This is the old MovableType blog. To enter the new blog visit the home page.
December 02, 2004Tech > Domain Name Scam from ILSCORP.net (AKA Internet Listing Service Corp.)(Home today taking care of Melissa.) I just opened a letter from ILSCORP.net (AKA Internet Listing Service Corp.) for the lesjones.com domain, for domain service from December 15, 2004 to December 15, 2005. That didn't sound right. I knew that my domain was paid up through May, and I have it listed with Network Solutions, not ILSCORP. I looked over the letter and noticed the words "This is not a bill. This is a solicitation. You are under no obligation to pay the amount stated above unless you accept this offer." Scumbags. I wonder how many people who don't know any better wind up paying these people and switching their domain service to them? Posted by lesjonesComments
Obviously, you've never worked in accounts payable. Businesses get tons of that crap. Posted by: SayUncle at December 02, 2004I received one also. It looked like a bill but when I saw the "This is not a bill" I decided to investigate. That is how I found this site. This pisses me off so much, I want to put a stop to this. I spoke to someone at REGISTER.COM. They made a note of it. Any suggestions? Posted by: Ben at December 09, 2004I got one yesterday, and I'm fuming. Of course I'm annoyed with how this thing came disguised as a bill, but beyond that, can anyone explain just what it is this "company" actually does once it gets your money? They claim to submit your domain name to 20 major search engines. Huh? I looked at their website (www.ilscorp.net) and it explains nothing. Oh well. It's a scam, and I suspect they're raking in the cash. Posted by: Bill at December 29, 2004ilscorp.net is a scam....plan and simple....they took my money like they have taken others as well. Posted by: James at December 29, 2004Yup, scam for sure. How can they get away with sending something that looks like a bill when in fact, it is a solicitation for service. And, the service offered is dubious at best. Beyond all that, I am especially upset that they were able to get my address in the first place. Having to place your information when registering a domain is no issue, but, we should be able to remain unlisted if we want to. No one should be able to get at our information in the whois beyond what we wish to disclose. Kevin FYI: After careful rereading of the offer, I noticed that they will send instructions to you to submit your site. They don’t even do the leg work, just a canned email at best. Kevin I just got one too, which brought me here. I even put up a picture of it to warn others with... http://paulkienitz.net/img/ilscorp.jpg One funny thing is, I'm kinda sure I've run across the name ILSCORP before somewhere. Maybe as squatters or something of that kind. Posted by: Paul Kienitz at January 10, 2005Just started getting mail from these losers. Take a look at the domain registration: I got one today as well. I read it carefully and saw that it was not a bill. A quick check showed the info left by Drew. The domain was created in August of this year so this is a pretty new site. SayUncle is correct this is primarily targeted at business who may have registered a large number of domains. I am looking for the proper agency to report them to. Posted by: Dave at January 22, 2005I received this for a couple of my domains as well. Researched the net and this is one of the few listings I found. I encourage everyone to complain to the following organisations to stop this. As I have: Better Business Bureau ZoneEdit - Their DNS host Host R Webhosting - Their current webhost If enough people complain they will be shut down very quickly. Posted by: Alan at February 16, 2005Yeah, I got one too. It's meant to look like a bill, but I read it before I wrote a check. If you don't, isn't that the fiscal equivalent of winning a Darwin Award? Want I want to ask is this: Does anyone have a legitmate version of this service? Is there a way to get a leg up on the search thing? Bad Company, good Idea... Ben Posted by: Ben Madden at February 22, 2005I tried to log on to Ilscorp site and didn't get through and thought I'd do a web search for info. Thanks to this site, I just saved $35! Some little bell went off just as I was ready to seal the return envelope with my check included. Thank you all. cg Posted by: Cherry Grisham at February 26, 2005Yes, this is a scam. But a very good one that almost fooled you. I for one am impressed with their creativity. They paid real $$ to send this out. E-mailed spam and phone calls, on the other hand, are bothersome. --Fredrick Posted by: Fredrick at March 10, 2005I filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Postal Service. They contacted the company and they sent me a letter. Unfortunately they are just within the LETTER of the law, Title 39, United States code, sec.3001, nonmailable matter paragraph (d) section (a) and (b). The law merely states they must place the dislaimer in bold letters and it must have certain wording. The law needs to be changed to have the disclaimer placed at the beginning of the solicitation rather than on the reverse side of if. Not sure BBB can help, might need legislation. Posted by: Dave at March 18, 2005Oh, the address is a mail drop at the UPS Store at that address. I called and verified it. Posted by: Dave at March 18, 2005Check out the WHOIS record for ilscorp.net. It's pretty telling. Posted by: Jerry at March 29, 2005I was checking into this for one of my customers - I'm glad I found this site!!! Checked it out on www.whois.com (type ilscorp in the search box, change the drop down to .net, then on the next page (at the bottom), click WhoIs Lookup). It even comes up with a yahoo e-mail address and an Amsterdam address for the guy! Posted by: Wendy at March 31, 2005Yes, I have filed a complaint with bbb.org I urge others to do the same Just use my text Filed against : Complaint Description: Your Desired Resolution: I just got one today and fired off letters to both the Attorney Generals of both New Jersey and Illinois. The address is just a private mailbox and the scum bag in question is a Netherlands resident. I've also sent an email to the Netherlands Government, but I probably won't hear anything from them. If you get a copy of this "bill", file an official complaint with your Attorney General's office and with the Illinois Attorney General's office (almost all compliant forms can be found on the Internet). The more people who complain, the more likely this scum bag will be caught. Posted by: David at April 02, 2005I got one too I almost called the stupid amsterdam number just to see if someone answered the phone wanted to pretend to be a postal inspector. Posted by: Cowboyjaxfl at April 04, 2005Thanks for the info, received an ILSCORP communication today and was able to check it out very quickly with a Google search and sites like this one. As you will see, ILSCORP have global asperations and are operating in the UK. I have forwarded all their details to Trading Standards in the hope at the very least they will close down their current operation. Posted by: barry at April 05, 2005I just got one and handing the letter over to trading-standards as the have launched a investigation in the mater. Posted by: Dr Stern at April 05, 2005Just got the Uk one - they're using an accomodation address in Cambridge. I've reported it to the Cambridgeshire Trading Standards - don't know if they are likely to be able to do anything. Anyone in Cambridge fancy calling in and waiting to see who comes to collect the mail? Posted by: Nigel at April 05, 2005I got one too. Sneaky punks. Thanks for the hard work in shutting them down! Posted by: Ugh at April 05, 2005I received 8 letters from them and another slammer today and yesterday. whois, you say, is 'pretty telling' ?? In cambridge they receive mail via Mailboxes Etc. I did the same regarding Domain Registry of America, based from Mailbox etc kensington, links: http://www.skymarket.co.uk/news_beaware.php Domain Slamming as it is called is frowned upon by most of the world, barred in America and actively pursued in Canada, though Nominet UK only pursue those who impersonate Nominet and then, only those who 'Slam' .uk domains. My 8 letters involve not a single .uk domain. This is one to raise with UK government ministers as the UK elections are 5th May....very timely to get some ministers on side whilst they try to promise the world to the electorate: How do these guys avoid easy pursuit? and large business expense? they use a mailbox, and the biggest providor of these is mailboxes etc. How about a campaign to boycott Mailboxes Etc? If someone gets back to me, I will buy a domain, co.uk? info? net? org?, with hosting and perhaps someone could facilitate minimalist web design?? Also, how about another domain, www.domain-slam.