It seems that someone going by the name of Caleb Irving is trying to sign up for advertising and affiliate programs on behalf of the-gadgeteer.com.
Here’s the story…
Several weeks ago I received an email from an ad company double checking an application because the applicant’s email address didn’t
appear to be valid when they went to my website and noticed my real email address didn’t match. This Caleb person used all my info
(address, phone number, web url) but used
ju***@st***********.com
as their contact email address. I told them I had not signed up for
their service, didn’t know who the heck Caleb Irving was and to delete the application. I thought it was odd, looked up the domain strietelmeier.com and saw it wasn’t even in use and promptly forgot about it. But it doesn’t end there…
Then a few days ago I get another phone call from another company asking for a Caleb Irving. Same info, etc.
And yesterday, an envelope comes in the US mail addressed to Caleb Irving from an affiliate company in the United Kingdom called
PrimeQ. They are thanking Caleb for signing up with them. This prompted me to go check the strietelmeier.com domain name again
and I found that it was purchased a few hours earlier by a company called Metapredict.com. I think that’s just a domain name parking
company, but it’s strange that they bought that particular domain… Might just be a coincidence since I recently bought juliestrietelmeier.com.
The only thing I have to go on is that the first application that was turned down actually recorded the IP address that the person was using when they
posted it. By doing an IP lookup, I at least know where they originate from. I also have a Tax ID number that they used in the application.
Has anyone else ever had anything like this happen to them?
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Julie,
It appears to be a very clear case of identity theft. You should contact the police as soon as possible before more harm is done. Don’t take this too lightly.
This is very common and becoming the crime of choice for easy money. Please do contact the police ASAP. If you live in a small city, the police may not have an officer knowledgeable in identity theft so move on to the State Police or State Attorney General. Also, carefully check your bank account, credit cards, debit cards and get a copy of your credit reports from all three credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Carefully check your credit reports for unauthorized inquiries, changes of address and any other irregularities. Report everything immediately.
I assume the scam is that they sign up for ad accounts using your info (since it’s a well-known site), then specify their own details for receiving payment (probably via Paypal) and then put the ad code on their spammy sites that would never have qualified for advertising themselves.
Despicable.
I just received an email from the UK company and it appears that “Caleb Irving” used the same IP address to submit the application there as “he” did the other places…
Back when extremesims.com did reviews, and was not a gaming clan, I had people try that stunt quite often. I’d chase it down ASAP, as you don’t want someone to besmirch your good name.
Nothing unusual is showing up in my credit reports. I’ve put a monitor on all of them though to be safe.
I’ve also sent an email to the abuse department of company I traced back from the IP address.
We’ll see what happens.
Makes you want to reach through the internet and choke the worthless life out of these cretins…
Strangling might be a little harsh ;o)
So far so good, no new fun from “Caleb”.
Hi Julie, Info on this page …
http://pocketseo.com/domains/7
… may partially explain what happened to you with regard to your initial choice of a domain name being snagged by Metapredict.com
Just yesterday I was on the phone with GoDaddy, I was registering a new domain name. It was available and I registered it … but the GoDaddy support person actually typed an additional letter in my chosen domain name. It wasn’t a misspelling, he actually added a “Q” smack in the middle of the name. I didn’t check the confirmation letter that came to me from GoDaddy ’cause it was already 2:20 AM and I was hitting the sack. Today, when I saw that GoDaddy had made a “typo”, I called them to fix it and someone had since snagged my domain name. It’s a domain name that no one would want, except me. The registrars who grabbed the name was Metapredict.com … which is also Ultrarpm.com
Have a look at that link. Amazing that those crooks can remain operational.
I don’t think strangling is harsh enough.
Take care!
gr8pop:
Very interesting! I agree that they are crooks, just waiting for someone to trip up so that they can grab a name you want. :o(