New Blackmail Site Solicitly.com

I have to admit that I've been quite happy that ExposingJohns.com is apparently gone. But, I was wondering if another site would soon come along to take their place and I began search the 'Net to see if anyone was still receiving text messages from exposingjohns or someone like them.

In fact, another site has recently come online, but the situation isn't as bad as I had initially feared.

I first heard about this pissant little website on the forums at FTC.GOV

Lilyhammer | August 22, 2015 Exposingjohns.com is gone but it has been replaced by a new domain name solicitly.com

So, I decided to have a look and what I found didn't impress me. To date, they only have 70 profiles posted, with names, city of residance, phone numbers and pictures that probably were lifted from their Facebook pages. So, they seem to have followed the same formula as exposingjohns and also repeating the same bullshit line that exposingjohns did by claiming to be doing a public good.. However, they don't include the "evidence" on the profile like exposingjohns did. To see it, you have to contact them via their contact page.

All of the posted profiles appear to have been created on or about 30 May 2015, but none since then. It is possible that they got started and simply gave-up, due to the amount of work required. But, I am not so complacent to simply ignore them. It is entirely possible that the people behind exposingjohns may also be involved with Solicitly.com.

Despite their claim to be based in Nicosia, Cyprus, their website is registered in the USA.

Domain Name: SOLICITLY.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1930275508_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.bluehost.com
Registrar URL: http://www.bluehost.com/
Updated Date: 2015-05-18T20:52:06Z
Creation Date: 2015-05-18T20:52:06Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2016-05-18T20:52:06Z
Registrar: FastDomain Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 1154
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@bluehost.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1 801 765 9400
Reseller: BlueHost.Com
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited (https://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited)
Registry Registrant ID: 
Registrant Name: DOMAIN PRIVACY SERVICE FBO REGISTRANT
Registrant Organization: 
Registrant Street: 1958 SOUTH 950 EAST  
Registrant City: PROVO
Registrant State/Province: UTAH
Registrant Postal Code: 84606
Registrant Country: UNITED STATES
Registrant Phone: +1.8017659400
Registrant Phone Ext: 
Registrant Fax: 
Registrant Fax Ext: 
Registrant Email: whois@bluehost.com
Registry Admin ID: 
Admin Name: DOMAIN PRIVACY SERVICE FBO REGISTRANT
Admin Organization: 
Admin Street: 1958 SOUTH 950 EAST  
Admin City: PROVO
Admin State/Province: UTAH
Admin Postal Code: 84606
Admin Country: UNITED STATES
Admin Phone: +1.8017659400
Admin Phone Ext: 
Admin Fax: 
Admin Fax Ext: 
Admin Email: whois@bluehost.com
Registry Tech ID: 
Tech Name: DOMAIN PRIVACY SERVICE FBO REGISTRANT
Tech Organization: 
Tech Street: 1958 SOUTH 950 EAST  
Tech City: PROVO
Tech State/Province: UTAH
Tech Postal Code: 84606
Tech Country: UNITED STATES
Tech Phone: +1.8017659400
Tech Phone Ext: 
Tech Fax: 
Tech Fax Ext: 
Tech Email: whois@bluehost.com
Name Server: NS1.BLUEHOST.COM
Name Server: NS2.BLUEHOST.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned

Doing a quick check of the profiles listed, I noticed that many of the listings were of men from only a handful of states, so far::

• Eleven out of the seventy listings were from Ohio, with the majority coming from Cincinnati. That's a little more than one out of six, which is surprising. 
• Nine of the listings were from Missouri, which is about one out of seven. Most of the Missouri men  listed are from Springfield.
• Another nine men are from Illinois, five of them are from Peoria.
• Two of the four men from Wisconsin are from Green Bay.
• Both of the Virginia men are from Williamsburg.
• Both of the Maryland men are from Annapolis.
• Both of the men from Louisiana are from Shreveport. 
• Several listings simply state that the men are from the United States, likely because their Facebook profiles don't indicate their city of residence. Checking the area code wouldn't provide exact information because many people have a phone number with an out-of-state area code, especially if they've recently moved and don't need/want to change their number.
• Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont and Washington have only one listing each.
• The states which have the most listings are very close to each other. Missouri (9), Illinois (9), Indiana (3) and Ohio (11) altogether have 32 listings, which is almost half of the men listed. So, it seems that a man is less likely to find himself listed here if he lives far enough away from this part of the United States.

So, Solicitly got off to a fair start with 70 profiles posted in about a day. But, there hasn't been any activity since then. Emails sent to the people behind the site do not receive a response and the postal address of 100 East Avenue, Nicosia, Cyprus doesn't seem to really exist. The closest I came to tracking the address on Google Maps seems to pinpoint it as being in Northern Cyprus, also known as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyrus which is a self-declared independent country that is only recognized as a separate nation by Turkey. If the scam is taking place in Northern Cyprus, it is beyond the reach of Cypriot authorities because the Turkish military won't let them cross the border. But, Northern Cyprus has its own police force, so the scammers would have something to worry about if the Northern Cypriot authorities decided to crackdown on them.

Except for the 70 men listed on the site, Solicitly isn't as bad as exposingjohns was, yet. It looks as if they got started and uploaded a bunch of profiles in one day and then gave-up, perhaps after realizing how much work would actually be involved in building and maintaining it. My attempts to contact Solicitly were unsuccessful.

I don't see this site amounting to much, but I will keep an eye on them.


Duane Browning