Category: Misleading

Categories
Misleading SPAM

SPAM: Socialgrowthco.com & Trent Farnes

So it seems Trent Farnes (@trentfarnes) has changed domain names as we’ve just received another Instagram collaboration offer, this time with Khloé Kardashian @khloekardashian.

FROM: Trent Farnes trent@socialgrowthco.com
SUBJECT: Khloé (185M+ Followers) + <instagram handle>

Hi <instagram handle>,

We have an exciting Instagram promotion launching on October 27th with Khloé (@khloekardashian) that we thought you may be interested in joining based on your interest in growing your brand.

Khloé will be asking her 185M+ followers on Instagram to follow a group of brands in order to qualify. These brands will be participating in a “group buy” that will allow them to gain exposure and qualified, targeted followers from her audience at a fraction of the cost.

On top of new followers gained, we have a bonus where people enter their name and email address – and you’ll get all of the emails submitted to use for your marketing purposes.

If you’re interested in learning more, let me know and we can set up a time to chat. These spots will go fast!

Thanks,

Trent Farnes
Co-Founder | Socialgrowthco(dot)com
Trent Farnes

1075 S 500 W, Bountiful, UT 84010

The domain records a redacted and we see the office address has changed. The website is branded Social Stance. In a cached version, we saw a different website which said SocialGrowth.co is a trade name of FDS Media Ltd which as best we can tell is a lead generation partner. In other words, scrape and collect your data to give to others.

SocialGrowth.co is a site operated by FDS Media Ltd., San Stefano 23A, fl.2, ap.4, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria

We haven’t seen anything being publicly promoted by celebrities in previously mentioned campaigns, so we suggest this “group buy” and you getting peoples names and addresses is questionable.

Australian Communications and Media Authority
https://www.acma.gov.au/avoid-sending-spam

Categories
Misleading SPAM

SPAM: Just Promotions & choosemylocation.com

We recently received generic SPAM for marketing promotional products from Just Promotions.

FROM: no-reply info@mailjustpromotions.com.au
SUBJECT: Be In Front Of Your Customers
WEBSITE: justpromotions.com.au

The SPAM itself is pretty uninteresting but one thing did seem interesting.

AND ENJOY A “COMPLIMENTARY HOLIDAY” ON US!

Some more good news – for a short time , you’ll also get a COMPLIMENTARY AUSSIE HOLIDAY for two with every $1,000 you spend.

So if you bought $2,000 worth of “promotional products” from us, you’ll get 2 COMPLIMENTARY AUSSIE HOLIDAYS!

Fantastic, right? A complimentary holiday. Sounds too good to be true, right? Let’s look a little closer.

The website linked to about the holiday promotion is choosemylocation.com by a company called The Institute of Wow, who are a Sales Agent for redeemvactions.com

T’s & C’s available at choosemylocation.com

Reading the terms & conditions is pretty interesting. The are a lot of restrictions on how and when you can use your complimentary Aussie holiday, but a few things in particular stick out.

  • You must register and pay a fee before you can login and search for locations and dates.
  • Travel must be completed within 18 months after activation (not booking).
  • You must select a location up front before you can check dates or availability.
  • Booking & Service fees of $33 AUD apply per night. Friday and Saturday nights you will also get charged an additional surcharge.

Suddenly our “Complimentary Aussie Holiday” seems less complimentary and could border on false advertising.

Always read the terms and conditions and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Domain Name: MAILJUSTPROMOTIONS.COM.AU
Registry Domain ID: D407400000107441442-AU
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.auda.org.au
Registrar URL:
Last Modified: 2021-09-04T07:36:04Z
Registrar Name: Web Address Registration Pty Ltd
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
Reseller Name:
Status: serverRenewProhibited https://afilias.com.au/get-au/whois-status-codes#serverRenewProhibited
Status Reason: Not Currently Eligible For Renewal
Registrant Contact ID: R-027992539-SN
Registrant Contact Name: Paul Jones
Tech Contact ID: C-010700367-SN
Tech Contact Name: Paul Jones
Name Server: NS1.MAILJUSTPROMOTIONS.COM.AU
Name Server IP: 139.99.170.168
Name Server: NS2.MAILJUSTPROMOTIONS.COM.AU
Name Server IP: 139.99.170.168
DNSSEC: unsigned
Registrant: JONES, PAUL LESLIE
Registrant ID: ABN 75057050703
Eligibility Type: Sole Trader





