FYI From: TVick65536@aol.com This is forwarded with permission. Please share with other USGenWeb Project lists. Tina Vickery SC WIGenWeb Project _______ Subj: [WIGEN-L] Family Discovery jumps to Prodigy Date: 3/9/01 1:04:09 PM Eastern Standard Time From: zorblitz@mindspring.com (zorblitz) Reply-to: WIGEN-L@rootsweb.com To: WIGEN-L@rootsweb.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 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. From: "Derick S. Hartshorn" <derickh@charter.net> This has been going on for nearly six months. There is a web page dedicated to reporting details about this operation. Gene Olson has taken it upon himself to try and shut them dowm. See: http://www.compuright.net/familydiscovery/ ===== =========================== MAK = "Mar sea ah Ann Keel" MAKs Sites http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiwood/links/MAK.html =========================== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - Buy the things you want at great prices. http://auctions.yahoo.com/