I nearly got scammed, It's easier than you think Options

[mike_hore]

Hi folks,
not really a spam issue, but some of the same jokers could well be involved. I was after a particular book, and googled for it. Quite high in the list came a site where it appeared I might be able to download it. This seemed strange, and I was a bit suspicious, so I looked up the name on Wikipedia. Now the site was called rapiddownloads.net. Wikipedia turned up rapiddownloads.com, which appeared to be legit though controversial since it's a German-based file-sharing service that could potentially be used in copyright violation. Anyway I made the false assumption that the two sites were the same. I clicked the link and found myself at another site called FastDownloadArchive which lo and behold had the title I wanted sitting at the top of its list. Clicking on the "download" button led to me being asked to register for $4 or some such amount. The blurb said this would register me at another site they said was a 3rd paty to handle accounts, and that I should ignore what that other site said about monthly fees, and that I would only have to pay the $4 once. Well more fool me, I gave them my credit card details and registered. Then lo and behold, the title I wanted disappeared and I had to click on a link to get them to add it to their server from the archive. They said I'd get sent an email when this was done. Anyway after an hour no email had arrived, nor had my credit card been charged anything. THIS was what made me really really suspicious. Yes, I was suspicious because I HADN'T been charged the $4!! So I sent an email to the customer support address asking how long this process might take. My plan was to give them an hour and if there was no response, to cancel my credit card. This is what I did. Still nothing had been charged (whew!)
Now since then I've done a bit more googling and FastDownloadArchive is definitely a scam, probably based in Russia, and there are a whole swag of them with rather similar names. You can try this for amusement. Go to www.rapidfileshare.net. You'll get a search box for the title you want. Put in somthing nonsensical. I put in "The Calathumpian Debacle" to think of a good book title. Yes, it will apparently be found! Click one of the links and you'll get to FastDownloadArchive where it will tell you that this title was uploaded just a couple of days ago!!! Fascinating, since I just dreamed up the title a minute ago...
Anyway, as they always say, if it seems to be too good to be true, it probably is. And if it shows up in Google, that proves nothing. And of course, xxx.com and xxx.net are NOT the same...
Oh yes, I did get an email from the "customer support" - let me quote, since it's priceless:

---
Sorry for the inconvenience, but the file you are looking for
could be corrupted, if there are any discrepancies, If you would like to
cancel our membership, (refund is NOT possible) please you have to contact
support@customersupporthelp.com, only e-mails STRICTLY RELATED TO BILLING
please (cancellations included).
Regards
----

Obviously a boilerplate response they send to all emails. I think I'll keep it for amusement value. Of course I didn't send any email back.
One surprise is that I haven't yet received any extra spam from these characters who now have my email address.

Cheers, Mike.

[mike_hore]

Just a slight correction - the original sites I mentioned should have been "rapidshare.com" (OK maybe) and "rapidshare.net" (NOT OK).

[oculi]

My biggest concern would not be receiving SPAM. I would worry about the credit card information you have insert.

Have you contacted your bank already and told them about you "internet accident" ? How do you make sure that this guys will not abuse your credit card in future?

I really hope you get out of this with no further troubles. Then it would hopefully fall in to chapter "lesson learned".

Good luck!

[mike_hore]

My biggest concern would not be receiving SPAM. I would worry about the credit card information you have insert.

Have you contacted your bank already and told them about you "internet accident" ? How do you make sure that this guys will not abuse your credit card in future?

That's OK - I cancelled my card (once I didn't get a response from them in an hour). That's easy here - the bank gives a number to ring and you just authenticate yourself and the card is cancelled immediately. So any info they have is now totally useless. I'll get a new card shortly with a new number. Yes, lesson learned!!
Cheers, Mike.

[Hkim]

FastDownloadArchive.com is hosted(routed) by a known porno hosting service that is connected spam:

FastDownloadArchive.com = [ 76.9.10.3 ]

(Asked whois.webnic.cc:43 about fastdownloadarchive.com)

Domain: fastdownloadarchive.com
Status: Protected
DNS:
NS1.REALITYCHECKNETWORK.COM
NS2.REALITYCHECKNETWORK.COM
Created: 2008-09-09 16: 29: 11
Expires: 2010-09-09 08: 30: 30
Last Modified: 2008-09-10 01: 43: 37
Registrant Contact:
Katz Global Domain Name Trust
Privacy Protected Domain Name Domain Proxy Center domaintrust@katzglobal.com

32 Maxwell Road 03-07 c/o
SC Singapore sg 069115
P: 65.67228356 F: 65.67258021
Administrative Contact:
Katz Global Domain Name Trust
Privacy Protected Domain Name Domain Proxy Center domaintrust@katzglobal.com

32 Maxwell Road 03-07 c/o
SC Singapore sg 069115
P: 65.67228356 F: 65.67258021
Technical Contact:
Katz Global Domain Name Trust
Privacy Protected Domain Name Domain Proxy Center domaintrust@katzglobal.com