Australian Communications and Media Authority
https://www.acma.gov.au/avoid-sending-spam


		


	


	

		
	


	






	



	


		
			

				
					Categories				
				

					Grey Area Misleading SPAM				

			


			
SMS SPAM: United Australia Party UAP

		


			

		


		
	





	


		


			

Receiving unsolicited political SMS SPAM promoting political information. 





Questionable Health and Political claims should always be fact checked.





They come from a name not a number so they can’t be outright blocked although most mobile platforms still allow you to mark them as SPAM.





You should NEVER click on links in SMS messages from people you don’t trust or are not expecting messages from, especially if it comes from word based numbers. They can easily be impersonated.





Political SMS is allowed in Australia but it must contain contact information. Providing links to different websites is an interesting interpretation of that rule.







		


	


	

		
		


			

		


		
	


	






	



	


		
			

				
					Categories				
				

					Misleading SPAM				

			


			
SPAM: Pulse.qa

		


			

		


		
	





	


		


			

Unsolicited email from Holly at Pulse.qa who claim to be “the largest IT community across the globe”





We’ve never heard of Pulse.qa and looking at the website they seem to be a marketing insights company rather than an IT Community.















FROM: Holly holly@pulse.qa; (Holly via bounce.automizy.com)
SUBJECT: Your IT Community needs YOU!










Hi <name>,
Hope you’re doing good.
Holly this side from Pulse .
While doing my research, I found your work and it amazes me how it aligns with our community’s line of thought. Would like to invite you to become a part of the largest IT community across the globe for your valuable insights.
We help executives like you, drive better decisions by community engagement with CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs learning from each other via Q&As, polls, surveys, AMAs, blogs, and products. All the community members who share their insights get rewarded with Pulse points that can be redeemed.
Pulse:  <bit.ly link to https://www.pulse.qa>
Feel free to reach out to me, if you have any doubts.
Thanks and Regards
Team Pulse
Unsubscribe





The domain lookup presents a very incomplete WHOIS record





Domain Name: pulse.qa
Last Modified: 24-Aug-2020 19:28:14 UTC
Registrar Name: MARCARIA.COM
Status: ok
Name Server: ns-908.awsdns-49.net
Name Server: ns-1328.awsdns-38.org
Name Server: ns-68.awsdns-08.com





They have an Android app with mixed reviews of people complaining they don’t get points they are promised to earn.





Pulse Q&A – Apps on Google Play


		


	


	

		
	


	






	



	


		
			

				
					Categories				
				

					Blog Misleading				

			


			
MISLEADING: Microsoft Azure breach left thousands of customer records exposed

		


			

		


		
	





	


		


			

This Techradar headline by Mayank Sharma is sensational and misleading.





There was in fact no breach of Microsoft Azure, but rather a breach of a customers unsecured data blob.










For the full well written story, read The Register article and forget about Techradar.





The last paragraph is also a corker.





This is just one of the latest instances of data leaks through Microsoft’s Azure blob storage. While the burden of this exposure lies primarily with Probase, there’s also the fact that Microsoft Azure allows careless developers to create such unsecured data silos.





Huh? Amazon, Google, Microsoft, in fact all cloud platforms give their customers lots of warning about insecure configuration and the onus is on the customer to configure their services in a sensible and secure fashion. It’s like renting a storage shed and choosing to leave the roller door unlocked.





It’s not the first time we’ve seen poorly written or inaccurate content on Techradar. Perhaps they should leave these articles to The Register.





Their site is also a perfect example of what is wrong with websites at the moment with way too much in your face advertising and not enough quality content to justify it.