GETMY100.COM Telemarketer/Spammer

(This blogpost has been extensively rewritten to include new information about this spammer and how to report them to the appropriate agencies)

I found-out about GETMY100.COM from a reply to a previous blogpost and decided to have a look at the site. Not much there, aside from links to their Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, a link to their Unsubscribe page and a Contact link with a mailing address.

Doing a WHOIS search yields no results about the owners' identity, other than the IP number of 64.150.191.149 and that the server is based in the USA. A number of rather questionable sites are also linked to GETMY100's server.


I figured that the mailing address would either be a fake location - possibly a vacant lot somewhere - or a virtual office. My second guess seems to be the correct one. The address of 442 Court Street in Elko, Nevada turns-up as an office address for several law firms. Virtual offices are a good way for certain types of companies to save money. They can have their mail delivered there for later pickup or to be ignored, they can rent a meeting room for perspective clients and lots of other things that a company would otherwise have to pay exorbitant monthly rents for, in addition to staffing fees. With a virtual office, a lawyer or whatever can work out of their home and outsource a lot of their work to temps. This address is available for renting a virtual office and it costs $50 a month, so this isn't going to bankrupt these guys, unless they are complete morons and total failures as telemarketers.

A virtual office is also a good way for a spammer to provide an address where complaints can be mailed and promptly ignored. It's also very difficult to serve legal papers (like lawsuits or criminal complaints) when you don't even know the name of the person you're serving, especially since a WHOIS search doesn't reveal the name of the domain's owner.

These guys are pretty sneaky. There's no telling if the mailing address is really one they use of if they just provide it to give people an address to mail stuff, even if they'll never receive the envelope. You could be mailing a letter to these guys and some poor secretary will receive it without the slightest idea of who is supposed to get it. There is a mail forwarding service that uses this address, so it's possible that they still might get letters. Then, there's this little tidbit from their Privacy page

SMS Service. This Site may make available a service either directly or through third parties that will result in you receiving messages on your wireless device via short message service ("SMS Service"). By using this site you understand that your provider's charges apply to all SMS sent and received by you, and that these charges are billed by your mobile service provider. You are responsible for payment of these charges. You represent that you are 18 years of age and the owner or authorized user of the wireless device on which messages will be received, and that you are authorized to approve the applicable charges.

You may opt out of the SMS Service by replying with the keyword "STOP" to the SMS received. You can also unsubscribe directly from this Site using the unsubscribe link. This process only impacts the delivery messages from this site and will not unsubscribe you from other SMS programs to which you may have subscribed.

So, even if you reply to their textspam with STOP, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or whatever it really won't stop you from getting spammed again. If they primary company - in this case GETMY100 - takes you off their spam list, it will not affect your being listed on spam lists owned by other people working on their behalf. Even if you are on a government Do Not Call list, simply giving them your phone number is enough for them to justify spamming you or sharing your number with other people who will spam you. So, if you get textspammed and go to their website to unsubscribe, they now have your number to do with as they wish. Oh sure, they can't spam you, but it won't stop whoever they give your number to from doing it, especially since they now know that your number is valid.

So, unsubscribing doesn't appear to make any difference, one way or another.

I did find an interesting Facebook posting by some one who actually claims to have first created the GETMY100 website. The message was posted on Facebook about a year ago and I have no idea if this person is really the individual behind all this or her Facebook page got hacked and the post created without her knowledge or permission. So, please be aware that this person could have been the victim of hacking and her account taken-over. If she has nothing to do with GETMY100, it is interesting how she hasn't contacted Facebook and attempted to get her profile back. Even if her account was only temporarily hacked, I wonder why she hasn't gone back through her posts and deleted it by now? This gets even stranger when you realize that GETMY100 has its office in Elko, while the woman who created the post lives in Baltimore, Maryland. I reproduce the post here:

Topic: Everyone says we're in a recession...You can choose NOT to participate in it!

Displaying the only post.

• 
  

  Renee Twine Guerassio

  There is a program that your neighbor is using that's helping them pay off their 30 year mortgage in only 9.8 years and saving over $151,000 in unnecessary interest. Making them "true" homeowners instead of homebuyers in a fraction of the time!
  
  They are accomplishing this:
  
  ► Without refinancing their current mortgage
  
  ► Without changing their current mortgage payment
  
  ► Without changing their current lifestyle
  
  Due to the overwhelming response to this amazing program we have set up an online video portal where you can see a presentation and learn how this service may be beneficial to YOU and your family. http://www.getmy100.com/
  
  Renee Guerassio
  Independant Associate
  Direct: 410-893-1086
  
  Everyone says were in a recession...
  You can choose NOT to participate in it!
  
  Get $100 FREE GAS OR $100 FREE GROCERIES just for watching a video that shows you how to beat this recession and answering one question correctly!
  
