WOMC: Word of Mouth Connection Scam…
I keep getting these stupid scam/spam emails that say:
Someone has just begun to research your background via our website. This email has been automatically sent to you so as to make you aware that your background is being looked into. The popularity of our website is currently growing at a very rapid rate. If another person begins to research you in the future we will again inform you via email.
Then the Word-Of-Mouth email (sent by their Report Awareness System, aka Connection Awareness System) supplies a link to click on that sends you to a page that says that someone who knows you “very well” has, and is willing to share, information about you with others. To send an anonymous email to this nonexisting person to find out whatever the heck they are supposed to be saying about you, you must fork over a minimum of $19.97 for a one-year subscription to the WOM Connection, or $29.97 for a two-year subscription.
Please, DO NOT fall for this scam! It’s bûllšhìt!
Number Nine in the New York State Consumer Protection Board’s list of the Top Ten Internet headaches is scam websites. The CPB specifically mentions that “all types of scams are attempted on the Internet, including a relatively new website called Word-of-Mouth.org. This website, registered to a company in the Philippines, claims people can file gossip about someone they know using that person’s e-mail address to identify them. Now Word-of-Mouth is sending e-mail messages to try to get people to spend $19.97 to see the gossip that allegedly has been filed about them. CURE: Hit the delete button when you receive this e-mail.”
Some vital information:
- The womc.info domain is registered to Peter Kestler located in Davao City, The Phillipines.
- Other domains include word-of-mouth-connection.com, wordofmouthconnection.com, word-of-mouth.org, womc.net, and wordofmouthconnections.info. There are probably many more.
- Womc.info is hosted in Las Vegas by A+Hosting.
- Word-of-Mouth is listed on the well-known website that exposes frauds and scams, snopes.com. According to snopes, “nobody needs to pay $20 to find out nothing.”
- The WOMC site is “in compliance with all United States laws.” Yet the legal section of the website states that “WordofMouthConnection.com, however, is not covered by any of these laws.”
- The site’s “users are anonymous.” Yet “we cannot ensure that all of your private communications and other personally identifiable information will never be disclosed.”
- Word-of-Mouth claims that “there are no U.S. federal laws governing spam.” They also say that they do not send spam, although they “send an initial unsolicited email”, which they claim is not spam in that there is no commercial aspect. Apparently they are trying to convince you that offering subscriptions to “an online community” is not a commercial endeavor.
- The testimonials are most likely fake. “I searched for Word-of-Mouth Connections on our nanny and was reassured because I found no Word-of-Mouth Connections.” Or what about “I was aghast at the stories [my girlfriend's ex's] told me about her lying, unfaithfulness, and past drug and mental problems. As a result of their input I decided to break off the relationship. WordofMouthConnection.com saved me!” Puuuuhlease!
- The last sentence on their legal page cracks me up the most! WOMC claims that their spam email “is not bulk mail because it is directed at one specific individual.” That’s about as dumb as it gets! All the spam I get is obviously directed to one person, me. That’s why I get it. If it wasn’t directly to me, I wouldn’t get any spam at all!
Do not send $20! Do not click the link! Go directly to the delete button!
UPDATE: I received another one of these emails on 1/12 from womexch.org - RDL
UPDATE: I’ve received dozens more of these emails, most of which I deleted immediately. Now I’m looking at them a bit closer. I received one on 2/7. It was from 209.25.171.75 (peter.wominfo.info), a server hosted at Maxim Computer Systems in Fremont, CA. Next one on 2/8 was from 207.36.180.23 (support.wordofmouthreports.com and peter1.wordofmouthconnections.com), a server at CyberGate/ValueWeb in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Both directed potential visitors to a URL on s.wominfo.info (peter1.word-of-mouth-connection.com), hosted by A+Hosting/Premia Networks in Las Vegas, NV. This guy is sure spreading it around! Pun intended…
UPDATE: I got another one on 2/8! Sheesh! This one from 216.65.117.86 (support.wordofmouthconnections.net hosted by Maxim/HostCentric in Fremont) directing users to a page on womc.info (64.235.50.54, the same peter1.word-of-mouth-connection.com site hosted in Las Vegas listed above).
UPDATE: Another one on 2/16. From “WOMC SUPPORT” with email address notify.sys@wordofmouthreports.info, title is “Background research being performed on you.” Offending mail server is support.wordofmouthreports.info (207.36.180.112) hosted at CyberGate/ValueWeb in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Directs (again!) to womc.info (64.235.50.54, hosted in Las Vegas). The marketing pitch on this one was “Someone is looking for people who know you and have experiences and/or opinions to share about you via our website.”
