Cybercrime online

Hey there,

So, a buddy and I were looking to grab some web hosting from this company operating out of the old North American territories.
My friend—who’s based over in Mexico—went ahead and paid the bill. As soon as the money cleared, the whole thing went dark. They just stopped responding and basically vanished into thin air. And get this—we aren't even the only ones they've pulled this stunt on.

Since I’m the one who actually registered the hosting under my own name, and their site claims they have a headquarters right here in Washington, D.C. (they apparently have little satellite offices in every country they touch), I'm wondering if U.S. law actually gives me any leverage here. Is there anything I can actually do from my end, or am I stuck watching my friend in Mexico deal with the fallout alone?

Thanks.

Best,

Look, this isn't even some high-level cybercrime; it’s just a textbook, run-of-the-mill scam. Honestly, you're basically reporting a crime in whatever state you actually sent the money to, I guess.

So, I’ve been scrolling through car listings on Craigslist lately, and I keep running into this same weirdly specific story. It’s always some expat who supposedly had to relocate overseas in a massive rush, leaving behind their car because they "mysteriously" couldn't take it with them. Then, the hook comes: I'm supposed to wire over 20% of the car's value upfront just to cover shipping, with some vague promise that they'll refund me if the vehicle isn't what I expected...
And here's another one, a bit more "creative" if you can call it that: On some of the cheaper listing sites, you'll see these incredibly poorly written ads for budget cars. Down at the bottom, they claim that if you want any actual details, you have to text a specific code to a premium number, like 66344. Of course, sending that text costs $1.25 or even more. Does anyone know who I should report these scams to, or how I can even track down who actually owns those premium numbers?

Ashley Anderson said:So, I’ve been scrolling through car listings on Craigslist lately, and I keep running into this same weirdly specific story. It’s always some expat who supposedly had to relocate overseas in a massive rush, leaving behind their car because they "mysteriously" couldn't take it with them. Then, the hook comes: I'm supposed to wire over 20% of the car's value upfront just to cover shipping, with some vague promise that they'll refund me if the vehicle isn't what I expected...
And here's another one, a bit more "creative" if you can call it that: On some of the cheaper listing sites, you'll see these incredibly poorly written ads for budget cars. Down at the bottom, they claim that if you want any actual details, you have to text a specific code to a premium number, like 66344. Of course, sending that text costs $1.25 or even more. Does anyone know who I should report these scams to, or how I can even track down who actually owns those premium numbers?

It's funny, really. People are basically just ripping off Nigerian Prince scams, though maybe they're making them slightly more believable than the originals. 🙂

Ashley Anderson said:So, I’ve been scrolling through car listings on Craigslist lately, and I keep running into this same weirdly specific story. It’s always some expat who supposedly had to relocate overseas in a massive rush, leaving behind their car because they "mysteriously" couldn't take it with them. Then, the hook comes: I'm supposed to wire over 20% of the car's value upfront just to cover shipping, with some vague promise that they'll refund me if the vehicle isn't what I expected...
And here's another one, a bit more "creative" if you can call it that: On some of the cheaper listing sites, you'll see these incredibly poorly written ads for budget cars. Down at the bottom, they claim that if you want any actual details, you have to text a specific code to a premium number, like 66344. Of course, sending that text costs $1.25 or even more. Does anyone know who I should report these scams to, or how I can even track down who actually owns those premium numbers?

I suppose you could try asking Verizon, but in my experience, most of those lines are leased out by middlemen—basically, one big company rents out a block of numbers and then resells access to individual scammers. I doubt you'll ever get a real name if you try to dig into it yourself.

As for reporting them? Probably just your local police precinct...

crimsonjackal16 said:Hey there,

So, a buddy and I were looking to grab some web hosting from this company operating out of the old North American territories.
My friend—who’s based over in Mexico—went ahead and paid the bill. As soon as the money cleared, the whole thing went dark. They just stopped responding and basically vanished into thin air. And get this—we aren't even the only ones they've pulled this stunt on.

Since I’m the one who actually registered the hosting under my own name, and their site claims they have a headquarters right here in Washington, D.C. (they apparently have little satellite offices in every country they touch), I'm wondering if U.S. law actually gives me any leverage here. Is there anything I can actually do from my end, or am I stuck watching my friend in Mexico deal with the fallout alone?

Thanks.

Best,

Man, that's a nasty situation. I was actually reading through the Better Business Bureau reports recently about people getting scammed via online ads—companies list one specific address, but when folks actually show up there, they find some 70-year-old guy who basically tells them, "You're not the first people to come by here threatening me." Basically, they lie about everything.

As for the hosting itself, I'd say just stick to an international provider.
http://www.1dollar-webhosting.com/
or if you want something domestic, try
GoDaddy

Not trying to start a whole new thread here.

I guess I’m a bit behind the times in this modern era where the media just manufactures "influencers"—basically just trashy people selling their bodies—and it's wrecking society because now you're forced to be 😵

Sites like BuzzFeed are the worst offenders. You used to actually find decent articles, but now it's 80% pure garbage.

If I built a Chrome extension that filters out all that junk content based on specific keywords, would that be illegal? 😁