*** to target the activity directly when raising awareness amongst the law makers? Can you think of a better domain name? .com? .org? Lets make it stop. This year. Can you help? Posted by: Alastair at April 06, 2005We are as concerned to these matters as you are, and until these matters are brought to our attention, there is no way of us knowing what is inside there mail or exact reason for setting up a mailbox with us. When we ask "what will the mailbox be used for", none of the previouse scammers, like "weasle Boy" (who, like all that get found to be using the mailing address for illigal solicitations, have there contract cancelled and mail returned to sender) do not infact tell us that they will be using the address for illigal, or scamming purposess, we endevour to weed these people out and cancel all contracts made, ensuring that legitimate business can use our address, as not only are these "scammers" upsetting you, but they are slanderous to our company and every legitamate company that have an address with us. Would you "boycott" Royal mail for delivering there mail, as they have as much to do with thier recieving of mail as we do. If a car salseman sold a car that was later used for a ram raid, would you blame the car salesman and the company he works for?. We treat these matters with up-most regard to the public that fall for these scams, and we will work along side any legal bodies to sort these matters out. I am open to any questions, bearing in mind that an English Law called the Data Protection Act prevents me from giving Personal Information out. Posted by: MBE Cambridge at April 06, 2005We are as concerned to these matters as you are, and until these matters are brought to our attention, there is no way of us knowing what is inside there mail or exact reason for setting up a mailbox with us. When we ask "what will the mailbox be used for", none of the previouse scammers, like "weasle Boy" (who, like all that get found to be using the mailing address for illigal solicitations, have there contract cancelled and mail returned to sender) do not infact tell us that they will be using the address for illigal, or scamming purposess, we endevour to weed these people out and cancel all contracts made, ensuring that legitimate business can use our address, as not only are these "scammers" upsetting you, but they are slanderous to our company and every legitamate company that have an address with us. Would you "boycott" Royal mail for delivering there mail, as they have as much to do with thier recieving of mail as we do. If a car salseman sold a car that was later used for a ram raid, would you blame the car salesman and the company he works for?. We treat these matters with up-most regard to the public that fall for these scams, and we will work along side any legal bodies to sort these matters out. I am open to any questions on this site, bearing in mind that an English Law called the Data Protection Act prevents me from giving Personal Information out. Posted by: MBE Cambridge at April 06, 2005Nice one Mailboxes. Very on the ball. Impressed by the speed of your response at this site. The matter of ILSCORP.co.uk using your 'suite2' mailbox is duly drawn to your attention. The law and its enforcement in the UK leaves much to be desired, e.g. The Office of Fair Trading as mentioned by The Register, My suggestion is quite simple, find the part of your terms and conditions that such a mailbox holder is breaking and terminate such mailbox holder accounts forthwith, if such terms are not in place, give these mailbox holders your minimum notice period, e.g. 1 month?, then write to your head office and suggest their immediate inclusion in revised terms and conditions. The Royal Mail is not in a position to cease carrying mail in quite the same way, since they do not have a fixed physical presence relationship with most customers, who deliver their letters into any of a multitude of postboxes. If the royal mail were collecting mail from the 'business' premises of a known scammer, then, yes, I should request they give that scammer notice of termination. Equally, we are aware that many organisations including the british government are not exactly known for their abiding integrity, just research the loophole that enables the UK tax payers to pay 100% for free weapons to third world dictators, like Zimbabwe in recent years. Suggestion of a boycott was merely to encourage action, beyond mere words, towards encouraging businesses such as yours, as necessary, to take what steps you can to avoid these nasty wretches causing lots of hassle for many many individuals and businesses worldwide. I will send you an email outlining informations about these people, including international actions already taken to bring them to book, and suggest that you do what you can. Neither are we entirely concerned as to whether English law says these solicitations are illegal, since if they are grossly misleading or very likely to lead people to pay out and in so doing, have no recourse to a refund, jeopardise their business in terms of web presence and email for one or more periods (depending on technical matters relating to movement of their domain hosting and associated services) and all of this without any need whatsoever, without advantage and using bulk mailouts which are covered already by the Mailing Preference Service - http://www.dma.org.uk - do you reckon these guys are checking whether someone has opted out of junk mail shots? Yeah? I doubt it too. Sorry to be soooo lengthy in writing here, and to write at length here prior to writing you guys an email about these scammers. I hope you can inconvenience them and get MBE.UK's terms and conditions altered to disallow such scammers in future - then a simple email to you folks across this fine land and scammers will be having a much more difficult time! (yours is a very fine, convenient, affordable, mailbox service when all is said and done. You will be written of *highly* if a www.mailbox-scammers.xxx site goes up, designed to influence MBE decision makers and english law makers, not least) We must not rely on government bodies showing their teeth in the first instance, they are mostly toothless and proud of it. Posted by: Alastair at April 06, 2005Aha! On checking, I see that my letters from ILSCORP.co.uk come stamped by Royal Mail "Postage Paid GB, Maidstone 501" Can MBE Cambridge tell me what this means and how I can complain to the Royal Mail about this customer, and whether it relates to this *specific* organisation or could be the stamp used by many businesses sharing a building? Thank you Alastair for your comments, you are quite right, if you can think of a specific clause we can put in to our contracts as to even prevent scammers from renting in the first place, i will be more than willing to put them in place. I would suggest that on the light of this we could (and probably should) do background checks before the rental period starts, but if its a new business the likelyhood of finding any facts on thier company or individual is low, with so many loopholes, the best solution is feedback from the public, as per the contract, we can cancel mailboxes forthwith for any reason at the companies discretion with no refund, iam looking closely at this case. As for the Royal Mail Prepaid stamp, this could be a print house offering mail-shot facilities, i really do not know, I think if you complain to Maidstone Police they can investigate this and prevent the mail-shot from even being sent, killing the problem at the roots!. I hope this information is useful as only co-operation can sort these matters out. Posted by: MBE Cambridge at April 07, 2005Just got the same notice in the mail for ilscorp.net, and the first thing I did was look up the domain name at WHOIS.SC. This is my favorite lookup site because it lists not only the registration info, but also all domain names using the address, which in this case includes such "gems" as the following: "realtime-watches.com", and "wheretopeeforfree.com". (Don't even want to know what's goin' on there!) Besides, next week it might well be associated with another IP -- that's the nature of these guys. At any rate, for the past 2 years I've been building a database of garbage IP's (attempted network break-ins, SPAM sources, redirections, and other assorted JUNK), which now contains