Increase in spam email?

[djblalock]

Hey everyone,

I have started getting an increased number of requests for a quote on dedicated servers by email. Nothing out of the ordinary the first time you get them, but when you get multiple within the same day from different people with almost identical requests it gets a little strange... Then even more strange when they send you the same email from the same identity at a late date.

In November I received requests for D.S. quotes from Greg Hollimon (an @experions.com address) and an Anna Sovgut (an @predictlabs.com address). I provided them both quotes at the same time as the same general features offered met their requests. Greg Hollimon responded requesting a Paypal invoice be created. Since the request was for my RSP site (I almost never have signups/inquiries from it), I referred him to my RSP site and told him he could select his plan/pay on the site. I never received a reply back from Greg Hollimon about the purchase or invoice, and never received a response at all from Anna Sovgut.

Today I checked my RSP site email and noticed another request for the exact same thing from Anna Sovgut. After doing some research this time, it turns out they make these requests with hosts all the time. I found a site called FraudRecord that had tons of hosts talking about the Anna Sovgut person (based on an email address search on Google). Many were saying they will sign up and pay the amount due for the server, use it for spam only to chargeback when caught. There were some saying that the requests were made via support tickets and emails. That just makes me wonder if live support chat has these requests.

Funny thing is, not only have they been messaging me on my RSP email (which I'm pretty sure is published on the site somewhere) but also to my main website's email. I don't even directly advertise my hosting services on it.

Has anyone else been receiving these messages? If so I'd like to blacklist as many as I can so I don't even see their messages.

Both are added to my blacklist.

[clivejo]

It is wise to double check these emails. If you Google the @theirdomain.com and abuse/spam, you will usually find they have been at this before. To be honest, I wouldn't even bother replying to these "companies" involved with spam. If you let one of them in by mistake they can really make your life difficult and basically they walk away scot-free, leaving you with a mess to clean up!

Also, if you look at the predictlabs website, none of the social media links are working. They also have WHOIS protection on the domain. This is typical behaviour of someone wanting to "appear" to be legit, but who doesnt want people to know who is really behind the business. If they were a real business, they would be trying to link to social media etc, not hide from it!

Your email address is probably on your domain WHOIS records. But Id reckon they are targeting smaller resellers, in the hope to trick them into providing the service. By the time the spam catches up with the reseller and he/she is snowed under with a ton of spam reports the spammers are long gone trying to find another victim.

[djblalock]

clivejo, I won't even be responding to any more requests with any of my online businesses before checking on that fraud website (can also submit suspicious activity/misbehavior on it to help other companies that use the same site). I just wish I would have Googled them before wasting my time replying.

The funny thing about "Greg Hollimon" is they are using an actors information as an alias. One host shared the information that they provided during a fraud screening and they provided a scanned drivers license. The name, picture, DOB, physical details, and location matched the actor exactly. I don't know if they got a photocopy of his drivers license or created a fake one... If they created their own I don't know that Mr. Hollimon would appreciate them signing him up to be an organ donor without asking him first.

I checked all around my site and my WHOIS info and couldn't find the address they emailed in either. They emailed the generic one (sales@) which, correct me if I'm wrong, was one automatically made by RSP if you do not host your reseller site yourself. I just made that email redirect to help@ which I give to people, so I'm not sure how they even got that email. However, I don't really care as I'm going to be creating a filter to just delete any further emails from either domain extension.

[bigtime.php]

Thanks djblalock, clivejo, yav0r

This is good information to know. Thanks for sharing. I hate spammers and especially those trying to take advantage of hosting companies. I know RSP will sniff them out.
Bye Spammers: