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The Sacramento, CA Online Community | Sacramento, CA Discussion | Sacramento Discussion | Topic: <AREA>Singles.com Signs		 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. « previous next »

 
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Author Topic: <AREA>Singles.com Signs  (Read 8230 times)
Eric
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« on: April 25, 2007, 10:03:12 AM »
How many of you have noticed all the sign spam around town for the singles sites like "ArdenSingles .com" and "FairOaksSingles .com" etc? This has been going on for quite a while now & I recall when I first saw them, I looked up the owner's info. It turns out that all these "<AREA>Singles.com" sites are owned by someone in India...


WHOIS Info for ArdenSingles.com:

Quote
Registration Service Provided By: INDIATIMESDOMAINSHOP
Contact: +91.4187220

Domain Name: ARDENSINGLES.COM

Registrant:
  IMAT Group
  R. Gupta    imatsolutions@gmail.com
  18, Vishranti Enclave
  Vasna Road
  Baroda
  Gujarat,390015
  IN
  Tel. +91.2652972695

Creation Date: 14-Jan-2006
Expiration Date: 14-Jan-2008

Domain servers in listed order:
  ns1.theplanet.com
  ns2.theplanet.com


Administrative Contact:
  IMAT Group
  R. Gupta    imatsolutions@gmail.com
  18, Vishranti Enclave
  Vasna Road
  Baroda
  Gujarat,390015
  IN
  Tel. +91.2652972695

Technical Contact:
  IMAT Group
  R. Gupta    imatsolutions@gmail.com
  18, Vishranti Enclave
  Vasna Road
  Baroda
  Gujarat,390015
  IN
  Tel. +91.2652972695

Billing Contact:
  IMAT Group
  R. Gupta    imatsolutions@gmail.com
  18, Vishranti Enclave
  Vasna Road
  Baroda
  Gujarat,390015
  IN
  Tel. +91.2652972695

Status:ACTIVE

Map for Baroda, Gurjarat, India



So, I've started doing a little digging and will post here what I find... It appears that these sites are intended to harvest personal information in addition to email addresses.

Nameservers: ThePlanet.com (Abuse Info | abuse@theplanet.com)
IP Location:      United States  - Texas - Dallas - Theplanet.com Internet Services Inc
IP Address:      69.41.228.67

Other sites w/ same IP Address



There is a lot more info here.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2007, 10:28:45 AM by Eric » Logged
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Eric
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« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2007, 10:13:26 AM »
Digg this topic here - get the word out!
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« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2007, 10:18:57 AM »
I'd also like to find out who is putting up the signs. I think it's obvious that the owner, in India, is contracting the work out, possibly to students. If anyone here knows how they're hiring the people actually putting up the signs, this could, at the very least, take care of the problem on a city-by-city basis.

Whoever is putting the signs up in the Sacramento area obviously doesn't know the area very well, or doesn't care about their job. I've seen signs for "FairOaksSingles .com" on Howe Ave. and some for "CarmichaelSingles .com" in Citrus Heights... At least take pride in your work! Tongue
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« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2007, 10:22:45 AM »
Also, if these are for an affiliate program, can anyone determine which one & possibly provide an affiliate ID? I can't check from here (damn firewall)...
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« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2007, 10:44:13 AM »
A little more reading and searching reveals that a company named IMAT Solutions may be behind this (note the email address in the whois info - imatsolutions@gmail.com)

A WHOIS search on "imatsolutions.com" shows the same registration and hosting information I posted above... in India... However, a post on the CAUSS site I linked to above reveals this info:

Quote
A year ago, Baltimore County CE "invited" Together Dating Service of Glen Burnie, MD into a hearing. To avoid a fine, they had to reveal that putting up the signs was the responsibility of IMAT Solutions of Dallas and the person responsible was Jason Breakey of 5220 Spring Valley Rd, Suite 195, Dallas. So it doesn't matter that the url on the sign is registered to IMAT of India. As far as I can tell, Jason Breakey is still active.

The signs stopped in Baltimore Co for about 8 months (but continued unabated in surrounding counties). Now they are back here. I took 75 to the dump last Monday and already have another pile. I will try to get CE to continue prosecution.

Maybe this problem needs a little pressure on the individual responsible. The last address/phone number I can find for him is 15610 Witt Pl, Addision, 972-503-6830. He's 38 and married Zulma Rivera in 1999. Can anyone find more recent info?