Visit google.com and search for word of mouth scam. They are paying per click for advertising on google. If you look to the right of the screen once you have searched you will see a blue box that states “wordofmouthconnection.com” make sure that the link below it is: wordofmouthconnection.com CLICK ON IT! They will have to pay for your click! They want to send out all of this çráp, make them pay for it.
Thought this was interesting: Andea does in fact = Word Of Mouth Inc. I [received] an email recently originating from this service [from] adsl-68-124-72-228.dsl.pltn13.pacbell.net [68.124.72.228]. Notice the IP address? Look familiar? It is because it is the same IP used by “Andrea” in her first message [above] on January 27, 2004 01:14 PM” ARIN WHOIS: Yasuo Monno SBC068124072224031009 Thought this was interesting, ALL SHOULD KNOW ANDREA IS WOMC INC. Oh and btw thank you for posting this site!
Can I cost them multiple nickels if I click the Google link repeatedly? Click - back - click - back - click doesn’t take that much time. I’d be happy to hit them for a dollar everytime I’ve got a bored minute….
Thank you, Richard D. LeCour, for this entry in your blog. It showed up very high on the list when I searched for word-of-mouth-connection.com after receiving one of their scam e-mails. Plus five karma for the public service you have provided.
Good information!! Be careful too … seems that the e-mail address that they began to send these SPAMS to, may have come from Monster.com!! I also wrote the admin indicating that they are onto something .. so may will pay the $20 and get nothing!
I stupidly stupidly paid the $19.95 today to find out who had information on me after receiving one of these emails. I have been stalked on the internet for over four years and I was notified today that someone had “requested” information on me (after being told a year ago that someone had “filed” information on me). So I bit. After I got home from shopping, I decided to search on this company and found your site and the SNOPES info and realized how stupid I’d been. I called my credit card company to do a chargeback explaining that I’d fallen victim to an internet scam and I immediately canceled my credit card account and am awaiting a new card and number.
This is a website aimed at people who are weekend by normal internet harrassment or who are in fear of such. Unfortunately it is the nature of our society that we should fear and believe that someone may be spreading rumors about us and therefor defaming us online. That being said I cannot judge someone for wishing to capitolize on this weekness as that it is all you can do in this day in age. On the other hand I do not believe in spam as a freedom, nor do I feel that I need to open my box daily and see that people are supposedly talking about me online. Hëll I’m a member of Livejournal, I get enough gossip through there to cover my need for drama. anyway, reading these comments it just often makes me wonder why no one attacks the spammers in the way they attack us. Bombard their mail servers, spoof their sites, etc? I know these are unethical approaches but no less ethical than telling someone that someone is researching their background, when that person may be being stalked, lookign for their parents, or even applying for a job in a knowledge-specific industry. Just my thoughts.
Minor interesting note on googling for “word of mouth scam”. Not only did they apparently by the AdWords specifically with “scam” in them, they also require the “of” (a word google specifically says is too common and does not get included in searches). “word mouth” doesn’t get their link.
If you have been receiving spam originating from PacBell ip address(s) owned by Knud H. Padborg Search results for: ! NET-68-124-55-144-1 CustName: Knud H Padborg Address: 268 Bush St. #5000 City: San Francisco StateProv: CA PostalCode: 94104 Country: US RegDate: 2003-10-09 Updated: 2003-10-09 NetRange: 68.124.55.144 - 68.124.55.151 You can send this guy a demand letter asking for money against violating Spam laws. Your next step would be to bring him to Small Claims Court. From AnyWho.com Padborg, Knud H 1614 S Patton Ave San Pedro, CA 90731-3842 (310) 547-9345 From People Finder KNUD H PADBORG Age 66 1614 S PATTON AVE SAN PEDRO, CA 90731 (310) 5479345 KRISTIAN PADBORG Age 34 SAN DIEGO, CA 92138 (858)560 0661
I received one of these ‘alerts’ last week, and investigated the site - not by clicking on a blind link, but by typing the URL into my browser. The first sign of a distinctly fishy odor was that the ‘have information’ links purport to be from a co-worker or someone who ‘knows me well.’ Why would any friend or responsible coworker put your information up to anonymous requests? The second sign is that you can only make an inquiry of these people by spending $19.95 for their Power User account. I thought about firing off a comment on their feedback form, but I determined this was a waste of time, and the concept is a sham. The final sign that this is a scam is the magically changing domain: word-of-mouth-connection to word-of-mouth-info … both offering essentially the same services and the same sales babble as justification. Big hint, people - an employer sure as heck isn’t going to be looking for word-of-mouth via anonymous remailers for hiring recommendations. Might as well consult your Magic 8-Ball.