In the last few days I received a number of emails from the same sender, claiming to offer Extended Auto Warranty. There are three problems with this email that are obvious;
- It is spam ( I received 5 in the last two days)
- The online form on the web site is unsecure, meaning your information can be seen by anyone
- Senders email domain is different from the actual web sites domain
In addition to these two issues, the web site was created on May 5, 2010 and expires on May 5, 2011. Most legitimate online businesses would register a domain well beyond just one year. This raised another red flag. The domain owner information is unknown as this is a private registration and makes me feel as if they have something to hide.
Example Email
From: gaunte.ambler@viitosnet.com (different domain from the actual web address)
To: anyone and everyone
When you visit a web site with an online form, it’s important that the page or form be secured. You can tell this by locating the lock in the lower right of your browser or the page will have (https) instead of the standard unsecure (http) in the web address field. If you click on the lock you can view the sites certificate, but this web site doesn’t have a certificate.
What I found most amusing when reading the web sites privacy policy;
Whether you are a current or potential auto-protectionplans customer, your information and needs are handled professionally, and above all, ethically. If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy, or auto-protectionplans, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@auto-protectionplans.com
To them ethical means: spamming people who have never opted in to any of their services.
I suspect that this site could be a phishing site looking to harvest user information to be sold or used for criminal activity.
Shame on you auto-protectionplans.com!
Wow, places like this give the company I work for a black eye! I work for an extended warranty company and we get calls from people all day that tell us how they have been scammed. It makes my job that much harder.
Teasa,
Long time since you been in this neck of the woods. I know that companies like this leave a stain on those who are legit and are ethical. I wouldn’t worry about a bad apple here and there. Hope you are doing well!
There are many spammers around the globe and they use different tricks to deceive us. But can anyone tell me where can we make complaints against them.
oh no.. Another spam round the corner :(
I hate spam and the spammers who create these kind of email, they try to hack our confidential details.
Thanks for making us aware of it.
Unfortunately security researches say that spam will increase in 2011. There seems like there’s no end in sight.
Now a days every email holder gets spam emails from some companies who are sending messages lie you have won some millions of amount and to claim this, you need to deposit some amount. Can’t we stop this?
I have received these emails. Always have deleted them.
Always delete when in doubt. :)
Very suspicious I always delete then block them!
Graco,
Good move and I would also share this with friends and family.
trust no E-mails like this!
Thank you for this very informative post!
This is great to bring to peoples attention. Extended auto warranties, just like all products, need to be purchased from a trust worthy and reliable site. It looks like in this case they were most likely using the form to capture leads to sell to companies and individuals.
Never give out auto warranty information over the phone! You have to purchase from a site that is reliable and trustworthy, and most of them won’t be sending e-mails or calling you like this.