I don't see anything on imatsolutions.com that shows anything other than the contact info in India. However, it looks like they're just a marketing firm, possibly hired by someone here in the US to farm out the "sign spamming" to locals... Though, since they're the only ones mentioned in the WHOIS info, it looks like they own the sites, so who knows...

On another note, while searching for sites mentioning "imatsolutions.com" I found another thread about the street sign spam here that seems to back up my thoughts about the co. in India being a "lead vendor."
« Last Edit: April 25, 2007, 10:52:42 AM by Eric » Logged
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« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2007, 11:05:06 AM »
Just a quick post to drop a link to another site that is also in the fight against these "<AREA>Singles.com" sign spammers...
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« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2007, 11:30:37 AM »
In the quote, two posts up, the name Jason Breakey is mentioned... I googled his name and found "TrustedSingles .com" which appears to have been registered through 1&1 and the WHOIS is private. What it does show is that the site is hosted at ThePlanet.com, which you will notice is the same host used IMAT Solutions & the "<AREA>Singles.com" sites.

Quote
domain:             trustedsingles.com
created:             08-Apr-2004
last-changed:          09-Dec-2006
registration-expiration:     08-Apr-2008

nserver:             ns1.theplanet.com 70.86.61.133
nserver:             ns2.theplanet.com 70.86.61.135

status:             CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED

registrant-firstname:      Oneandone
registrant-lastname:       Private Registration
registrant-organization:     1&1 Internet, Inc. - http://1and1.com/contact
registrant-street1:       701 Lee Road, Suite 300
registrant-street2:       ATTN: trustedsingles.com
registrant-pcode:        19087
registrant-state:        PA
registrant-city:         Chesterbrook
registrant-ccode:        US
registrant-phone:        +1.8772064254
registrant-email:        proxy524477@1and1-private-registration.com

admin-c-firstname:        Oneandone
admin-c-lastname:        Private Registration
admin-c-organization:      1&1 Internet, Inc. - http://1and1.com/contact
admin-c-street1:         701 Lee Road, Suite 300
admin-c-street2:         ATTN: trustedsingles.com
admin-c-pcode:          19087
admin-c-state:          PA
admin-c-city:          Chesterbrook
admin-c-ccode:          US
admin-c-phone:          +1.8772064254
admin-c-email:          proxy524477@1and1-private-registration.com

tech-c-firstname:        Oneandone
tech-c-lastname:         Private Registration
tech-c-organization:       1&1 Internet, Inc. - http://1and1.com/contact
tech-c-street1:         701 Lee Road, Suite 300
tech-c-street2:         ATTN: trustedsingles.com
tech-c-pcode:          19087
tech-c-state:          PA
tech-c-city:           Chesterbrook
tech-c-ccode:          US
tech-c-phone:          +1.8772064254
tech-c-email:          proxy524477@1and1-private-registration.com

bill-c-firstname:        Oneandone
bill-c-lastname:         Private Registration
bill-c-organization:       1&1 Internet, Inc. - http://1and1.com/contact
bill-c-street1:         701 Lee Road, Suite 300
bill-c-street2:         ATTN: trustedsingles.com
bill-c-pcode:          19087
bill-c-state:          PA
bill-c-city:           Chesterbrook
bill-c-ccode:          US
bill-c-phone:          +1.8772064254
bill-c-email:          proxy524477@1and1-private-registration.com

The ThePlanet.com connection may just be a coincidence, but I don't buy that... same host, same city as the host and same types of sites.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2007, 11:37:53 AM by Eric » Logged
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« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2007, 11:44:08 AM »
Oh, the irony... The site I just posted about, "TrustedSingles .com" is owned by Jason Breakey. The same Jason Breakey who used to own "ChristianSingles .com" and was forced to shut down in 2004 after found to have lied about it being a Christian site. There were other issues, including an employee whose check bounced, members paying more than others, service that went downhill, etc...
More here
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« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2007, 04:44:20 PM »
In one of the links I posted previously, there was a mention of Great Expectations, the personals service... I haven't seen anything connecting the local "<AREA>Singles.com" sites to Great Expectations directly, but I did find something... I searched for the phrase, "without cost or obligation to me, please review" from "ArdenSingles .com" and got a list of sites w/ the same wording. Right at the top of the list is "SandDiegoSingles .com" w/ the same phrase & the link goes to this page: "Great_Expectations.aspx"  naughty

So, there's a tie to Great Expectations. I searched Google to see if Great Expectations has an affiliate program and, yes, they do (link). Of course, my firewall keeps me from looking into this further from here, so I'll have to check it out later.

