Tag Archives: Time Saving Tips

Don’t Be Scammed – Ignore The Internet NetWORX Spam Letter

Security, Spam Hall Of Shame
4

If you own a domain name or someone has it registered on your behalf you will probably come across these devious letters in the mail.

They come from fraudulent domain registrars others who prey on people who don’t fully understand the domain registration service or directory listings in full.  So send letters in the mail about something expiring like your domain name or similar and request payment before “renewal” of something is up.

And because they know businesses and nonprofits are busy, many simply send these in the mail to their accounting folks (I know actual clients who did) to get paid.

We get asked about these from our clients, which tells me they have clearly deceived their letters pretty well to try to trick some domain owners into thinking a domain renewal invoice.

So I first wrote about this other iDNS mail letter a couple of years ago, but my clients and myself are still receiving these. Which is a problem. Why? Because it means many of you are still falling for the scam and paying these fraudulent scammers 300-500% higher cost to own the registration to your domain.





Why is this considered Spam? Because its unsolicited (you didn’t ask for it) and is a fraudulently deceiving letter, making you think the worlds going to end if you don’t transfer your domain name to them. In which after they own your domain name registration, they can jack your price higher/hold your domain hostage to force you to pay.

So we want to provide this information to protect you, whether you have registered your domain name with Northwoods Web Designs or some other provider. Here is the word for word mailing that you may receive. Hoping you are finding this from searching, ultimately protecting yourself from this spam company.

You can even fight against this by filing a BBB complaint. Here is the link to file a complaint against Internet Networx and read other complaints filed against this company.

These companies who send these letters, such as NETWORX,  attempt to convince you into transferring or renewing your domain using their service. Which on average is 500% above the market rate for domain name services. 


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WHAT ARE PHISHING EMAILS? – BE AWARE!

Email, Security, Spam Hall Of Shame

Northwoods Web Designs would like to make you aware of PHISHING EMAILS. Please be aware and do not click links in emails automatically. You have to do some investigative work to make sure it is from whom it states it is from. Unfortunately, there are so many scammers out there that pose to be someone when they are not. They are continually coming up with ways to scam you. The purpose of phishing emails is they want you to click the link, it brings you to a site and they will ask questions to obtain your information.  

In this particular example they are making it appear that it is to upgrade (so you think it is something you already have). Do not click the link but hover over the link (in this image the link is the orange button that states, auto increase storage space), you will notice it has nothing to do with Northwoods Web Designs, it may appear something like this:
.i.ie >> 24livenewspaper.com/third/?url=http://infoquota.eurofharma.com.pe/harma/index_hash.php
However, it may not be this clear, it may just be mistyped or misspelled so you have to check very closely.

If you are ever in question about an email that appears to have been sent by us, contact us (or whomever it states it is from, to verify) before clicking any links that the email contains.  

Don’t Be Scammed – Beware of Web Services Scam Email

Security, Spam Hall Of Shame

If you own a website and have contact information available (who doesn’t, you do want people to engage with you right?) you have probably received emails like this. Generally spam traps get them, but sometimes a real human typed it up and send it out so they come through.

How to tell if this is a scam or simply spam mail? 

  • First major flag to tell the email is a scam, is  if someone wants to provide services and they use a free email account (@aol, @gmail, @hotmail etc..) run away, fast. This was was using a free/random @aol.com account. (I didn’t know aol.com was still a thing :)).
  • Second major flag is there is no phone number listed.
  • Third major flag is there is no address listed. And by law, random solicited emails are required to have the business address listed, and an unsubscribe button available.

These are typical sent out (from scripted program ran on computer) to try to get you to reply by email, which one, lets them know there is a real person behind that email, in which they will engage and try to obtain more information to either use maliciously or sell to other companies for other services you do not need.

Better yet, just add these email addresses to your list of spam/block filter and you will already be ahead of the game.

alan.digitalsolution@aol.com |  all spam emails...

    • alan.digitalsolution@aol.com
    • roy.digitalusa@gmail.com
    • john.digitalsolution@aol.com
    • gary.digitalsolution@aol.com
    • paul.digitalsolution@aol.com
    • admin@digitallyaheadteam.com
    • corinne@rankhow.com
    • luke69457hal@gmail.com
    • charlenebakari01@gmail.com
    • info@shaxiams.top
    • seekamp.hayden@gmail.com
    • thomas@charlestondigitalfirm.com
    • william@prodigital.live



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Don’t Be Scammed – Ignore The Domain Registry Expiration Spam Letter

Security, Spam Hall Of Shame


If you own a domain name or someone has it registered on your behalf you will probably come across these devious spam letters in the mail.

They come from fraudulent domain registrars others who prey on people who don’t fully understand the domain registration service or directory listings in full.  So folks like this Domain Registry (from Jersey City, NJ) send letters in the mail to everyone that has a domain name stating their domain is about to expire and renew now.

And because they know businesses and nonprofits are busy, many simply send these in the mail to their accounting folks (I know actual clients who did) and they get their money, many times without even providing any service.

We continue to get asked about these from our clients or others, which tells me they have clearly deceived their letters pretty well to try to trick some domain owners into thinking a domain renewal invoice payment is needed.

So I first wrote about this other iDNS mail letter a couple of years ago, but my clients and I are still receiving these, and from other company’s. Which is a problem. Why? Because it means many of you are still falling for the scam and paying these fraudulent scammers 300-500% higher cost to own the registration to your domain. And worst, you lose access to your domain ownership if you do the transfer.

This is considered unsolicited aggressive spam. Why is this considered Spam? Because it is unsolicited (you didn’t ask for it) and is a fraudulently deceiving letter, making you think the world is going to end if you don’t transfer your domain name to them. In which afterwards, they (somebody you don’t know) owns your domain name registration. In which they can jack your price even higher or hold your domain hostage to force you to pay or sign up for other related services.

So we want to provide this information to protect you, whether you have registered your domain name with Northwoods Web Designs or some other provider. Here is the word for word mailing that you may receive. Hoping you are finding this from searching, ultimately protecting yourself from this spam company.

These companies who send these letters, such as this one from 924 Bergen Ave, Suite #289, Jersey City, NF (Domain Registry),  attempt to convince you into transferring or renewing your domain using their service. Which on average is 500% above the market rate for domain name services. 
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Save You Scam – Ignore the Your Computer Was Infected and Now Pay Me Blackmail Scam

Security, Spam Hall Of Shame

Here is a pretty decent cyber blackmail scam that can probably get the best of folks.

It is in a form of a blackmail via email stating they infected your PC, stole your personal info and recorded you on your webcam and for proof they provide a real password you have actually used  (or still do).

The blackmail comes into play as they are requesting you pay them via bitcoin or else they will send out the webcam recorded video(s) and all personal information. **DON’T FALL FOR THIS SCAM**





Yes, it is a real password that they include in the subject line along with “save you” verbiage. It truly is a password that you may have used and probably tied to the email account your receiving the email to.

But how did they get your info? Easy, with all the data breaches that have happened in the past several years, our data, including passwords have been leaked into the dark-web for crappy folks to buy and try to use and take advantage of folks just like this.

They are leveraging old data to promote fear into falling for the scam. Do note, if you still use the password they listed in the email for ANYTHING, go and change any accounts that are still using that password just for best practice.

So we want to provide this information to protect yourself. Here is the word for word mailing that you may receive. Hoping you are finding this from searching, ultimately protecting yourself from these malicious folks who are too lazy to work for the money.
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