US Court Disconnects Canadian Domain Name Scammers

coondoggie writes "A US District Court today ordered a halt to the illegal practice of Canadian companies who the Federal Trade Commission said deceptively posed as domain name registrars and sent bogus bills to thousands of US small businesses and nonprofit organizations for their annual 'Website Address Listing.' The FTC said many of the businesses believed they would lose their Web site addresses unless they paid the bill, so they paid but in most cases the defendants did not provide domain registration services, did not provide the 'search optimization' services it claimed to provide, and bilked small businesses and nonprofits out of millions of dollars."

Comments

i've gotten those in the mail

[circletimessquare]

its amazing people actually fall for that bulls***

i really must be in the wrong business. i'm thinking about this whole "business plan" concept wrong. i'm thinking "what do people want and need and how can i give that to them better than the competition"

i should be thinking "how can i prey on stupidity and fear of authority"

Re:i've gotten those in the mail

[Anonymous Coward]

No, you're not thinking about it wrong. You're choosing to think about it ethically. Just like most people choose to have a job to bring home money instead of using a gun to rob their local convenience store.

As for people falling for the "bulls***", despite what some people may think, there are still people out there who are new to the internets and the Google and can't quite wrap their brain around it all.

I know people who, despite numerous attempts to explain, can't figure out why they can access their web-based email from anywhere, but can't access an application installed on their computer in the same manner (don't even get started on the conversation of remote desktop with these people!).

So, when fear mongering "businesses" like the ones in question send a notice to some Mom & Pop store telling them that they'll lose their web site if they don't send the money to renew their domain name, who can blame them for paying up? Especially if, like in many instances, the Mom & Pop store went to a friend of a friend to get the web site built and that friend of a friend did all the domain registration for them.

It's not being stupid. It's being ignorant and those are two completely different things.

Re:Summary is horrible.

[digitrev]

This is on /. because it's a tech issue, namely domain names. But otherwise, yeah, you're right, this is a non-issue.

The stupidity tax really bites hard

[damburger]

Especially if you send money to random people who ask for it without checking who they are first.

Stupidity tax rewards evil

[spun]

The thing about the "stupidity tax" as so many call it is not that it harms the stupid, it is that it rewards the corrupt.

You can laugh at the people who fall for things like this and pat yourself on the back all you like, but it is wrong. It isn't helping society. It isn't weeding out the weak and stupid. It is rewarding evil.

Re:Stupidity tax rewards evil

[spun]

Yes, you are supposed to care. If you don't, it indicates a major subsystem of your brain is missing (you're a psychopath) or damaged (you're like most people.) Our brain has mirror circuits that let us run simulations of other sentient beings, which tie in to empathy circuits that let us feel what others are feeling. If you can witness suffering without feeling anything, there is something wrong with these circuits. As they are highly advantageous, both for the individual, and for the species as a whole, you might want to get that looked into.

Re:Stupidity tax rewards evil

[spun]

You miss the point. It isn't who these people are hurting, it is what they are being rewarded for. Rewarding behavior that hurts others is never a good idea, no matter how minor the harm.

Network Solutions

[N8F8]

Network solutions sends out bogus bill-looking mail too to registrants.

Re:When will they ever learn?

[supervillainsf]

While the headline is a bit erroneous, if you bothered to RTFA you might actually understand what is going on here. But since you obviously just like posting crap, I will help you out with some important tidbits.

...consists of the FTC, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Competition Bureau Canada, the Toronto Police Service - Fraud Squad, the Ontario Ministry of Government Services, the Ontario Provincial Police - Anti-Rackets, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the United Kingdom's Office of Fair Trading.

A federal district court judge in Chicago, Robert M. Dow, Jr., ordered a halt to the deceptive claims and froze the defendants' assets held in the United States, pending trial.

The Commission files a complaint when it has "reason to believe" that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendant has actually violated the law. The case will be decided by the court.

Re:When will they ever learn?

[Socguy]

Hopefully. Fraud is fraud no matter where it originates. With the internet providing the con-artists faster and a wider range of underhanded opportunities, our two countries need to coordinate an efficient attack on this type of behaviour. Hopefully, the police and the courts up here will toss these criminals behind bars where they belong.