Hi everyone, I received the following message that I'm copying and pasting in its entirety to you. Following this will be the "history" of Family Discovery so nobody gets suckered in... > Subject: [WIGEN-L] Family Discovery jumps to Prodigy > Resent-Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2001 10:58:57 -0700 > Resent-From: WIGEN-L@rootsweb.com > Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2001 13:03:01 -0500 > From: zorblitz <zorblitz@mindspring.com> > > True to their history, Family Discovery was getting "heat" for their > business (mis) practices and have now jumped to Prodigy and are also > using PayPal (info from the Belgium list). Their last server is thought > to have dumped them after receiving numerous spam complaints. This > company is thought to go to Gen sites of all kinds and pick the e-mail > address off them to use for spam mailings of the $49.00 "service". In > their spam, they say that another Gen site has suggested that they > contact the recipient, when the original gen site does not even know it > has been used for the addresses. Please consider encoding the e-mail > addresses on sites into the name so they can not be easily picked off > the pages. It means an extra "click" for visitors but the spammer's > programs only "see" a name and no addresses to pick up. Here is the > latest followed by a summery of recent events for anyone who wants a > quick update on the matter. > > It looks like the fictitious Family Discovery genealogy service has > moved to Prodigy now. I contacted Prodigy this morning and they have > asked that anyone who receives solicitation email from > familydiscovery.com to take the following steps immediately: > > 1) Forward the entire Family Discovery message to: abuse@prodigy.com [Colleen's note here: BE SURE TO INCLUDE THE HEADERS. Gene Olson's site, address below, can tell you how to do it.] > > 2) Include the following information (most of which was provided by > Rita from the Oconto County, WI list): > > Please note that the attached message is now being sent through your ISP > service. They have been reported to various State Attorney General's > Office on computer fraud, but it is hard to catch up with them. > Originally the "company" linked to free information sites and placed the > pages in "frames" so that it looked like it was their own work. > Customers paid for that information. The scam, now, is paying for the > free information links and then they "move" frequently and leave their > paid-up customers without services. > > 3) Post these same instructions on any other lists today so that > Prodigy has a better chance of finding the spammers. > > -- > Linda Emerson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ARE YOU NEW AND WONDERING WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE? The subject of Family Discovery is NOT new and yes, they are rip-offs. This is an old subject among those of us who have been doing online genealogy for a while. The storyline changes a little, but the players are all the same, and you should be made aware... Family Discovery links their pages to Rootsweb sites and archive pages, GenWeb sites, and privately owned sites ... sites on which all the information is already FREE. They are doing this without permission and are currently under investigation. Their current promotion ~~ "Only $7.99 for a limited time. If you join during this limited time offer your 2 month membership will be RE-BILLED at this special price EVERY TWO MONTHS and can be cancelled at any time." It sounds pretty reasonable, but don't believe it. Family Discovery will take your money, giving you little to nothing in return, and from their past history will not answer your messages. Gene Olson has an Anti-FamilyDiscovery.com update list from his website. He has been working to close down both sites and is still on their trail. You newbies to online genealogy would be wise to go to his site and read up on this company so you won't be ripped off. Click on the following link and you'll be taken directly to his site: <http://www.compuright.net/familydiscovery>. Gene's new email address is <gene_olson@bigfoot.com>. His toll-free number is 1-877-319-9699. Following is a current list of sites related to Family Discovery in one way or another: genealogyfinders.com genealogyfinders.net aboent.com familydiscovery.com genseekers.com genealogy-express.com If these sites are anything like Family Discovery, hide your wallet, checkbook, credit card, and run! :) Gene has a message board on his site for discussion of Family Discovery and her sister sites. Want to find out more or comment about the subject?... head for his Anti-Family Discovery site at <http://www.compuright.net/familydiscovery/>. He's currently revamping the site, so if you have trouble getting in, you should keep trying or go back later. I hope this finds you all having a super, sunny SUNDAY! :) Colleen