is using the same proxy provider as mansioncasino.com. They are also managing the affiliate systems for the following brands: casino.com, lesacasino.com, club777.com and slotsheaven.com. 

All these domains have a bad reputation already, using the same proxy service and the same DNS servers for their internet service. For me it seems that they have the same owner.

Casino.comClub 777
LesACasino.comSlots Heaven

web-of-trust-report-mansioncasino.pdf (381.15 kb)

 

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Suspicious Sites

Shopping Sherlock - shoppingsherlock.com - a site with a bad reputation

by Rudolf Faix 14. June 2015 06:33

Shopping SherlockWilliam Taylor sent me an invitation on LinkedIn. As I accept all invitations I have accepted his too. The only purpose of the invitation from William Taylor has been to send me a spam message with an invitation for an affiliate system with the name Shopping Sherlock. I have replaced his affiliate code with the sign "x" in his message, because it is nothing else then a simple pyramid system:

William Taylor

"Thank you for accepting my invitation"!

William Taylor

13. Juni 2015 14:03

Sie haben diese Nachricht beantwortet:

What is my Goal? / Simple. 
I want to help you Save, by giving you "Absolutely Free" an invitation to Shop on an Invite Only Platform that allows you to Find the Absolute Lowest Prices on the Web!.. 
Check out the site / Enter your Email address / Choose a User Name & Password / Go Shopping 
Then Decide for Yourself / It’s Just That Simple! 

http://www.shoppingsherlock.com/xxxxxx

With my nearly 40 years of computer networks and security experience I know that spam leads very seldom to a good offer. In this case the offer has already a very bad reputation. The first warning by following the link comes from AdGuard:

Warning! Could be unsafe!
 

Adguard has blocked access to this page

This web page at www.shoppingsherlock.com, has been reported as a phishing page and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Adguard has found that this page may be a forgery or imitation of another website, designed to trick users into sharing personal or financial information. Entering any personal information on this page may result in identity theft or other abuse.

At the blog behind MLM we can read that Shopping Sherlock is nothing else then a copy of the crashed system from My Shopping Genie (closed May 2012) after they could not pay their affiliates. Each MLM or pyramid system, which is living only from membership fees, crashes as soon there are not enough new members joining the system are coming up. The same will happen to the system from Shopping Sherlock. There are enough free sites without any membership fees which are offering price comparing on the Internet available.

For a normal user is It not recommended to proceed after the first warning already. As I know that all my protection systems are up to date, I have continued visiting the page and got prompt the next warning from Web Of Trust - a system where user are rating the content of the sites:

WOT reputation of shoppingsherlock.com

Such a scam rating is interesting and I have followed for reading the comments about this ratings. You find at the site Web Of Trust like everywhere about Shopping Sherlock positive and negative ratings and you can decide which ratings you are more believing. I'm listing here only the ratings written in English. If someone likes to get the other ratings translated he can use Google translator. The comments from Web Of Trust:

User picture
I don't trust

Scam

Spam

This site's URL appeared in Disqus forum spam and should not be trusted. "

User picture
I don't trust

Scam

Potentially illegal

Misleading claims or unethical

A form of pyramid selling designed to fool the gullible and the stupid. As with all pyramid schemes this scam will eventually fail leaving its creators very rich and virtually everybody else out of pocket. "

If we verify these rating then we find out that they are true. The only possible earnings on the site Shopping Sherlock are done selling memberships for affiliates. With other words the affiliates have nothing to do as to work for Shopping Sherlock and pay for their work. This makes the site to SCAM. In the whole world is it usage that you get paid for your work and you need not pay for it. For this is the site nothing else then a simple pyramid system. Such systems are illegal in a lot of countries.

In such a system you are able to earn only if you are a member since the early start up time. As later you enter the system as harder it comes to earn by convincing new members. The system started in February 2012 (which wonder that is close to the time as My Shopping Genie has closed down on May 2012) and has reached now an Alexa global ranking of 105,934. That the site is growing slowly already as it get shown in the Alexa global ranking, where Shopping Sherlock has improved their rankings during the last 3 months only for 1,135 positions. That the lifetime of such systems is relative short get shown by the example of My shopping Genie. My Shopping Genie launched late 2007 and the reports that they could not pay their affiliates more than 6 months already, have been coming up during September 2011. With other words the system worked only 3.5 years. If we compare it with Shopping Sherlock then we can expect, as it is nothing else then a copy of Shopping Sherlock, a break down at the end of this year or during 2016. It is depending how fast they are growing with their affiliate structure until no new affiliates can get convinced. As soon as the new affiliates gets it that they cannot find some new members and they have to pay more as they are earning the break down of the system starts.

The actual Alexa ranking from shoppingsherlock.com:

Alexa ranking of shoppingsherlock.com

 

The domain registry data from shoppingsherlock.com:

Domain Name: SHOPPINGSHERLOCK.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1720468532_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Update Date: 2015-04-30T18:23:03Z
Creation Date: 2012-05-15T04:30:54Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-05-15T04:30:54Z
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 146
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505
Domain Status: ok http://www.icann.org/epp#ok
Registry Registrant ID:
Michael Wiedder founder CEO shoppingsherlock.comRegistrant Name: Michael Wiedder
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: 4912 Lemona
Registrant City: Sherman Oaks
Registrant State/Province: California
Registrant Postal Code: 91403
Registrant Country: United States
Registrant Phone: (310) 428-9375
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: 
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: mwiedder@gmail.com
Registry Admin ID: 
Admin Name: Michael Wiedder
Admin Organization: 
Admin Street: 4912 Lemona
Admin City: Sherman Oaks
Admin State/Province: California
Admin Postal Code: 91403
Admin Country: United States
Admin Phone: (310) 428-9375
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: 
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: mwiedder@gmail.com
Registry Tech ID: 
Tech Name: Michael Wiedder
Tech Organization: 
Tech Street: 4912 Lemona
Tech City: Sherman Oaks
Tech State/Province: California
Tech Postal Code: 91403
Tech Country: United States
Tech Phone: (310) 428-9375
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: 
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: mwiedder@gmail.com
Name Server: NS05.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server: NS06.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2015-06-13T23:00:00Z <<<

The story from the break down from My Shopping Genie

Web Of Trust - shoppingsherlock.pdf (403.95 kb)

 

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Fraud & Scam


make-money-234x60

AboutMe

I'm since more then 35 years in the computer business (programming and technical support) and using the Internet since it has started. Since 2002 I'm programming solutions for Asterisk and since 2004 I'm in the call center industry.

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