Lastly... and I'm not the least bit surprised... "SanDiegoSingles .com" is registered to the same IMAT Solutions in India, but I see a new name: Florence Parmar. A search for "Florence Parmar" finds this site - scroll down to the "Fly-by-night Singles Websites" post of September 5, 2006.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2007, 04:51:58 PM by Eric » Logged
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« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2007, 06:02:38 PM »
I checked out the Great Expectations page on the San Diego site and it's essentially the same page as the main site, but w/ a different design (same form). So, I took the page name and put it after the Arden Singles and Carmichael Singles sites and, sure enough, the pages exist. However, the header image reads, "Detroit's Premier personal introduction service."

Here's the email address for the Great Expectations Affiliate Manager:
affiliates@great-expectations.com

Here's a list of locations that Great Expectations serves:
http://www.ge-dating.com/locations.aspx

I wonder if that list corresponds with the areas the sign spamming is taking place...
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« Reply #10 on: April 25, 2007, 06:16:35 PM »
Now, here is something interesting and I'm surprised I haven't seen it on any of the other sites looking into this matter... I must have simply overlooked it...

Jason Breakey owns TrustedSingles.com. Searching for information regarding both, leads you to press releases regarding his new site, StarbuckSingles.com. If you go to StarbuckSingles.com, the site is identical to imatsolutions.com.

Here is the WHOIS info for StarbuckSingles.com:
Quote
Registrant:
  StarbuckSingles
  1980 Bangalore Drive
  Bangalore, Bangalore 389970
  IN

  Domain Name: STARBUCKSINGLES.COM

  Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
   StarbuckSingles
   Cindy Craw
   1980 Bangalore Drive
   Bangalore, Bangalore 389970
   IN
   +1-345-778-8899
   rahul_cool_22_00@yahoo.com

  Domain created on 23-Jul-2003
  Domain expires on 23-Jul-2007
  Last updated on 08-Apr-2006

  Domain servers in listed order:

   NS1.THEPLANET.COM
   NS2.THEPLANET.COM

Notice that, while it's a different address, in a different city, it's registered to someone in India and it's using ThePlanet.com for hosting.
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« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2007, 01:51:00 PM »
LOL That's quite a bit of work you put into this!! and its funny too - I saw a fairoakssingles sign today on fair oaks blvd but it was over by sac state not in fair oaks!! I should have taken a pic with my phone! If Im in the area again I will   detective
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Eric
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« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2007, 01:57:43 PM »
hehe, it didn't take that long... All of the pieces are connected, but I'm still basically at square one. We can't do anything if the person behind this is really in India.
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« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2007, 02:23:00 PM »
Just followed this thread from the Ziosys story to give some feedback.  I remember these showing up in the SF Bay Area around January 2006.  They were all over the on and off ramps for the 101 Freeway between Millbrae and Palo Alto. 

Some of the domains were registered to an individual in Dallas and some to India.  All of them pointed at the same servers.

I pulled up the signs that I saw on my way to work if they were somewhere that I could safely park and remove them.  There were some on the side of the freeway that I would not stop to get.  Caltrans removed those after a few days.  After 3-4 months of this, it just stopped.

Now in the last 3 months they have started to pop up again in Millbrae and Palo Alto.  I even saw some in Modesto last month.

BBB website has some great complaints from people that were charged for monthly fees even after they quit the service.  I'll try to dig up the links.
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« Reply #14 on: April 26, 2007, 02:28:49 PM »
Cool, thanks! ...and welcome to the site! Big Grin

One of the sites I linked to in the OP introduced me to "sharking" ...I've always seen the "Work From Home" signs that were cut or broken in half & didn't really put much thought into it. Well, that's "sharking" and there's a ton of people around who do this, or flat out remove the signs. Apparently "sharking" sets an example and is more discouraging, but to me, it's still neighborhood pollution. I'd rather the signs not be there at all, but if "sharking" gets us there, more power to 'em Smiley
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