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Courier firm (errandex.net) listed as fake website?
Posted by Afam on September 19, 2009, 7:16 pm
Viewed 58 times
Just saw a fake sites database company listing the website of Errandex as a fake website for reasons that I am yet to understand or come to terms with.
I just sent the following message to the owners of the website where the listing was seen.
The website address is http://db.aa419.org/fakebanksview.php?key=38983
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Hi,
I am the CTO at Just Web Services, a web development company in Nigeria that provides custom software development, domain name registration for legitimate clients and database driven applications for individuals and businesses.
While searching the web I came across the following link http://db.aa419.org/fakebanksview.php?key=38983 and read about the categorical statement as regards the owner of the website being a fake website.
Apart from the fact that my company registered the domain name in question I am aware that errandex.net is a well known courier company in Lagos, Nigeria with branches across Nigeria.
I have been contacted in the recent past about malware on the website by the developer of that website but since I neither developed nor hosted the website I told him he needed to protect the contents of the website since he was being paid to manage the website.
To avoid any assumptions that may be wrong I have the following questions.
1. Was this website in question involved in any fraudulent activity that could be backed up with any documents or correspondences?
2. If the response is in the positive, was there any attempt to contact the owner of the website just to be certain that someone may not have criminally accessed or used any of the website's identity to carry out any fraudulent activity?
While awaiting the response of these questions I will do the following.
1. I will contact the web developer who I believe would contact the owner of the website to take appropriate actions
2. I will post this on my personal blog www.afamnnaji.com, Nigeria related online discussion forums will probably send same to all the online newspapers in Nigeria just to see that such listing would be given the maximum exposure it deserves with the attendant consequences that might follow if this is just a careless and reckless mistake.
So, while all well meaning internet users would frown at fake websites and do all they can to expose them I believe that we owe ourselves the duty to ensure that innocent businesses or individuals are not labelled as fake or fraudulent just because we fail to carry out any reasonable investigation.
A snapshot of the page in question will be made and kept for future reference.
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Comments
Showing 1 to 1 of 1
Afam, 2009-09-27 11:45:07
Just an update. The matter was resolved without any problems as the website was removed from the company's database.
The email correspondence starting with the last email.
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Hi Afam
You are correct, the email came from a scam domain that has already been suspended.
I fully understand your position. I live in South Africa and many of our hosters register domains on behalf of clients. This appears to be normal in Africa but not common elsewhere. The danger with doing this is that the hoster's name appears as the registrant and in terms of the ICANN agreement the person named as registrant is responsible for all the actions of the domain.
I will leave it to you to follow up with the website designer and owner to sort out what is going on. In the meantime I have have removed the DB entry from our database. I you or we find any further evidence of abuse then it can be reinstated.
I did a search of our forums and database (after the deletion) and your record as a hoster is absolutely clear. You are to be congratulated.
I did find this site http://errand.awardspace.com. Any idea if it is legitimate?
Regards
Lance
On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 8:16 PM, Afam Nnaji
Hi Lance,
Thanks for your email and the explanation.
I agree that the email you referenced is pure scam but we must understand the following
1. The email address used don't seem to be a legitimate email address of a bank in Nigeria, it seems to be a fake domain that is
different from the genuine email address.
2. The web developer had informed me of the google warning which I believe must have been as a result of bad programming or bug that
someone took advantage of which I decided not to get involved considering the fact that the web developer paid me for the registration
of the domain name (I handle domain name registration for his company's clients) and not for the web hosting or developing of the
website.
3. I am only getting involved because a search for my name on an issue brought up the listing on your website and as such I needed to
ensure that neither my name nor that of my business is associated with anything remotely related to scam considering the fact that I
have zero tolerance for scam and had severally turned down requests from scammers to setup fake websites and I have been writing for
years on how to tackle these scam emails in Nigeria and once tried to develop a software for the main agency responsible for fighting
online scam in Nigeria - EFCC.
4. I have contacted the web developer responsible for the website and I am sure he must have contacted the company itself to help
figure out what went wrong.
So, thanks for your effort in helping to fight scam but I implore you to go the extra mile to confirm fears or concerns so as to rule
out avoidable mistakes especially when such mistakes may be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Many thanks for your time.
Best regards,
Afam Nnaji
Just Web Services
Office: No 89 Allen Avenue, 2nd Floor, Ikeja, Lagos
Office Tel: 234-1-7207586
Mobile: 234-(0)802 351 9492, 234-(0)8067328968
Personal Website: http://www.afamnnaji.com
Business Websites:
http://www.justwebservices.com
http://www.justalternativepower.com
YIM: nnajiafam
On Sun 20/09/09 18:55 , Lance Hull lancehull@gmail.com sent:
> Hi
>
> I have been asked to respond to your email to aa419.org [1] regarding
> our database entry for errandex.net [2].
> The last thing we want to do is to list a legitimate domain and we
> normally take a lot of care before the domain is entered in the DB.
>
> The body of an email (attached below) was submitted as a scam. In the
> email it asks the intended victim to go to the tracking page of
> errandex.net [3] and enter 088250 as the tracking number.
> Firstly, if you go to http://errandex.net [4] via Firefox, Google has
> this warning "This web site at errandex.net [5] has been reported as
> an attack site and has been blocked based on your security
> preferences.". Going to this page http://errandex.net/services.html
> [6] Avast! warns of a Trojan. The link to tracking is only
> available on the home page. This leads to
> http://www.errandex.net/tracking.html [7] which in turn goes to
> http://www.errlos.wqxs.com/common/track_trace.php [8]. Entering 088250
> as the HAWB shows 2 entries for the tracking details.
> There is almost no detail on the tracking page which is most unusual.
> Added to this, the tracking page is on a different shared domain.
>
> I am happy to remove the DB entry but we need some explanation on
> what is happening with the Google warning and the trojan. Also what is
> the explanation for the tracking number in the scammers email?
> Many thanks for helping us to keep the database accurate.
>
> Lance Hull
> Moderator - www.aa419.org [9]
> From: Mr James Bolaji (now dead)
> Subject: Tracking Information
> To:
> Date: Monday, February 2, 2009, 11:42 AM
>
> Attention: xxxx,
>
> I am Mr. James Bolaji, Managing Director, Oceanic Bank International
> Plc (Lagos-Nigeria)
> Reference File No: OBIP/LS/1619-09, Amount: US$315,000,00.
>
> You are notified that we have today the 2nd of February 2009 make the
> shipment of your ATM CARD to your house address.
>
> The package was supposed to be sent to you through Fedex Express but
> Fedex requested for an Insurance Coverage Certificate. The
> Insurance coverage certificate is $27,100. So we decided to send it
> to you via Errand Express which is even more secured like
> Fedex and was registered under the Nigeria Corporation Affairs in the
> year 2001 after the 911 incident.
> Here is the tracking number:
>
> 088250
> GO TO www.errandex.net [12]
> CLICK ON ENTER SITE AND YOU WILL SEE track & trace shipment, click on
> it and a page will pop up written Enter HAWB number(s) then
> you click check status.
>
> You are adviced to notifu us as soon as you confirm receipt of the
> ATM CARD.
>
> Yours in service,
>
> Mr. James Bolaji
> Managing Director,
> Debt Management Office,
> Oceanic Bank International PLC
> Address:Plot 270 Ozumba Mbadiwe,
> Victoria Island, Lagos.
> Telephone/Fax: +234-7027098343
> customerservice @oceanicbankintplc.com [13] (now dead)
> (now dead)
> jamesbolaji@oceanic bankintplc.com [15] (now dead)
>
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