  Go to www.GetMy100.com and use PROMO CODE: 833722Q to claim your certificate!

This same woman's face appears on a profile at CAFEMOM and was used to respond to this post. The profile hasn't been accessed since 2009, but you can view all the comments the profile has posted here. The website GETMY100 was pending deletion in March 2010 and was registered again in March 2011, but the identity of the new owner is unknown to anyone but the people they bought it from. I only included Ms. Guerrassio's posts and links in the event that some one contacts me to ask about them. In the event that she has nothing to do with GETMY100's current activities, I request that no one contact her about it in order to prevent an innocent person from being harassed.

In the event that some one forwards this blog's link to her: I strongly advise Ms Guerrassio to log-in to her Facebook and CafeMom accounts and remove all of those posts.

I also found GETMY100 listed in the tags of a blogpost here [1] [2] [3], but you have to scroll to the bottom of the page to see them. You can find a contact email address on this link, for all the good it will do.

Here is as complete a list as I can find of all numbers associated with GETMY100.COM. Bear in mind that these numbers may have been spoofed, so calling them back won't make much difference.

Phone Numbers Associated With GIFTMY100.COM

201-238-8338

208-340-4825

209-221-9097

213-400-2531

214-796-1738

216-533-1723

225-223-0102

269-537-2029

305-903-2169
310-349-6385

310-736-0903
323-203-2350

323-304-1626

360-529-1851

386-627-6730

408-384-2109

412-228-1758

412-736-6154
480-231-0627

503-508-9702

503-881-4546

562-253-4989
619-339-8604

619-719-8033

626-379-8707

631-204-7548
650-390-7140
678-468-4155

702-321-1454

702-324-4741

702-324-6120

702-460-4356

707-508-9139

774-266-1148

805-309-5602

818-620-5441

989-906-4697

Go to the Federal Trade Commission website to file a complaint. be sure to include the mailing address given on the GETMY100 website in your complaint: 442 Court Street, Elko,NV 89801.

Since the mailing address is in Elko, NV, you can contact

• Elko Police Department 
• Elko County Sheriff Department 
• Elko County District Attorney's office 
• Attorney General of Nevada

Make sure to inform them all of the mailing address given on the website.


GETMY100.COM is registered by Domains By Proxy, Inc and this service is for people who don't want others to know who owns a website. However, Domains By Proxy does have its own website where you can file complaints. I am not sure about how quickly - if at all - the company would respond to complaints, but it doesn't hurt to try.

Simply go to https://www.domainsbyproxy.com/Default.aspx and click "File A Claim". Mention that you received the message via cellphone text, so there are no email headers to forward to them.


I cannot say for certain what, if anything, would come of complaints to any of these agencies, but it never hurts to try.


There are a number of toll-free numbers associated with GETMY100. They either had them in the texts that were sent out for people to call or were included in textspam unrelated to GETMY100. The toll-free numbers are

• 800-803-9251 
• 877-553-7042

Free free to call them from a convenient public payphone to voice your displeasure over being textspammed.

Duane Browning

Yet Another Text Spammer (Part Two)

Here is the original post on the topic of this text spammer.


Until recently, the email address where you were supposed to send your personal information - market.dir@o2.co.uk - did not respond to inquiries. Only the original contact email - 4882@o2.co.uk - replied to any questions.


However, that has changed with a name and a new phone number added to this story. Several days ago, a friend sent an email to market.dir@o2.co.uk with a question regarding sending his details and received a reply from a person using the name Basil Al-Haddad. "Basil" also gave a new phone number by which he could be contacted: 
 011 (44) 787-228-2424 which is also a number from the United Kingdom.

Basil Al-Haddad

Marketing Director

TELEFONICA O2 UK LIMITED

260 Bath Road Slough Berkshire SL1 4DX

England, United Kingdom.

Phone: 011 (44) 787-228 -2424

Email: market.dir@o2.co.uk

According to information I received, this new number is a cellphone. If this number is correct, you can SMS this person via one of these addresses

• 07872282424@mmail.co.uk
• 07872282424@o2.co.uk
• 07872282424@mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk

Due to my ignorance of dialing phone numbers in the UK, these addresses may not be entirely accurate. So, be careful.

Once again, an IP trace was done and surprisingly the result was the same as the email received from 4882@o2.co.uk in that the IP was out of the USA. So, my initial assumption of a ringleader being in the UK was incorrect. Either that or they are using a proxy, but I had always thought that a proxy would give a different IP every time you used it.