32 Maxwell Road 03-07 c/o
SC Singapore sg 069115
P: 65.67228356 F: 65.67258021
Billing Contact:
Katz Global Domain Name Trust
Privacy Protected Domain Name Domain Proxy Center domaintrust@katzglobal.com

32 Maxwell Road 03-07 c/o
SC Singapore sg 069115
P: 65.67228356 F: 65.67258021

which is:


OrgName: ISPrime, Inc.
OrgID: IPRM
Address: 300 Boulevard East
Address: Suite 100
City: Weehawken
StateProv: NJ
PostalCode: 07086-6702
Country: US

ReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.isprime.net:4321/

NetRange: 76.9.0.0 - 76.9.31.255
CIDR: 76.9.0.0/19
OriginAS: AS23393
NetName: ISPRIME-ARIN-3
NetHandle: NET-76-9-0-0-1
Parent: NET-76-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS.ISPRIME.COM
NameServer: NS2.ISPRIME.COM
Comment: Please send abuse complaints to <abuse@isprime.com>
RegDate: 2007-02-08
Updated: 2007-09-13

RAbuseHandle: ISPRI1-ARIN
RAbuseName: ISPrime Abuse
RAbusePhone: +1-212-812-9028
RAbuseEmail: abuse@isprime.com

RNOCHandle: ISPRI-ARIN
RNOCName: ISPrime NOC
RNOCPhone: +1-212-812-9028
RNOCEmail: noc@isprime.com

RTechHandle: ITS7-ARIN
RTechName: ISPrime Technical Support
RTechPhone: +1-212-812-9028
RTechEmail: support@isprime.com

OrgAbuseHandle: ISPRI1-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: ISPrime Abuse
OrgAbusePhone: +1-212-812-9028
OrgAbuseEmail: abuse@isprime.com

OrgNOCHandle: ISPRI-ARIN
OrgNOCName: ISPrime NOC
OrgNOCPhone: +1-212-812-9028
OrgNOCEmail: noc@isprime.com

OrgTechHandle: ITS7-ARIN
OrgTechName: ISPrime Technical Support
OrgTechPhone: +1-212-812-9028
OrgTechEmail: support@isprime.com

These guys were behind a lot of the spam sites that I just had on one mail account a few days ago.
I would check out anyone I use a card with before I send in the information. If their pages were not encrypted or anything seemed odd, I would skip them.

[mike_hore]

Thanks for the info. Interestingly, I haven't been receiving any extra spam. I guess they were more interested in my credit card. Anyway, if spam comes in, from wherever, I report it.
Also I've got my new card already, so it's back to business as usual...
Cheers, Mike.

[msealey]

Forgive the wander: I've just had fraud committed on my Visa for the fourth time since August.

The hours and hours it takes to re-enter with online merchants is beyond infuriating.

Is this 'churn' unusual?

…Also I've got my new card already, so it's back to business as usual...…

[uzimike]

Forgive the wander: I've just had fraud committed on my Visa for the fourth time since August.

The hours and hours it takes to re-enter with online merchants is beyond infuriating.

Is this 'churn' unusual?

Not trying to hump a particular site or business but I have had my wife and I signed up with Lifelock for better than a year. The piece of mind we receive from this service I cannot price. A friend of mine lost a blank check I gave her. Once call to Lifelock put in immediate blocks and controls to keep us from losing one cent. I think we pay like $10/month or something inconsequential like that. For me, it is worth it. There are other similar places out there w/this service. Worth a look imho.

[uzimike]

Just a slight correction - the original sites I mentioned should have been "rapidshare.com" (OK maybe) and "rapidshare.net" (NOT OK).

By the by, I, too, made up two non-existent titles. Amazingly they were found and uploaded just days ago. lol
The really sad part is unlike Mike who smelled a rat, far too many others will not and will patiently wait.....and wait....and wait.....for something to happen, while in the meanwhile their credit is being abused, sold, and otherwise prostituted.

[mike_hore]

Forgive the wander: I've just had fraud committed on my Visa for the fourth time since August.

The hours and hours it takes to re-enter with online merchants is beyond infuriating.

Is this 'churn' unusual?

For me, exceedingly unusual. Thinking back 15 years or so, I don't think my credit card has EVER been abused! I normally don't use ATMs which is I think where a lot of abuse happens, with electronic gizmos that can capture details. And maybe here in Australia security is better? I don't know. But whatever, this has never been a problem for me.

-- Mike.

[Enoch]

I'd pretty much echo Mike (and it may or may not be significant that I'm also in Oz). I did have my Mastercard compromised by some hacker over a 6-month period maybe 4 years ago, after which I got a new account. But no other cases before or since .. and I've been shopping online pretty regularly for more than a decade.