about 20,000 addresses,and many of the patterns are quite fascinating. Plan to make the file public on a site shortly, which could assist in setting firewall rules and exposing some of these bums. Posted by: Lee Baumgarten at April 11, 2005I suspect this is the work of "Peter Clifford Francis Macrae". Here's an article about him: http://tinyurl.com/38nhp (Times article, tinyurl'ed because the forum software regarded the URL as "questionable content"...?) I've just received a scam invoice from "ILSCORP.CO.UK", with the address for cheques given as: Parkers House Naturally this is the address of MailBoxes Etc, which is to say, the above is a PO Box, not a "suite". So, take a look at the Times article and, surprise surprise, he was operating out of "48 Regent Street, Cambridge." Finally, in case you might have been under the illusion that ilscorp.net and ilscorp.co.uk were two different companies - take a look at the phrasing of the two "About/About Us" pages. Identical. I suppose it's possible that we've got one scummy loser and one scummy loser plagiarist, but on the whole it smells very much of Weaselboy. I do hope they manage to have him sent to prison this time; I'm just popping my copy of the letter in the post to the Cambridgeshire constabulary and I suggest you chaps send yours to them, or the Cambridgeshire trading standards. Dave. Posted by: Dave at April 17, 2005Good news. Hoorah! Any more information of a similar nature needs to be given to managers of such mailbox businesses to enable them to take appropriate action, esp. where the law of the land is unwieldy and ineffectual. I have made no progress yet with the Royal Mail in ceasing the PPI service relating to suite 2 based in Maidstone Kent UK. I am not sure that we can be certain whether 'Suite 2' relates to 'weaselboy' (above) previously at 'unit 255' of the same MBE address of 48 Regent St. Cambridge, but I daresay Mailboxes manager will be able to ascertain this and cease further accounts used in a similar way to conclude misleading bulk mailing practises that use a web of physical locations/addresses to confuse the law and hinder redress. Well done once more to the proactive and discerning manager of mailboxes etc. in Cambridge, UK. Posted by: Alastair at April 17, 2005I'm glad I decided to try to make a paymentvia the internet before I mailed my check. I was brought to this site. Thank you all for your help. Does anyone know of a reputable company/site, that will put my website on search engines for a nominal fee? ilscorp has been shut the fuck down. I just went to it. It is still up.? They scammed my Dad (who paid my bills while I was overseas) out of $35. I went to the domain name he supposedly reserved for me and that I did not want and got a message that the name had expired. Posted by: Douglas Wall at May 20, 2005Joining the club. Got scammed too. Success! NOTE: Lesson learned. Never deal with anyone who lives on WACKER street. They are laughing all the way to the bank folks. Go get 'em! Posted by: Diane at July 19, 2005I just opened mine today 07/21/05. I am glad I saw this site! I will investigate and then get even. I am paid with my site through May 06 as well!!!! Scammers!!!!! Posted by: Heather at July 21, 2005I got the same "invoice" in the mail asking to pay $35.00 to submit my URL to search engines. It looked completely fake, and of course it was. But another thing that people can do and should do is report this to their states GOVERNORS OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS. Most states have websites (georgia.gov) then by law the state has to file the complaint and start an investigation. Whether it goes any where or not, who knows. But then each state puts out consumer alerts pretty frequently that you can access on the state website, at least this way they will be listed. Posted by: Emily at July 21, 2005Just got mine yesterday first thing I did is a GOOGLE on them found this site. THANK YOU.!!!! I just received a smiliar "solicitation" that initially appears to be a bill or statement. It is from "Listing Corp" in New York City and their website is: www.listingcorp.com Please DO NOT fall for this scam!!! Thanks to all at this site for alerting me to the part stating that "This Is not A Bill", "This is A Solicitation". Best wishes, Don Cordier Gee, I read where a Ben and a Tracy said the price was $35. Mine said $65. Are they raising the price for their scam? Next time it may be $100 or even higher. And I thought this was the real deal until I found this message board. It's a good thing I did. What a horrible thing some people will do to con people! Shame on them! Posted by: Donna at July 24, 2005Thank-you for the posts. I just got one of those promises to list in 20 MAJOR search engines for $35.00. Google brought me here confirmed my suspicions. Now, why would these folks think we would want to give them money to get us exposure when THEY don't seem to have a website and internet presence? Posted by: Kev at July 24, 2005Is anyone in the know willing to list mailing / email addresses of any enforcement agencies, such as Attorney General in Illinois, FTC, USPS, Royal Mail, FBI, so to allow anyone to forward copies of Notice's, addresses in Africa, Europe, United Kingdom, US etc. to assist the agencies in cracking down on them and future violators? Am I to assume that they will change their name, change addresses and this scam will continue as before and we can make a difference for not only us but others to come? Possibly the enforcement agencies can even create their own web pages (warnings)that come up in google searches when one gets one of these notices about their investigations that can warn concisely. This has been a great site to find for I paid for my name for 5 years with Yahoo and it is impossible to contact Yahoo this morning as it is everyday via email or phone so I finally did the search on ilscorp.net. Who knows maybe there will be a future worldwide Internet consumer protection bureau that gives consumers a way of looking up companies such as ILSCORP.NET under categories such as "search engine listers" when one gets an invoice or that consumer site would automatically come up in a search? Maybe the Attorney Generals can work together on a joint site? Posted by: dw at July 24, 2005I did not get an email but a letter in the US mail from them with an address at 207 East Ohio St Suite #324 in Chicago 60611, they will "accept Visa or Mastercard". These two org. should stop accepting payments from them and acting as a go between. I thankfully found this site when checking "ILSCORP.NET" out. Thanks to GOOGLE. Is it not illegal to use the US mail for fraud? Can this be reported to the postal service? I will find out tomorrow. The price by the way is still $35.00 Posted by: dan at July 24, 2005I just got my ILSCORP.net letter in the mail, only $47.50 for a whole year of domain name submission to 20 major search engines. My best value is doing a 5-year subscription for only $190.00. That's a whole year free!! How did everyone else get such a good deal at only $35.00 a year? Do they provide any type of legitimate service? Posted by: Pete at July 24, 2005i got my mailed scam letter today . . . funny, my wesite is paid up til 2010! and i didn't have to do anything to get listed on google! SKAMMERS!!! looks like their webite is up and running again . . . skkkkkkammers! too bad someone else can't buy their registration name from out from under them and link it to this page!! that would get em! Posted by: m at July 27, 2005I just got one of these today, and I'm totally for shutting them down, but how stupid do you have to be to fall for this. "duh, I got something that kind of looks like a bill but I've never heard of the company and have no relationship with them, well, I'll pay it anyway!". Seriously, I knew it was a scam before I even opened it. next time, if you don't know who it is, don't pay it. it can't be much simpler than that. This ILSCORP's whole contact us page: General Information - info@ilscorp.net
