ATTN: Mike [Best buy, 1500 minutes a month to any network?]

Mike wrote:
> Hi. Brian,
>
> There are some real good deal with the New T-Mobile Relax 75 package, giving
> you 1200 minutes anytime any network plus 200 text messages for 12 months
> starting from as little as only £19.99 per month @
> http://www.ukmobiledeals.co.uk
>

Mike,

Without wishing to pass judgement one way or the other on the merits of
the site linked to above I would strongly suggest that the owner of said
site takes a good long hard look at the .com domain and where it diverts to.

Interesting facts about this particular situation:

(1) The site used to receive the diverted traffic is www.mobdeal.com
(2) This is ostensibly a Mobiles4Everyone white label affiliate site
(2) This site is registered to "Mr Vowles"
(3) Only a postcode is provided in the domain records: LE3 6YJ
(4) This postcode is fictitious. (Multimap does not recognise it and
192.com curiously finds plenty of properties in the vicinity, but no
properties that actually have this postcode)

(5) www.mobiles4everyone.com is registered to Darren Ithell
(6) The company cited in the M4E domain records is Energy4Everyone
(7) Energy4Everyone is cited as the registrant on the following domain
records (among many others - this is by no means an exhaustive list):
* 20squid-mobile.co.uk
* mobilesearchonline.co.uk
* contractmobiles-4u.co.uk
(8) For every .co.uk domain listed in (7), a .com domain registration
also exists
(9) In every case, the registrant of the .com domain has used Whois
Guard to mask their identity
(10) In every case, the .com domain redirects to www.mobdeal.com

Does anyone see a pattern forming yet? If not, let me draw a simple
diagram for you (viewable in fixed width font). For <insert site here>
simply insert any of the domains listed in (7) above:


Mobiles4Everyone <--- [is an affiliate of] <------ mobdeal.com
^ ^
^ ^
| |
| |
[is cited in the domain records for] [diverts to]
^ ^
^ ^
| |.com
| .co.uk |
Energy4Everyone <----- [is registered to] <------- <insert site here>


Maybe Andy_Checker (a very close associate of Darren Ithell) can
enlighten us with an explanation for the above apparently incestuous
relationship between Mobiles4Everyone and one of its white label
affiliates which is involved in misdirecting traffic intended for other
mobile related sites? I'm sure that the regulars of uk.telecom.mobile
would be interested to know.

Evidence of association between Andy_Checker & Darren Ithell:
http://www.northtynesidetoday.co.uk/...icleID=1326695

Evidence that Darren Ithell is the owner of Mobiles4Everyone:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+rel...005/118-05.htm

Interesting aside [1]: one of the domains mentioned in (7) above
actually redirects to mobdeal via a third site: "bootspharmacy.com".
This site has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the real Boots PLC, which
has only registered www.bootspharmacy.co.uk.

Interesting aside [2]: As with all the .co.uk domains listed in (7)
above, www.mobileswizard.co.uk is registered to Energy4everyone.
However, unusually, the .com domain has our friend "Mr Vowles" listed as
the registrant, with the same invalid postcode.

Arfur Daley
--
to get my undivided attention, you'll have to remove her indoors from
the equation

---

› See More: ATTN: Mike [Best buy, 1500 minutes a month to any network?]

"Arthur Daley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Mike wrote:
>> Hi. Brian,
>>
>> There are some real good deal with the New T-Mobile Relax 75 package,
>> giving
>> you 1200 minutes anytime any network plus 200 text messages for 12 months
>> starting from as little as only £19.99 per month @
>> http://www.ukmobiledeals.co.uk
>>
>
> Mike,
>
> Without wishing to pass judgement one way or the other on the merits of
> the site linked to above I would strongly suggest that the owner of said
> site takes a good long hard look at the .com domain and where it diverts
> to.

Interesting apparent interrelation between the sites, but I'm still
apparently being too thick to see any problem with it, apart from the
invalid postcode that *might* be a hangover from a rearrangement of the
postcodes in the area at some point and their wish to trawl in as much
business as possible. Wassup?

--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."

Brian Watson wrote:
> "Arthur Daley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>Mike wrote:
>>
>>>Hi. Brian,
>>>
>>>There are some real good deal with the New T-Mobile Relax 75 package,
>>>giving
>>>you 1200 minutes anytime any network plus 200 text messages for 12 months
>>>starting from as little as only £19.99 per month @
>>>http://www.ukmobiledeals.co.uk
>>>
>>
>>Mike,
>>
>>Without wishing to pass judgement one way or the other on the merits of
>>the site linked to above I would strongly suggest that the owner of said
>>site takes a good long hard look at the .com domain and where it diverts
>>to.
>
>
> Interesting apparent interrelation between the sites, but I'm still
> apparently being too thick to see any problem with it, apart from the
> invalid postcode that *might* be a hangover from a rearrangement of the
> postcodes in the area at some point and their wish to trawl in as much
> business as possible. Wassup?
>

Business ethics...that's what.

Squatting is a big no-no and squatting in a way that benefits your own
business at the expense of someone else's is an even bigger no-no. M4E
directly benefits from customers who intend to go to ukmobiledeals but
accidentally type .com instead of .co.uk. What's more, the more effort
that the owner of ukmobiledeals puts into promoting his business, the
more that M4E benefits from it.

The incestuous relationship between M4E and Mobdeal (the site used to
receive all of ukmobiledeals' misdirected traffic) simply highlights the
possibility that not only is M4E directly involved in this unethical
practice of misdirecting traffic intended for other mobile businesses
but also that it is deliberately trying to mask its involvement by
channelling this traffic through various dummy white label sites.

As for the invalid postcode...with all other parts of the address
notably missing from the domain records (the relevant fields are just
filled with junk) it would surprise me if there was ever any intention
to provide any sensibe contact info.

Arfur
--
to get my undivided attention, you'll have to remove her indoors from
the equation