Examining the headers of both emails, I found this in the first

Return-Path: info3@telefonicamail.net

and this in the second

Return-Path: veunit@telefonicamail.net

I didn't think much of it, at first. But, curiosity got hold of me and I did a WHOIS on telefonicamail.net and received this result

WHOIS information for telefonicamail.net :[Querying whois.verisign-grs.com]
[Redirected to whois.melbourneit.com]
[Querying whois.melbourneit.com]
[whois.melbourneit.com]
Domain Name.......... telefonicamail.net
Creation Date........ 2010-04-29
Registration Date.... 2010-04-29
Expiry Date.......... 2011-04-29
Organisation Name.... John Russell
Organisation Address. PO Box 61359
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Sunnyvale
Organisation Address. 94088
Organisation Address. CA
Organisation Address. US
Admin Name........... Admin PrivateRegContact
Admin Address........ PO Box 61359
Admin Address........ registered post accepted only
Admin Address........ Sunnyvale
Admin Address........ 94088
Admin Address........ CA
Admin Address........ US
Admin Email.......... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002
Admin Fax............
Tech Name............ TECH PrivateRegContact
Tech Address......... PO Box 61359
Tech Address......... registered post accepted only
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94088
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... US
Tech Email........... contact@myprivateregistration.com
Tech Phone........... +1.5105952002
Tech Fax.............
Name Server.......... ns1.officelive.com
Name Server.......... ns2.officelive.com

Doing a reverse WHOIS reveals that "John Russell" owns hundreds of other domains. However, it would cost me a lot of money to find-out which domains they are and I do not care about it that much to spend money on this. So, it seems that "John Russell" is behind this whole thing.


Other email addresses used in the past with this scam:

• veunit@o2.co.uk
• inquiry@o2.co.uk
• query1@o2.co.uk
• info@o2mobile-uk.com

I'm sure that I could find more addresses, if I was inclined to keep looking.

Apparently, the scam got started in Nigeria with these text messages being sent out randomly with all correspondences being done by email. The addition of real telephone/fax numbers shows that it is possible they have confederates in the UK working as part of the scam.

Duane Browning

File A Complaint Against Text Spammers

What really pisses me off about text spammers is that they send out their spam with no regard as to whether or not the recipient has to pay for the texts they receive. If you have a texting plan with your cellphone provider that allows a certain number of texts before you have to start paying for them, receiving text spam could cost you some money.

It doesn't matter how much it costs, it only matters that you have to spend your money because some jerk wants to either sell you something or is trying to swindle you in some way.

I have only today become aware that you can file an official complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against text spammers. Simply go to this link
https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form1088.action
fill it out and include all communications you've had from this text spammer in a file that you can attach to your complaint. If you sent a reply to an email address provided in the original text and you received a reply back, copy and paste the email you received (including headers) in the file you're attaching.


Duane Browning

Yet Another Text Spammer

I received this text message on my cellphone right after I had finished breakfast yesterday morning

From: noreply@o2.co.uk CongratulationsYou've been awarded 418,000 British Pounds by Telefonica O2. Send an Email to 4882@o2.co.uk for claims

So, I sent a reply from the email account I use for responding to text spam and I received this message the next day: 

From: "O2 Mobile" 4882@o2.co.uk
Ref: O2/1629/11
Dear winner,
I congratulate you on behalf of the management of Telefónica O2 UK Limited. This promotion is brought to you as a marketing strategy designed to create an awareness of the expansion of O2 network coverage to the North American region.
23 cell phone numbers were randomly selected worldwide via a computer draws system. Your number was selected from the 2nd category in the 1st draw, hence made you a silver award winner.
To facilitate the redemption of your award, kindly contact the Marketing Director with the following details:
First and Name:
Contact Address/Tel:
Email:
Age:
Occupation:
Winning Phone Number:
Amount won:
Send information to Email: market.dir@o2.co.uk
Upon receipt of the above information, the marketing director will verify the details to ensure you are the registered owner of the winning phone number. Once these formalities are concluded, your funds will be remitted to you. Be assured that your details are highly secured. It will neither be disclosed to third parties nor used for illegal activities.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1) Any falsification of your details will render you disqualified.
2) Friends or relatives are not eligible to receive award on your behalf.
3) To avoid multiple claims and impersonation you are expected to respect the integrity of the privileged information regarding your winnings, do not disclose to third parties until your prize money is received by you.
4) After you receive your award, you will be required to honor an invitation to join Telefónica O2 marketing team on TV for an interview regarding this promotion in North America.
Please advise how convenient this interview will be for you. Congratulations once more and thank you for being part of our expansion awareness program.
Best regards,
Promo Co-ordinators.
TELEFONICA O2 UK LIMITED
MARKETING DEPARTMENT
Office: 011 (44) 127 479 2353
Fax: 011 (44) 191 247 8151
260 Bath Road Slough Berkshire SL1 4DX
United Kingdom

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This electronic message contains information from Telefonica O2 UK ltd which may be privileged or confidential. The information is intended to be for the use of the individual(s) or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure, copying distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited. If you have received this electronic message in error, please notify us by email.