Just got one today. FYI the mail to address is: Internet Listing Service Corp. Maybe someone could check into the address. If it's a Mailboxes Etc. then maybe we can get a collection together and find out how much it would cost to buy mailbox #324 from the store... Posted by: Seth at September 16, 2005I get these "bills" all the time. some hint's, when you register your domains, make your name or address unique so you know it came from the registrar records. ie: John I Smith rather that just John Smith. (you can change this info at any time too) Do a google on "207 east ohio st", even UL claims to "office" there and a lot of "mil" groups. interesting -larry / dallas Posted by: larry at September 27, 2005Well I recieve these for all my websites that I get setup thru www.godaddy.com Everyone says it is a scam, but they are not getting money from anyone for the domain renewal. They are simply getting money to put your website at the top of the list on each of the 20 sites. This is what I get out of it. Let me know if this is what anyone else gets out of it. God Bless Keith Why don't you take their postage return envelope, fill it with the latest junk mail from your mailbox so it's over 1 oz (minus any identifying info of course) and drop it in a mailbox someplace? They like junk mail, so, send them some. If you don't want to bother doing that, just seal the blank envelope and drop it in a mailbox. Posted by: Gorgeous George at October 09, 2005I sent out an email about ListingCorp.com and got a response from their internet services company. I'll see what happens from there. http://steve.eady.org/2005/10/13/listingcorpcom-mail-fraud-update/ Posted by: Steve Eady at October 13, 2005Ha ha ha, I just posted their return envelope to them with no stamp. The post office should charge them a handling fee of about ÂŁ1 if they accept it plus the delivery cost. I suggest you all do the same. Posted by: Boabus at November 05, 2005With, of course, something fairly heavy and not valuable inside. Posted by: at November 07, 2005I recieved one to. Its pretty obvious its fraud. How is this not shut down yet, first posts are a year ago and im sure its been operating much longer? Posted by: Darren at November 07, 2005Glad to have this site confirm my gut reaction on opening their letter today. Address is 14 Tottenham Court Rd., Suite 505, London W2. Posted by: Trevor at November 07, 2005Same scam, different branch of Mailboxes etc. I was foolish enough not to hide my info on one of my registrations and now one of these idiots has got hold of my address. Yep, they're the Tottenham Court Road idiots - maybe they hang out behind one of the dodgy hi-fi retailers... It's only ten minutes walk from my office - but I fear that a visit would be wasted. "Suite 505" doesn't sound very, errr, placeable. It's not a domain transfer, it's some crappy search engine optimisation - like I'd pay $50 a year to get listed in 20 search engines? Hehe, I can do that for free, and a hell of a lot better than these idiots. They don't even have a secure credit card site (I know because I bombed it a few times with crap and it just accepts anything) Who knows where your precious numbers go if you are mad enough to take up their offer? Do Watchdog know about this? Posted by: Andy Merrett at November 08, 2005ILSCORP.CO.UK
Registrant: Registrant's Address: Registrant's Agent: Relevant Dates: Registration Status: Name servers listed in order: WHOIS database last updated at 12:35:01 08-Nov-2005 -- For further information and terms of use please see http://www.nic.uk/whois Just got a letter from these con artists offering to list my site in a number of search engines. In response to an earlier post that states little can be done because they print their "this is not a bill" disclaimer in boldface, the applicable code (US Code 3001, part d) actually states, (in part): "unless such matter bears [a disclaimer] on its face, in conspicuous and legible type in contrast by typography, layout, or color with other printing on its face..." The statute is at http://tinyurl.com/9v8ts The disclaimer printed on the letter I received was indeed boldfaced, but then again the entire letter was boldfaced. Their disclaimer is not "conspicuous" and "in contrast ... with other printing on its face." If it was, a lot less people would fall for this scam. jay Posted by: at November 08, 2005Re: the ilscorp UK scammers getting their mailbox etc. service shut down - it looks like they've started right back up again with another branche of Mail boxes etc. ... I just got one of these the other day form ilscorp.co.uk, listing their address as a suite (I forget the suite number - the scam bill is at home at the moment) at the followign address:- 14 TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD, LONDON W1T 1JY, UNITED KINGDOM Which turns out to be a MBE location:- http://www.mbe.com/hpgen/CenterPage.asp?strCenterNum=UK0072 Short update to my comment above. I reported this ilscorp mailing to both my local trading standards office and the advertising standards authority. I didn't hear anything back form trading standards, but today received a letter from the ASA stating that they had had a large number of complaints about these maiings, and whilst they wouldn't be taking further action, owing to the perpetrator being based in south africa, they had passed on complaints to the mailbox operator who were terminating ilscorp's mailbox service owing to the volume of complaints they had received. Posted by: Mark at November 16, 2005I would like to know why this company send me a bill. I paid once for a domain , but never gets it. Posted by: Charmaine Maragh at November 16, 2005When can my domain be alive? Posted by: Charmaine Maragh at November 16, 2005I thank God for the internet. I received a bill/offer from this company offering to submit my site to 20 major search engines for ÂŁ65 annually but thought to look them up and see what they do but vwalla! I picked up other readers comments. I am glad and lucky that everyone had taken time to post them on hear otherwise ... Anyway, this site is not even ready yet so i was curious to know how they found me. Will gladly return their invoice with a copy of everyone's lovely comments/experiences. Many thanks Posted by: W. Kibunja at November 26, 2005They're fighting back. My earlier post in October recommended mailing their return addressed envelope with no stamp and I continue to do this. NOW, they're soliciting via email, no envelope. Of course, they're still using The UPS Store locations, Ontario, Canada now: DOMAlN LlSTING CENTER I've complained to The UPS Store locations and to the Postmaster at the Zip codes involved, not sure if anything is happening though. They still fail to conform to US Postal Regulations requiring they identify their address properly, as a Personal Mail Box (PMB 123 e.g.) and not the Suite. "On March 25, 1999, a new addressing standard for CMRA customers was adopted requiring private mailbox holders to use PMB (private mailbox) as a secondary address designation instead of suite or apartment, which imply that the addressee is physically located at the address. " See page 70 of the Postal Bulletin: Because they are meeting the letter of the law, you will be wasting your time complaining to the government about them, but it is worthwhile to continue to complain to MBE thus forcing ilscorp.net to take the time to sign up with another MBE or UPS Store--eventually they will run of locations that will take them. Another effective approach is to update the contact information for your website (remember to update all four categories (contact, administrative, technical and billing) with a bogus address thereby causing them to waste their postage sending mail you'll never ever get. I know that "technically" this is against the ICANN agreement, but when has ICANN ever needed to snail mail you? Posted by: John Doe at December 14, 2005I don't think they're meeting the letter of the law as you state, PMB is clearly required and they're not using it, implying it's a Suite. The regulation was created specifically to prevent this type of masquerade. I don't know what the Postal regulations are in Canada but suspect they're 'moving' there because they're less restrictive. In my next complaint to the Postmaster at one of the MBE's Zip codes I will include the envelope, maybe this will generate a little more pressure on MBE to fix it. Posted by: Gorgeous George at December 15, 2005I just got a mail from ilscorp and I thought i heard of it before. I decided to check on the internet about it and found this site. Mine says it has a previous charge on it. I think my parents might have sent one to them before. just wondering if i might be in trouble since they might have some information. Posted by: at December 16, 2005Many thanks for the comments on this topic. I got one of these "final notices" this evening, saw red, and found you. Thanks to you, there's a letter in an envelope ready to go to the post office Monday to the UPS store in Canada suggesting that they give the crooks the boot. One more little piece of annoyance for them. Posted by: Anne LeBlanc at January 07, 2006Found this site investigating this