Scam Alert: Fake Virus Warning to Make Users Call 1-855-420-8247

A tip from reader:

Scam Alert 1-855-420-8247

A pop-up warning showed up on Safari claiming the viruses were found on the computer. It was almost impossible to quit Safari as the pop-up re-emerges when closed. One way to deal with this is to force quit (Command-Option-Escape) Safari, then disable the auto-resume feature in OS X. In OS X Lion, Mountain Lion and Mavericks, go to System Preferences > General > and uncheck the “Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps” option.

In the upcoming OS X Yosemite, the option looks slightly different; well, more than slightly different.

Check the “Close windows when quitting an app” option.

Close-windows-when-quitting-an-app

This particular scam has been around for a while.

It seems the scammer was astroturfing the comments on this page.

Spammer Alert: leecheryl182@gmail.com

We received another tip from readers about a particular spammer related to hefallsintothe.com. The admin contact of the domain name is leecheryl182@gmail.com. The domain name hefallsintothe.com is using ns1.insulationfromtheelements.com and ns2.insulationfromtheelements.com

The domain names are registered through namecheap.com.

whois hefallsintothe.com:

Administrative Contact:

Web Master (leecheryl182@gmail.com)
+1.7734130857
Fax:
616 Corporate Way
Suite 2
Valley College, NY 10989
US

Creation date: 19 Mar 2013 19:06:00
Expiration date: 19 Mar 2014 11:06:00

whois insulationfromtheelements.com:

Administrative Contact:
Brightness Partners
Network Admin (dns@brightnesspartners.com)
+1.8004094960
Fax: +1.5555555555
6321 W Dempster St
Suite 161
Morton Grove, IL 60053
US

Creation date: 19 Mar 2013 20:53:00
Expiration date: 19 Mar 2014 12:53:00

Whois brightnesspartners.com:

Administrative Contact:
Brightness Partners
Network Admin (dns@brightnesspartners.com)
+1.8004094960
Fax: +1.5555555555
6321 W Dempster St
Suite 161
Morton Grove, IL 60053
US

Creation date: 19 Mar 2013 20:36:00
Expiration date: 19 Mar 2014 12:36:00

Partial list of domain names related to dns@brightnesspartners.com:

  • aboveallcanacquire.com
  • allusefulhasthe.com
  • andhopetoobtain.com
  • artitselfbythe.com
  • brightnesspartners.com
  • colouringheshouldlodge.com
  • conductothersashaving.com
  • eminencebyothermeans.com
  • frivolouspursuitscapacityto.com
  • ifhewasallowed.com
  • ifoneactexcluded.com
  • ihaveseenalso.com
  • insulationfromtheelements.com
  • inthedrudgeryof.com
  • isalwaysathand.com
  • isbrilliantthanwith.com
  • ithasbeenso.com
  • itmaybetaken.com
  • managedoftenshortensthe.com
  • maneminentforhis.com
  • momentthepracticeof.com
  • ofagreatdegree.com
  • ofthealphabetif.com
  • onlybeopposedby.com
  • thatidealexcellencewhich.com

 

Partial list of domain names with leecheryl182@gmail.com as admin contacts:

  • anypurposewhohave.com
  • arrivedattheirutmost.com
  • artwhichhemust.com
  • bettercoursehavelong.com
  • bystudyingtheseauthentic.com
  • cannotdobetterthan.com
  • easeandreadinessto.com
  • farastheyshall.com
  • faultifourprogress.com
  • formedinitwhich.com
  • fromthosewhohave.com
  • gratitudeinouracademy.com
  • intheirpupilsprobably.com
  • inventontheirmethod.com
  • itnearthemodel.com
  • itrequiresnoeffort.com
  • leastcontributetoyour.com
  • makesnopretensionsto.com
  • mannerofhandlingemulation.com
  • politebeendoneby.com
  • resultofnaturalpowers.com
  • studenthassucceededin.com
  • studentssooftendisappoint.com
  • tocollectsubjectsfor.com
  • whichnaturehasbeen.com

spam-stamp

Spammer Alert: the connection between x-celerated.com and 1stinlinehosting.com

A comment from a reader prompted us to revisit an older post on a spammer with domain name 1stinlinehosting.com. It is apparent that the same spammer also operates x-celerated.com. We should have realized that sooner.

The domain name submitted by reader is mlifeprogression.com and whois information shows the mailing address:

1608 S. Ashland Ave
Chicago, Illinois 6O608

The very same address of a mailbox service used by a possibly fictional Tom Slater of x-celerated.com.

mlifeprogression

If you want to fight the spammers back, consider the followings:

We thank our readers for their contributions.