Frustrated by scams from Nigeria, classified ad spam from India and Pakistan, company begins blocking IP ranges of system abusers
May 31, 2005 (Press Release) --
Minneapolis, Minnesota, May June 1, 2005 – They almost won, those that pollute classified ad sites with scam offers to buy products, or place bogus and inappropriate ads. And if that was not bad enough, they were joined by those that would send thousands of email messages thought CC Marketing and Classified Systems network of sites, looking to find unwary advertisers that would trust a stranger with a cashier’s check as being valid.
“It was really starting to get to me finally. I was having to spend more and more time deleting ads for used tractors, Platinum CDROMs, or stop smoking systems from our photography classifieds site.” Said Christian Nielsen, one of two partners for CC Marketing, who takes care of search engine optimization and web marketing for the company.
“It was getting very bad,” agreed Chris McGarry, the programming expert behind the operation. “I was worried that someone was going to be taken in by these fraudsters. Sometimes they would send hundreds and hundreds of emails that would take information from the ads and appear like a person wrote it,” He continued, “We put disclaimers and warnings on the site, but we would feel bad if someone lost some money or an item they were selling”.
“Chris found a way for us to enter in a visitor’s IP address and then after that, they cannot access any of the sites on the network. And it also blocks a range that surrounds them, which also blocks their friends.” Said Nielsen. “I would guess we have about 70% of Nigeria and other African countries that we can document as offenders”. “At this point we also have parts of Israel, Germany, China, UK, Pakistan, and perhaps 30% of India that cannot cause any more problems.”
The company’s plan is to create the blocks as needed, and after a period of time, perhaps 3-6 months will remove the blocks to see if the problem returns. “We don’t want to exclude anyone, but enough is enough, and we hope other sites will follow our example to send a message that this cannot continue or everyone loses.”
Both owners of the free classified advertising network did agree that most messages that were scams were fairly easy to recognize, due to repetitive terms, poor English usage, or on some occasions appeared like a program generated the message. Both declined to give specific examples for fear that the scammers might learn and correct their mistakes. Nielsen said, “I think the chance of that is slim, but I’d rather not take the chance and help them to refine their process.”
About CC Marketing and Classified Systems
CC Marketing was formed in 2003 to provide free classified advertising in a number of vertical marketplaces that were under-served. Each site provides free classified ads that can contain up to 4 color photos, and up to 400 words. The sites all contain an information directory on the same topic and all content is optimized for search engines. Here is a list of sites that are currently in the CCM network:
http://www.GoKart2000.com
http://www.RaceCar2000.com
http://www.ToyBox2000.com
http://www.Free-RV-Classifieds.com
http://www.Photography-Classifieds.com
http://www.Auto-Repair-Classifieds.com
http://www.Heavy-Equipment-Classifieds.com
http://www.Vending-Machine-Classifieds.com
http://www.Medical-Equipment-Classifieds.com
http://www.Restaurant-Equipment-Classifieds.com
http://www.Home-Medical-Equipment-Classifieds.com
About Nielsen Technical Services
Nielsen Technical Services is an Internet consulting firm located in balmy Minneapolis, Minnesota and provides a variety of web marketing and search engine marketing services. The company specializes in general search engine optimization, but also provides copywriting, scored keyword research, pay-per-click account management, optimized press releases, forum marketing, training, project management, and Webmaster services. The owner, Chris Nielsen, is one of the founding members of SEOBy.org (www.seoby.org), which is an alternative professional search industry organization that includes search engine owners as well as SEO consultants.
“It was really starting to get to me finally. I was having to spend more and more time deleting ads for used tractors, Platinum CDROMs, or stop smoking systems from our photography classifieds site.” Said Christian Nielsen, one of two partners for CC Marketing, who takes care of search engine optimization and web marketing for the company.
“It was getting very bad,” agreed Chris McGarry, the programming expert behind the operation. “I was worried that someone was going to be taken in by these fraudsters. Sometimes they would send hundreds and hundreds of emails that would take information from the ads and appear like a person wrote it,” He continued, “We put disclaimers and warnings on the site, but we would feel bad if someone lost some money or an item they were selling”.
“Chris found a way for us to enter in a visitor’s IP address and then after that, they cannot access any of the sites on the network. And it also blocks a range that surrounds them, which also blocks their friends.” Said Nielsen. “I would guess we have about 70% of Nigeria and other African countries that we can document as offenders”. “At this point we also have parts of Israel, Germany, China, UK, Pakistan, and perhaps 30% of India that cannot cause any more problems.”
The company’s plan is to create the blocks as needed, and after a period of time, perhaps 3-6 months will remove the blocks to see if the problem returns. “We don’t want to exclude anyone, but enough is enough, and we hope other sites will follow our example to send a message that this cannot continue or everyone loses.”
Both owners of the free classified advertising network did agree that most messages that were scams were fairly easy to recognize, due to repetitive terms, poor English usage, or on some occasions appeared like a program generated the message. Both declined to give specific examples for fear that the scammers might learn and correct their mistakes. Nielsen said, “I think the chance of that is slim, but I’d rather not take the chance and help them to refine their process.”
About CC Marketing and Classified Systems
CC Marketing was formed in 2003 to provide free classified advertising in a number of vertical marketplaces that were under-served. Each site provides free classified ads that can contain up to 4 color photos, and up to 400 words. The sites all contain an information directory on the same topic and all content is optimized for search engines. Here is a list of sites that are currently in the CCM network:
http://www.GoKart2000.com
http://www.RaceCar2000.com
http://www.ToyBox2000.com
http://www.Free-RV-Classifieds.com
http://www.Photography-Classifieds.com
http://www.Auto-Repair-Classifieds.com
http://www.Heavy-Equipment-Classifieds.com
http://www.Vending-Machine-Classifieds.com
http://www.Medical-Equipment-Classifieds.com
http://www.Restaurant-Equipment-Classifieds.com
http://www.Home-Medical-Equipment-Classifieds.com
About Nielsen Technical Services
Nielsen Technical Services is an Internet consulting firm located in balmy Minneapolis, Minnesota and provides a variety of web marketing and search engine marketing services. The company specializes in general search engine optimization, but also provides copywriting, scored keyword research, pay-per-click account management, optimized press releases, forum marketing, training, project management, and Webmaster services. The owner, Chris Nielsen, is one of the founding members of SEOBy.org (www.seoby.org), which is an alternative professional search industry organization that includes search engine owners as well as SEO consultants.
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