I would have figured that would have come out of Nigeria, China or someplace like that. But, no, it came from within the USA. A simple IP trace was all that I needed to do to discover this.

Obviously, this is a scam. So, I forwarded the message I received to O2's corporate offices in the United Kingdom for them to take whatever action they deem appropriate.

While the address given in the email is Telefonica's real address, the phone numbers don't match. The phone numbers are from Great Britain, but they are not Telefonica's. From another blogpost, I learned that if you call the numbers, somebody actually does answer the phone and they even give you a tracking number for whatever package they are supposedly sending you.

So, this isn't some slapped-together scam, these guys have a pretty convincing swindle going here and I think many people might be taken-in by them, due to their appearance of legitimacy. Due to the IP trace and the real British phone numbers, I came to the conclusion that this is actually a group of scammers working together with members on both sides of the Atlantic.

UPDATE: if you've received the first message, but the email address is different, please let me know by posting a reply to this blog. I'd like to update this blog with current information as it becomes available to me. A second post on this topic has been posted.


If you live in the United States, you may file a complaint against the sender of this text spam by going to this webpage
https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form1088.action


Duane Browning

Another Text Spammer Found

Here is the typical spam message received from these text spammers

Need some quick cash? You can easily get $1200 wired into your bank account today! For info, just reply back the word "Pay", to cancel reply "STOP"

A search on some of the numbers being used or that had been used in the past shows that the spammer is using AT&T accounts. The following is as complete a list as I can make of all known phone numbers associated with these text spammers, listed in numerical order:

323-208-2212

408-203-3430

408-203-4306

408-427-7743

415-309-7479

415-408-1069 

415-408-1548 

415-408-8106

510-219-7087

510-316-7065

510-378-9423

612-454-9373

714-176-3827

714-251-2595 

714-276-3827

714-330-9748

714-519-1465

714-599-0894

714-625-1458

714-651-4683

714-651-7164

714-679-0140

714-679-1572

714-679-2176

714-679-2456

714-679-2867

714-679-4275

714-679-4969

714-679-7169

714-679-7490

714-697-5848

714-697-5850

714-697-5854

714-757-9209

714-869-4141 

818-519-6960

845-617-4891

909-287-4247

949-463-3715

949-463-5147

949-463-5162

949-463-5163

949-463-5447

949-463-5594 

949-463-5601

949-463-5608

949-463-6435 

949-463-6700

949-463-7436

949-463-7437

949-463-7505

949-466-7139

951-314-8998

Since these all appear to be AT&T numbers, you can use a web-based email account to send them a message directly. I suggest not using your regular email account. Instead, use a Yahoo or Hotmail account to voice your disagreement with their use of text messaging to spam your phone. Here is a list of the email addresses that you can use, corresponding to the order given above:

3232082212@txt.att.net

4082033430@txt.att.net

4082034306@txt.att.net

4084277743@txt.att.net

4153097479@txt.att.net

4154081069@txt.att.net

4154081548@txt.att.net

4154088106@txt.att.net

5102197087@txt.att.net

5103167065@txt.att.net

5103789423@txt.att.net

6124549373@txt.att.net

7141763827@txt.att.net

7142512595@txt.att.net

7142763827@txt.att.net

7143309748@txt.att.net

7145191465@txt.att.net

7145990894@txt.att.net

7146251458@txt.att.net

7146514683@txt.att.net

7146517164@txt.att.net

7146790140@txt.att.net

7146791572@txt.att.net

7146792176@txt.att.net

7146792456@txt.att.net

7146792867@txt.att.net

7146794275@txt.att.net

7146794969@txt.att.net

7146797169@txt.att.net

7146797490@txt.att.net

7146975848@txt.att.net

7146975850@txt.att.net

7146975854@txt.att.net

7147579209@txt.att.net

7148694141@txt.att.net

8185196960@txt.att.net

8456174891@txt.att.net

9092874247@txt.att.net

9494633715@txt.att.net

9494635147@txt.att.net

9494635162@txt.att.net

9494635163@txt.att.net

9494635447@txt.att.net

9494635594@txt.att.net

9494635601@txt.att.net

9494635608@txt.att.net

9494636435@txt.att.net

9494636700@txt.att.net

9494637436@txt.att.net

9494637437@txt.att.net

9494637505@txt.att.net

9494667139@txt.att.net

9513148998@txt.att.net

If you live in the United States, you may file a complaint against the sender of this text spam by going to this webpage
https://esupport.fcc.gov/ccmsforms/form1088.action


I hope this helps.




Duane Browning