letter I just recieved. Mine doesn't say "This is not a Bill." anywhere on either side. But it didn't look right to me. There ilscorp.net is shut down...Maybe its the end of this company fot his week..... Posted by: Kevin U. at January 10, 2006I just payed what I thought was the yearly fee to keep my daughter's website in force, and paid by check to ILSCOPR.COM. I just learned the hard way from the "real" domain owner's that I have been scammed to the tune of $35. And confirmed the bad news by finding your helpful website. Is there no way that the owner's of the legitimate URL name can go after this scam company since they are stealing their profits? Has anyone out there been able to get the law after ILSCORP? Got my second one in as many months from this for lack of a better word LOSER! The first time I was putting it into the shredder, as I was doing the submissions myself. I got tired fighting the big web sites with their want of $$$ for listing my site, and thought I wanted someone else to do it for me, legitimately of course. Well, today that letter was sealed and ready to go out the door, when I remembered the last time and could not get on his web site, this time I could, it was too clean and simplistic, looked almost real, but then I did a search on listing services and came across this site. And boom into the shredder it went again! Saved me what seems like a harmless $35.00, who would miss $35.00?, not most business people but add it up times thousands and someone is making out quite well. Here are submission sites that are supposed to be free, but more and more want cash to sign you up, and the free ones are dissapearing: AltaVista, DirectHit, Excite, Wisenut, Google, Inktomi, Lycos, Northern Light, PositionTechnologies,NetworkSolutions,HotBot. GOOD LUCK with the big boys! These days its all about the money eh? Posted by: vinnie at February 13, 2006there up to again, only they have taken off the visa payments by email. there website is active to and its in the uk..... Posted by: paul from Halifax uk at February 14, 2006This has to be ONE lucrative business based on the reports about mistakingly sending payments to them. It would be interesting to find out if there's one person behind all these scams. We should keep the addresses of the scammers here online so other potential victims who search will find out before it's too late. Here are the ones I'm keeping an eye on: -------------------- Listing Corp The UPS Store # 5138 -------------------- Listing Corp The UPS Store # 4248 -------------------- Internet Listing Service Corp The UPS Store # 2027 -------------------- Hello All, I'm a reporter looking into this matter. I'm interested in talking to people who unfortunately paid the fee only later to find out they were likely duped. Please contact me at johnmorgan2@gmail.com if you are interested in sharing your story. Thanks, JM Posted by: john morgan at February 27, 2006I just received my second "bill" from ILSCORP.NET. It seems that I receive these quarterly with the dates changing accordingly. I wondered how they got my address or who was hacked to get it. Also, if someone didn't know any better and send a check, this phony company could have access to your banking info. Posted by: knutts at March 15, 2006My friend had the same problem happened to him. He purchased his hosting for two years and included free domain for the two years of web hosting. He received a letter from Linting.corp asking for a $35 payment for domain. We then contacted the company he had purchased the webhosting with and they confirmed he's domain was free for the two years specified in the contract and no payments needed to be made until the end of the two year agreement. I then search for scams regarding Listingcorp.com and found this which confirms in fact that all that is is a scam from Listingcorp.com. PLEASE DON'T FALL ON THAT SCAM! Posted by: Reggie at March 22, 2006Well, it's now up to asking for $50 annual payment!! Luckily, I checked into this "Listing Corp" before I did anything else and have found NUMEROUS websites talking about this scam. :) And as for the comment WAY back on December 2, 2004 posted by "SayUncle" which said: "Obviously, you've never worked in accounts payable. Businesses get tons of that crap." ..... If someone who works in payables is just PAYING stuff that comes in without checking into it and finding legitimate backup for the bill, they need to be fired. I know. It's what I do (work in payables for my day job). Posted by: Namira at March 22, 2006Well, it's now up to asking for $50 annual payment!! Luckily, I checked into this "Listing Corp" before I did anything else and have found NUMEROUS websites talking about this scam. :) And as for the comment WAY back on December 2, 2004 posted by "SayUncle" which said: "Obviously, you've never worked in accounts payable. Businesses get tons of that crap." ..... If someone who works in payables is just PAYING stuff that comes in without checking into it and finding legitimate backup for the bill, they need to be fired. I know. It's what I do (work in payables for my day job). Posted by: Namira at March 22, 2006Don't know WHY that posted so many times!! LMAO!! Guess I REALLY had a point to make there!! :) Posted by: Namira at March 22, 2006I got scammed thinking this was service my son signed me up for when we created my new website -- as they sent "bill" to my home address no where listed on my website...etc. etc. Today I recieved an e-mail message from them to give them "key words" and other info re my web site. I decided to look them up via google -- cause I didn't know what they were offering beyond what I thought I'd paid for....(I know....some of us are still new to this tech and www age and learn lessons the Hard way). ANYWAY.... now I wonder what I can do to protect my banking info...as I sent a check and what I might do to help put an end to these scammers! Sorry I didn't read this site first.... d _ _ _!
Got mine in the last day or two. Thanks to all who post here. I will also file complaints- with Feds and NC state officials. The return address on my solicitation is: Internet Listing Service Corp. The website listed is: ILSCORP.NET and it is active. I suspect they are using: store email is: store3878@theupsstore.com After some searching I found this corporate customer service address: http://www.ups.com/forms/e-mail/general?loc=en_US Thanks again to all! PS: They asked me for US $40.00 ilscorp.net scammed my parents out of $35 (note: they're not internet savvy). I set up a web site for their small business... so they assumed this was a bill of some sort! I live in Chicago... So, I'm going to go down to E. Ohio St. and check it out... if it is a P.O. Box, I'm going to boycott out side the store! Any suggestions as to what I should put on my sign? Anyone want to join me? Those bastards! Internet Listing Service Corp. I just got opened one of these mailings and looked up the stupid company online. I think people would be stupid to pay it. I found this story at pc magazine out and this site. i think the dick heads should be arrested Posted by: Brad Livingston at May 03, 2006Has anyone ever gotten these letters for domain names which you have never registered? I get junk ones for things like qqkdislwask.com and when I do a whois I find that my personal address and telephone number are posted with a fraudelent email address on foreign registers. What can be done about this? Posted by: Alex Do at May 03, 2006Oh Boy! I am so glad I googled this company. Something just didn't feel right about it. This one has a New York, NY addy. I didn't see anything posted on here for that New York addy but I'm pretty sure ICLS.net Internet corp list service is a sham. Here's the return address on the envelope: Internet Corporation Listing Service Also- It's Postmarked bulk out of Buffalo, NY- permit no. 4205 Somebody let me know if they've gotten the NY one. Posted by: Jennifer Strickland at May 03, 2006I say we track this knucklehead down and kick his ass! He'll be in for some colorful reading when he opens my return envelope. The price of a stamp was worth the expletives I decorated that fake invoice with. Cheers! Posted by: Anthony at May 11, 2006I received a letter from them today too. As a veteran Internet user, I knew better than to give them a penny. I would like to join your quest to find the person responsible and shoot them in the genitals with a sawed-off shotgun. The WHOIS database strictly prohibits this kind of behavior. The website and all involved parties should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. And then some. Posted