#130 Top Ten Signs You're about to get ripped off The problem with email these days is it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between legitimate “offers” and a scam rip-off . The old Madison Avenue adage “If it doesn't sell, they don't keep advertising” is always true -- so it's obvious that unsolicited email (aka: UCE, Spam) must be working or they'd no longer be doing it. So, all you folks out there who actually respond to to spam, please don't. Here are ten key rules to think about before you click the reply button: . 1 -- If there are more than two slashes in the domain... trash it Look at the domain. If you can count more than ONE slash after the dot-com, beware. All of the following said they would send me 25,000,000 email addresses on CD for just $299.00. Here's a flash: you can't get that many email addresses on a CD... SCAM. All four, and many others like them lead to dead ends, only wanting your money : http://homex.coolconnect.com/member3/justhits/ http://www.megspace.com/internet/justhits/ http://www.stas.net/3/justhits/ http://www.freehost.nu/members/justhits/ (These are also freebie hosting sites, see #9 below.) . 2 -- If the domain is numeric ... it's out to lunch Any self-respecting and on-the-level business, with an honest offer will NOT use an IP number instead of a URL address. Instead, they use these to avoid detection, and to rip you off... http://207.173.123.243:524 spells trouble. . 3 -- If they say use this or that ... use neither Con artists these days know they'll be shut down -- it's only a matter of time. So in order to sucker in more people they'll list several domains, hoping you'll move to the second one if the first one already got shut down. Many even say “If one doesn't work, use the other!” That's your que to use neither. . 4 -- Who sent it is not who gets it ... don't let them get you Look carefully at the address of the sender. Now go through the piece and look at any email addresses in the post, including headers. If they're not the same -- beware! They should at least be from the same domain. (That's the part after the “@".) . 5 -- No real name means no real person dhckj@msn.com, i27452@compuserve.com? eyzjygeynf@yahoo.com ... who are they trying to kid? These addresses are generated by spam robots who open accounts at the freebie web sites, send mass mailings, change the name, send more, then cancel the account before they're detected. They should be outlawed. . 6 -- If they tell you to talk to a robot ... tell'em no! Many get-rich schemers and rip-off artists today tell you to call their toll free number, leave your name, address and phone number so they can call you back. They prey on the very poor, and the elderly. Their yarn is convincing -- but don't expect them to call back... in reality all they want is to SELL your address to other marketers. . 7 -- If there's no address... you don't want to go there! Check the spammers web site for a physical address. If you don't find one, there's a reason why: they don't want to be tracked down by anyone who they've done wrong... most especially the FBI. If there's a phone number, call it. Ask for their address. A recent spam from “Vortal Toner Supplies” absolutely refused to give an address -- another said they didn't give out the address to anyone no matter what. They turned out to be an illegal, off-shore gambling operation owned by a company in LA. Never reply or buy. . 8 -- If it's off-shore money ... don't touch it! If it has to do with money but they're from another country other than your own -- get away quickly. Email has exploded with insurance quotes, bogus stock tips, shady refinancing debt services or home mortgages from the likes of Great-Loan-Rates@6aaa.fsnet.co.uk, whpost10986@avtechk.com.cn. These people cannot fulfill their promises... they're ripping you off. . 9 -- If they're using a freebie account... you can't afford it If you think about it for a moment, it's rather obvious that you wouldn't want to do business with anyone using a freebie email account. If they've got nothing to lose, then they've got nothing for you! Several of those below admit openly that their clientele is 88% spammers. All of the following freebie sites are responsible for the majority of spam: angelfire.com another.com arabia.com bangkok.com building.com china.com consultant.com email-prom.net email.com excite.com golfmail.com hotmail.com iway2000.com loudpages.com lycos.co.uk lycos.com mail.com megspace.com metahoo.com mundomail.net netcolony.com netdest.com netnet.com.sg newmail.net oceanfree.net postmaster.com prontomail.com telsurf.net turbomail.net usa.com verizon.net verizonmail.com virtualactive.com bigfoot.com webmail.co.za wickedspeed.net yahoo.com India.com freehosting.com   . 10 -- If it's too good to be true... it is! The other day a UCE told me I could look like Cindy Crawford in two weeks. (Picture that!) Another said I no longer had to worry about the IRS... yet another said it could get me out of financial trouble... dozens of them each day want to sell me millions of email addresses. All of these are blatant lies, and most certainly a rip off. Most spam today wants only to get your email address validated. So never, ever reply. Never. They want to sell the names to other spammers, or poor suckers who actually think they can get rich sending unsolicited email. . These ten warning signs are the main things to watch out for. There are others which I'll explore in a future issue. Just keep them in mind, and laugh at them as you drag them to the trash... where the email, and their senders belong. * Note: for you disbelievers out there, I challenge you to attempt to track down all the spam you get in a month. You'll discover very quickly how many scammers there are out to get you. THIS JUST ARRIVED Date: 25 Mar 2002 Subject: 60-seconds.com/articles/130a.html Matt Crocker writes: I saw our domain name listed in your spam article #130a, and wanted to you to know we hate spammers... ___ If you have any spam coming from myrgv.com please send the header files and we will kill the accounts the first time. ___ We did have a relay problem for a while but we think that has been fixed. ___ Wiithin the next few months the email will be shut off for all free accounts. Please send any spam crap you get and we will make it stop... Regards Matt I have received 4,223 spams since January 1, 2001 Here is a list of the most frequent spammers. All the rest sent under 24 spams. As you can see, the top spammers are the 'freebie' sites. 286 Yahoo.com 276 hotmail.com 156 china.com 112 aol.com 106 msn.com 61 usa.net 55 lycos.com 42 netscape.com 42 angelfire 41 headwind.de 41 earthlink.net 39 uole.com 37 looksmart.com 32 compuserve.com 32 wshost.net 31 verizonmail.com 30 mac21.com 30 arabia.com 27 myrgv.com <- 25 email-prom.net 24 neovi.com Fred Showker is a designer, consultant, writer and speaker. He has published 60-Second Window and DT&G Magazine online since 1990, and is director of The Graphic Design Network which includes The Design & Publishing Center at www.Graphic-Design.com. (1994) He was a co-founder of both The User Group Forum on America Online (1987), The User Group Network at www.User-Groups.net, (1994) and the Designers' Bookshelf (1996) He originally founded Showker Graphic Arts & Design in 1972, has been an avid computer activist and supporter since 1984. 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