Please read, Old Genealogy Scam, Judy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gail Jorgensen" <gailjorgensen@cox.net> To: <LDS-LESSONS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 7:16 AM Subject: [LDS-LESSONS] FW: [SCHMIDT-L] New Year, Genealogy - Old Scam --important! > Received this on another list, thought it was important enough to pass along. > > Gail Jorgensen > California > > -----Original Message----- > From: HMWEBBER@aol.com [mailto:HMWEBBER@aol.com] > Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 4:59 AM > To: SCHMIDT-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SCHMIDT-L] New Year, Old Scam -- important! > > I thought this might interest some people since we all are so willing to > grab any information we can to help us in our quest. > > Nancy M. Dickinson > Fayette County Rootsweb Webmaster > http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohfayett > > One of the top stories in 2003 in this newsletter was the arrest of Elias > Abodeely, a 23-year-old in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who ran a string of pseudo > genealogy sites. His arrest didn't seem to deter him: 2004 has started > off with a rash of the same advertising. > > For those who missed it, let's briefly recap this scam. The sites > involved included GenSeeker.com, GenSeekers.com, > genealogydevelopments.com, familydiscovery.com, genealogyfinders.net, > genlocator.com, genealogy-express.com, and probably many others. Abodeely > would send out spam mail from one site, then collect money until the > complaints mounted, and his site eventually would be shut down by the > hosting service. A week or two later he would appear with a new name and > a new site on a different hosting service conducting essentially the same > business. To access his sites, the hapless buyer paid $40 to $60 (the > exact amount varied from time to time). None of these sites contained any > genealogy information; they simply had pointers to free sites where > information could be found. In other words, the buyer paid $40 to $60 to > access something that was already available free of charge. > > Abodeely eventually ran into lots of legal difficulties. On August 1, > 2003, he was arrested in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on felony charges of > first-degree theft, money laundering, and ongoing criminal activity. He > was released later that day, and a court appearance on those charges > still has not yet been scheduled. > > You can read about Abodeely's arrest in my newsletter at: > http://www.eogn.com/archives/news0331.htm, in the Des Moines register at > http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788998/21905604.html and at > http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=elias+abodeely+arr > ested&btnG=Google+Search. > > His arrest did not slow Abodeely very much. A month later he appeared > selling "self-renewing" genealogy CD-ROM disks under the name > GenealogyTechs.com. That site actually was registered to Andrew Abodeely. > I obtained one of these "self-renewing" genealogy CD-ROM disks and wrote > about it in detail in the September 29, 2003 Plus Edition of this > newsletter. GenealogyTechs.com was shut down the day after my article was > published. > > Things have been quiet for the past three months, but on January 2, 2004, > a number of newsletter readers reported receiving some fishy-looking spam > mail messages. In fact, the messages appear to be word-for-word the same > as the old ads for "self-renewing" genealogy CD-ROM disks sent earlier > from GenealogyTechs.com - except that the new ads are coming from > GenealogyTechs.net. That's right: the only difference is the previously > shut down dot-COM is now replaced by a newly-registered dot-NET. > > A quick check of the WHOIS information shows that Genealogytechs.net is > registered to the same address as GenealogyTechs.com: 1013 Agate Street, > Suite B, San Diego, CA 92109, the business address of Andrew Abodeely. > That is also the same address that ships the worthless "self-renewing" > genealogy CD-ROM disks. > > In short, the Abodeelys seem to have reappeared after a three-month > hiatus. Elias Abodeely's earlier arrest for felonies doesn't seem to have > fazed either of the Abodeelys at all. At the time these words are being > written, http://www.genealogytechs.net is up and running and looks almost > identical to the previously shut down http://www.genealogytechs.com. > > It is also interesting to note that the new site is like the old one in > several respects, especially in that it cannot handle credit cards. > Instead, the buyer is suckered into paying by an "e-check" that extracts > money directly from the buyer's checking account with no credit card > involved. Beware! This is one method by which the earlier sites allegedly > extracted money time and again from a buyer's checking accounts! Several > buyers thought they paid once but, after examining their end-of-month > checking account statements, found that they had been charged time and > again without permission. That is one of the actions that led to Elias > Abodeely's arrest. > > Why would a company not offer payment by credit card? That is extremely > rare in the online world. The answer is simple: the owner's credit rating > is so poor that he cannot obtain the merchant account required to be able > to accept credit cards. In this case, he cannot even obtain a PayPal > account, which is easy for mostpeople to obtain. No credit card service > will give a merchant account to someone awaiting trial on charges of > money laundering by using credit cards! Without access to a credit card > merchant account, the Web site owner is forced to resort to online > checks, a risky method for any buyer considering an online purchase. > > Remember that purchases made online with VISA, MasterCard or American > Express are fully insured against fraud by the credit card companies. If > you get "ripped off" by a shady merchant when using a credit card, the > credit card companies will immediately refund all of your money and then > will pursue resolution with the merchant. PayPal transactions are also > fully insured in the same manner. However, if you pay by check, you have > no such protection. That is true both for paper checks as well as for > "e-checks." You receive only whatever insurance your local bank provides. > Sadly, most banks provide no protection at all against fraudulent > purchases made with a check or with a debit card. > > Send a check to a con artist? You lose. > > Any time you see a Web site offering something for sale and not accepting > credit cards, ask yourself, "Why does this merchant not accept credit > cards? Not even via PayPal?" Most of the time, it is because that > merchant has severe financial problems. Then ask yourself if you really > want to do business with such a merchant. > > If you receive a spam mail from GenealogyTechs.net or any > similar-sounding scam, please forward it to the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, > Police Department's Financial Crimes Division at > k.washburn@cedar-rapids.org. I suspect they have an interest in the > "business activities" of this person, who is awaiting a court appearance > after being arrested by that department. Please feel free to also enclose > a copy of this article. You can read more about the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, > Police Department's Financial Crimes Division at > http://www.cedar-rapids.org/police/financial_crimes.asp. > > Please feel free to also forward this article to other genealogists, > newsgroups, mailing lists, and anywhere else you feel is appropriate. > > What Do You Think? Comments and discussion are available on this > newsletter's Discussion Board at: http://www.eogn.com/discussionboard > > Michelle > ==== CUMBERLAND-RIVER Mailing List ==== > America, my friends, is the only country in the world actually founded on > liberty-- the only one. People went to America to be free. -- Margaret Thatcher