by: mark at June 29, 2006Well, the press has finally tuned into these scams, this from the July 2006 issue of PC World magazine: Consumer Alert: Ads That Look Like Bills http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,125366,pg,1,00.asp Posted by: Gorgeous George at July 08, 2006Just to add another address to the list of those already given for this thief. My return envelope is addressed to: Internet Corporation Listing Service Apparently they don't stay at one address too long. I hope they get life in prison, for mail fraud, internet fraud, deceptive practices, and anything else the governmnet, FCC and the media can throw at them. I wondered how they got my domain name, and home address, but I did not have time to respond to their letter until now, it came in May 2006. I have learned to Google any business I did not request infomation from, before responding. That includes email, as well as postal mail. I have found out most of those unsolicited correspondences have been scams! And the list grows each day! It is such a pain in the ____ to have to spend hours weeding out the good from the bad, but it has saved me. I am glad this site was here. I Googled and found you and lots of other search results regarding this scam. I also have learned to "Wikipedia" some of these unsolicited letters to see what is there about them and their companies. It is all eyeopening. I hope the media stays on it until they shut them down, and throws their _____in the slammer for life! Posted by: Yvonne Cooper at July 16, 2006Got me for the thirty five too. Got the "bill" for my domain renewal shortly after the real server had emailed a renewal reminder. What a dope I was. Contacted them by email and they were kind enough to send me my access password and username. I logged in and tried to check my ranking reports and this is what I got: "Fatal error: Call to undefined function: getreport() in /var/www/html/includes/objects/TNDls.php on line 147". I just recieved a letter for renewal, but nowhere was a disclaimer that it is not a bill. I am cynical and I know who my providers aere so I found this site ASAP. You will never catch these guys, the move around too fast and the postal authorities have too little resources. I use to own a Mail Boxes Etc., the post office makes you submit all types of ID and forms from anybody that rents a box from you, but unless you start opening their mail (illegal) you have no clue what is going on. The best thiing to do is set up a website with .com in hopes of getting some of their traffic and ratting them out. Posted by: Jerry Schermerhorn at July 24, 2006They've changed their name to Domain Listing Service Same address. Posted by: Armand at July 28, 2006I received a letter from them too dated July 24, 2006. They were offering an annual website search engine listing. I have been sitting on their letter for a while before I decided to google the company. I am glad that this was the first sight to pop up because I was actually considering using their services to promote my domain name. Thanks a lot because I just saved $140. Posted by: Kelly at August 17, 2006I have received numerous mailings of this sort and I just threw them away because I have my own name registration business and knew better. But I found this site today and am shocked to see the extent of this scam. Has anyone who paid the fee by check thought about checking with the bank. FOLLOW THE MONEY! Check the bank account that received the funds and contact the bank! Shut down his bank account would be much more effective than shutting down his mail box address or even his web site. I register and host web sites and it takes only a couple of minuites to register a new name and transfer your files to a new web site or even host. Bank account are not as easy to set up. They take ID and some even require credit checks. FOLLOW THE MONEY! that is how to put a real cramp in this guys style. I offer name registrations for $9.95 and hosting as low as $4.95. http://ichiban-hosting.com. Dan Posted by: Dan Gordon at August 29, 2006Hey folks...I paid them last year, just received my notice to send them money.......but have a question,,,,,,,,,,I also received one from "Domain Registry of America". Is this the same company ILSCORP.NET, going under the new name of DOMAIN? Posted by: Marilyn at September 20, 2006I have been trying to reach someone regarding my account. I work at a university and they will not submit payment without an invoice. My notes show that I was supposed to pay a $35.00 fee by October. I created a requisition for the payment but still have not received an invoice for payment. Maybe I'm confused. Please help. i recently received a piece of snail mail from "Domain Registry of America". I suspect that these are the same people and have reported it to the USPS inspection service at http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm it does look like a bill but people really should be more careful and read the entire document before sending payment. anyway, if you get one of these report it to the USPS and they'll be more likely to file a lawsuit or do an investigation. even if they don't get thrown in jail like they should they will have their feet held to the fire. Posted by: bryan at November 20, 2006I am expressing my concern over scams that use data downloaded in bulk from various on-line databases, such as the WHOIS database maintained by ICANN. Unfortunately I have received little response from the various government agencies (FTC, Postal Inspectors, New York and Washington State Attorney General's Offices, including members of Congress, and ICANN) and public agencies that I wrote. In most instances I followed up my email in a week with a phone call and still not much response. This is not a small issue. The Washington State Attorney General's office basically said there is nothing they can do, since the company in question says I wasn't their customer. (No kidding!) The attorney General’s Office said people should read their mail more carefully (No kidding!). That it would be treading on the Constitutional rights of others if free access to “public” records were controlled. In the last month my wife, my mother-in-law, my wife's place of business, and I have been approached by SCAMS. There was the bogus-bill from Listing Corp., the bogus-bill from National Companies Register Corp., the phishing post card from Annuity Service Center, and the bogus FAX scam from International Directories Corporation. It is an epidemic and someone, in addition to me, needs to work on it. I feel like I’m walking down the street in some third-world country where the merchants try to suck you in to their stores to buy over-priced, useless tourist baubles.
In the simplest terms it is an act where the perpetrator causes the victim to believe something is true when in fact it is not true in order to obtain monitory gain from the victim. This is accomplished through deceptive presentations of information, for example formatting a mailing or fax to appear to be a bill. There are many examples of the art of presenting a scam. Scams are implemented in person, over the phone, through the mail, by fax, and over the Internet. Their makeup is limited only by the imagination of the perpetrator. Some of the most repetitive scams attempt to deceive the victim into believing that they have already contracted for a product, like domain name registration, website position promotion, or being listed in a “business directory”. The victim is sent a fax or a mailing that looks like a legitimate bill or a “renewal” notice, but in fact is just an attempt to steal from the unsuspecting. Unfortunately, enough of these “bogus bills” are paid to make it worth the intricate web these hucksters weave. For less than a dollar they stand to receive a return of $35 or more, depending on the scam. The percentage of returns is low, but the rewards are, well in a word, free.
If you have a state business license or you are incorporated your information is most likely available as public information through a state website. If you have a registered domain name your information is available as public information through the WHOIS data bank (unless you have paid to have it hidden). If you ever went to a Home Show and registered for a free something-or-other drawing you were listed in a customer data bank which may have been sold. A web crawler or data-harvesting program may have collected your information. There are companies who collect and sell data on everyone they can get their hooks into. They might even know more about you than the Federal Government.
Usually these scams have a number of traits in common. 1. The mailing or FAX is in the familiar format of a bill, with possibly an account number. It is really a solicitation for business or an overture to a scam. With the amount of information and decisions we are asked to analyze on a daily basis, we tend to operate on perceptions based on past experience. If the mailing is formatted like an invoice, it is perceived as a bill. Clever to print a solicitation that looks like a bill. Honest solicitations say something like, “Howdy, this is us. This is what we can do for you. If you like what we have, give us a call. We would like to do business with you. Have a nice day.” In addition to the “bogus-bill, and “bogus-fax-bill” there is new ploy, the “living check”. It has a life of it’s own. It’s a check on the front, but turn it over and it’s really a contract that you sign when you endorse the “check”. What will they think of next! Maybe they could print the contract as a watermark or maybe a microdot. 2. There is always a looming deadline requiring the victim’s response. The perpetrator does not want the victim to think. Usually one or two weeks are allowed for response. Sometimes there is even the ploy of a late fee. Nice touch. Send them a check and now they have your bank account number, sweet. Pay by credit card and, well they have your… double sweet. 3. They offer a product that has dubious need (If they actually provide what was offered is another matter). Ever wonder why someone would want to be listed in a business directory that requires a password for the general public to view or be promoted by a company who’s fist listings when a Internet search is accomplished on their name are consumer complaints? 4. The mailing address for the “company” is a mailbox at a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA), not at a physical office. These CMRA addresses change as often as the company names. The address will often incorporate the term “suite”, for example: “suite 108” or “suite #108”.
A check of the walking distance between the CMRA’s used in New York City over the passed few years by one group of scammers shows that they are within a two miles of each other. Why do you suppose they need to move so often, but not go far? Maybe there’s a great pizza place in the neighborhood?
If the company has a website some information regarding the owner of the domain name may be available. It can be obtained through running a WHOIS query on the domain name. The information is supposed to be accurate and up to date. However, the address most likely is a CMRA and the phone number will either be incomplete or be located in another country (for example: Unionville, Ontario, Canada) and will be unlisted. Most business want to be found and will not have unlisted numbers. They want to be located. Go figure. 6. The trail of money will often end up in an offshore bank, for example in the Bahamas, Grand Turk, or the Cayman Islands.
The victims of these scams can file complaints with various agencies like the US Postal Inspection Service, the Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, various State Attorney Generals, and consumer protection agencies. This can seem like a dismal forest of unresponsive bureaucracy with little satisfaction. It can be like running on the beach at high tide, it is hard and your footprints are there only until the next wave washes them away. My experience is register your complaints, but don’t expect anything other than canned responses. So where is the remedy? Public exposure of the various scams and scammers would help. An informed public would quickly end the scams. However, there is another step that needs to be taken. The various databases that these scammers use need to have controlled access. The organizations and agencies that are entrusted with “public” data need to control how it is accessed. The companies that sell collected “public” data need to be held responsible for how the data is used.
The public has a right to know who is behind a website. There will be no argument from me, if the public wants to find out the registrant information for a particular website. The information should be current, correct, and available. However, the information should not be available in bulk. The scammers and spammers don’t start out by finding the information one website at a time. It would take too long. It would be too much like real work. All information should not and is not available to all members of the public. There are already various classifications of government information, such as “For Official Use Only”, “Confidential”, “Top Secret”, and “Business Sensitive”. This classification is done to regulate and control the people who are allowed access to the information. Not all people need to know all things. The key is “need to know”. In the instance of WHOIS data everyone has the right to know who is behind a particular website. It may be that a website is seditious, pornographic, racial or in other ways criminal or offensive in content. The public, law officials, and other government agency officials need a way to attach ownership to a particular website in order to file complaints or take legal action against the owner of the website. They have a “need to know” the registrant information for that site. It goes without saying that law and other government agencies have the right to access all of the information concerning any website or group of websites they choose to investigate. However, the public should not have access to the data for a website without knowing the domain name for the website. In other words the way in which the data is obtained is the problem. The public should not be able to obtain registrant information through bulk downloads of a database whether it is the WHOIS database or some states list of corporations. If I have an interest in who is behind website XYZ.con, I can search the WHOIS database for the contact information (the data may or may not be complete or accurate). I should not be able to access registrant information for domain names without knowing what the domain name is. I should not be able to accomplish a “blind” data search and obtain a bulk mailing list. The data is not intended to provide “bulk” mailing lists for scams, phishing schemes, and spam. It is a violation of my privacy and the scammers do not have a need to know. Today, more than ever, there is a fear of identity theft. There are many safeguards used to protect personal information. If you use on-line banking your bank requires a password. If you participate in an on-line auction, your account is password protected. Other databases such as state business license/incorporation data and WHOIS domain name data should be protected to prevent unauthorized use of the data. There is an on-going argument concerning what is public information and the publics “right” to know. In light of the numerous scams that originate via WHOIS data, my belief is that WHOIS data, for one, should be treated as personal privacy information. Access to the information should be on a need to know basis by authorized entities, like law enforcement agencies. An example of a controlled access data system that works for law enforcement is the FBI’s CODIS system. There is no “need to know” for the general public. Another example is the California State Drivers License database. Given a person’s drivers license number I can find out if that person has a valid license. The response from the system is a simple “yes” or “no”. I can not find out where they live or their phone number. An example of a database that is not as well controlled is one states data on state corporations. When the database is first approached it requires that the searcher in-put the name of a corporation. However if an “advanced” search is accomplished, the search can be accomplished to provide the data on all corporations within a specific postal zone. The returned information will be hyperlinks to each corporation’s registration data. This goes far beyond finding out who is behind a particular corporation. Honest people who provide information when obtaining a business license, registering a domain name, or incorporating are currently being bombarded by scams. However, the scammers provide bad information, including bogus names and incomplete phone numbers, to avoid being tracked. It appears that the scammers know how the game is played. Thank you all. This is a furst for us; we've not seen a letter like this before. You saved us $35.00 and an annoying switch of service. Posted by: Robert at December 11, 2006Hi, I think that I have received something like this, but it says "Website Listing Service" located at listingcorp.com that seems to be similar to what is described here. The way it looks, it looks like they might be trying to hijack one of my domains, the one that is kanefox.com and that domain has been paid up to the end of this year. Posted by: Erik McDarby at February 15, 2007they got me 2-11-07. sure sorry I did not find you all B/4. Wanted to let you all know they are still out there: BTW: my check was cashed on a Bank in Vancouver BC Posted by: pburdick at March 13, 2007I am so glad that I found this site. I just received a solicitation from this service dlscorp.net and they are still at it. But now they are asking for $65 minimum for hosting. Bold. Received a "bill" from Listing Corp, then at the bottom it states it is not a bill. Looks like one! Now they are asking for $65 for 1 year. The address to send it to is 1357 Broadway Suite #103, New York, NY 10018. Looked up www.listingcorp.com & got you. Thank you so much for telling about this scam. Posted by: Rhonda at April 09, 2007I get these fake bills from Internet Listing Service all the time - every time I re-up another year on my registered domains or if I register a new one. I do not even open the scams anymore, I simply write the words, SCAM-REFUSED with two or three underlines and !!!'s to call attention on the front of the envelope and I drop it back in the out-of-town mailbox slot to be returned to the Chicago return address on the envelope - then they can pay postage twice for their junk mail scam! Posted by: LW at April 15, 2007We're getting closer to shutting these scammers down (and exposing their identity). Follow the logic here (I'll skip facts stated earlier soas not to waste your time re-reading the same stuff). 1) Domain Listing Service Corp. (DLSCORP.NET) sent me a notice in April 2007. Amount Due was $65. Address was 27 N. Wacker Dr. Suite#650 60606 2) I recognized as a scam almost immediately, but started the Google trail to see what I could learn. 3) I visited dlscorp.net and ilscorp.net and read the scams they pretent to provide as services. 4) I send an email and received a reply from STEVE (doubtful his real name) 5) After an email exchange, I rec'd a phone call from (905) 305-8406 (somewhere in Ontario, maybe Unionville area, maybe Markham). 6) STEVE had mentioned his partner "ZACH" 7) After much online investigation, I found some interesting things.....and the REAL identities of people somehow involved in this. I can't say for sure how, but they are involved. 7.1) There is a domain FOOTPLEX.COM registered in Nov 2006 and the registrant is Zach Roberts listing an email address of info@ilscorp.net 7.2) It doesn't take much longer to find listings on MySpace to Zach Roberts (a high school kid with a distubing page). He then is foolish enough to talk about his job at his brothers (plural) Tatoo shop Planet Ink (www.PlanetInkOttawa.com) and that site clearly shows John Roberts and Jimmi Roberts. They seem to be talented tatoo artists, wonder what their connection to this scam is? 7.3) Somewhere in the process, found nameservers for WaveRidersHosting.com (took only seconds to tell this was a front for GoDaddy; either a subsidiary or reseller or whatever). They said they'd "look into it", but were reluctant to even admit they were connected to the site. This Zach Roberts (reporting himself on MySpace as a student at A Y JACKSON SECONDARY SCHOOL (www.ayj.ca) and states he's a Scorpio, set up his site in Feb 2006 as a 16 year old. I simply state what I read on his site, nothing more. There are clearly ties here and why is Law Enforcement not yet involved, I don't know. I will report more shortly. Posted by: Bill W. at May 01, 2007I just filed a complaint against DLS Corp with the Better Business Bureau.... i suggest more people do as well. maybe also try calling Zach at 905-305-6022 around 3 am... i think he would appreciate that as much as like getting junk mail Posted by: Courtney at May 15, 2007 I actually paid ILSCorp twice between 2004-2005 for my business website listing, at that time my site was "hostfortheweb" dot com> I think they did an okay job getting my website listed, I dont think they are scammers they have different marketing aproach to sell their products i guess. It used to be 35 dollars now its $65 thats the difference I hope this helps. Posted by: WeeonTheInternet.com at July 08, 2007How is this company still up and running? Is there no state/country with a law that could be used against him? Posted by: WTF at August 25, 2007A client of mine was recently scammed; they are now up to $75.00, meaning, they are getting bolder and bolder with their ploy. My client authorized a payment not knowing what it was---not a bill, but a solicitation disguised as a bill. We are doing everything at our disposal to take this 'process' down. Will report back with any positive news. Posted by: JGold at October 04, 2007I get these all the time from from many domain registry companys. The lesson learned is to find one domain registrar to for all your domain names. I just received this (75.00 bill) and couldn't remember if this was the company that I signed up with for my domain name last year. I just went online to contact them to make sure and that is when I found this site. Thanks so much for letting everyone know about this SCAM !!! Just received a bill today (11/17/07). Beware, they also go by DLSCORP.NET as that is what mine was billed under. Here is their whois info for DLSCORP.NET:
27 N. Wacker Dr. Registered through: Wave Riders Hosting Administrative Contact: Technical Contact: Domain servers in listed order: I just got one of these fake invoices as well. Sent to Massachusettes and very formal looking from DLSCORP.NET. This guy is a real scumbag Posted by: Anon at February 04, 2008I've owned domains/websites for years... and I've seen these guys around for years... These aren't teenagers messing around... they've made millions of dollars from these scams and with that money they can afford to be real shady and cover their tracks... they use fake names... some names are pulled directly from others whois info, other names stolen (identity theft) and used for a short while to open whatever accounts they need... the best way catch these guys is to find out which bank(s) they are using to cash the checks and go from there... report everything to your local chamber of commerce, the better business bureau, and every online & offline newspaper to warn others... If you register a domain name with a company, ALWAYS remember who you registered it with... that name will not magically change. AS for whois privacy, I strongly believe that whois info should automatically be private... and I petition for automatic and free whois privacy... These guys have been using names such as ILSCORP and DLSCORP among others... I have a "fake bill" from them way back when I bought my first domain name and just received one from them yesterday... Guess what? Same "spinning world" image and same exact letter, same blue fade background... basically the same *ssholes who use the same letterhead... I hate them and suggest you do anything you can to disrupt these SCAMMERS! send as much junk to them as you can from a "throw away" email account. Their current email address is info@dlscorp.net but I'm sure they have a "catch all" email function setup, so sending them email at (whatever you want)@dlscorp.net will probably work too... Posted by: at February 05, 2008I instantly spotted the sales letter as a scam, I'm glad to see that others are not easily fooled. I consider it a duty to report scams like this, if the US agencencies involved in following up on our complaints would get off their duffs and do their jobs we'd see much less of this. The problem lies with our lazy government agencies, most are worthless, beaurocratic wastes of tax dollars. What a trap trying to do business is these days, time and money wasted following up on nonsense such as this. I get dozens of scams similar to this each week, if the laws regarding such solicitations and privacy laws were stricter we wouldn't have to look up info on these jokers, or track down phone numbers of bots tying up our lines. The biggest issue I see facing business in these "modern" times is protecting yourself, security, ID theft, and dealing with spam, phone solitors and sales scams such as this, who has time to run a business when we're caught up in all of this. The agencies set up to deal with this are NOT doing their jobs, I can take my money and my business and ship off to South America and give that country my tax dollars, this country is wasting our tax dollars. Posted by: Ross at May 02, 2008I just got the same letter. After reading it twice, I thought: "this is too good to be true". So I did a Google search and wound up here. Will try to get reports back to authorities. Posted by: Bill Clelland at May 02, 2008I just received this letter in the mail - appears they are going by DLSCORP.Net as well - although the web address doesn't work. I felt compelled to blog about this SCAM as well and posted images of the letter in hopes others won't fall for it! Posted by: Domain Listing Services Corp Scam at June 02, 2008 |
Search
Sponsors
Archives
Every post A&E - (216) Best Of - (56) Blogging - (265) Comic Books - (36) Dancing Baloney - (29) Dear Lazyweb - (20) E-commerce - (169) East Tennessee - (312) Economics - (96) Environment - (81) European Union - (38) Everything's Illegal - (5) Family Tree - Jones Side - (1) Family Tree - Moore Side - (7) Food & Drink - (80) Funny Ha-Ha - (170) Guns - (400) Health Care - (47) Holidays - (23) Home Life - (286) Johnia Berry - (52) Macular Degeneration - (11) Media Behaving Badly - (62) Middle East - (47) Misc - (112) Mortgage Crisis - (9) Municipal Wi-Fi - (19) News - (308) Nifty - (94) Photos - (61) Political Survival Kit - (20) Politics - (71) Polls - (22) Population - (35) PSAs - (11) Quotes - (218) Rocky Top Brigade - (38) Science - (129) Scratch Pad - (5) Seventies - (3) Social Security - (10) Star Wars - (55) Tech - (123) The Usual Suspects - (15) Timothy Treadwell - (6) Travel - (61) True Crime - (71) Word of the Day - (121) |
