Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : ** WARNING ** VIKMAR.COM FRAUD INVESTIGATION

** WARNING **

The Michigan Attorney General's Office along with the State Police CyberCrime UNIT, is currently investigating all allegations made against VIKMAR.COM.

Substantial evidence has been provided regarding VIKMAR.COM - and the BBB will soon be making a press release regarding VIKMAR fraud complaints.

The BBB and the Michigan's Attorney General's office - warns consumers to stay away from VIKMAR.

IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE BEEN TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY VIKMAR YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL BBB, THE STATE OF MICHIGANS ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE, OR ANY OTHER LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY'S YOU FEEL APPROPRIATE.

Also you may send email complaints to (web01patrol@aol.com) - and they will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities, as a consumer web patrol agency - helping consumers shop safely online)

Thank you.

[sillyone.com]

Originally posted by WEB01PATROL:

** WARNING **

IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE BEEN TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY VIKMAR YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL BBB, THE STATE OF MICHIGANS ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE, OR ANY OTHER LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY'S YOU FEEL APPROPRIATE.


Thank you.

Too bad people cant see this til its too late..Im sure the good webhosts are really peeved that this happens.. makes me very itchy about them.. like used car sales men slime.. make it bad for the really decent one.. <g>


------------------
Silly
http://www.sillyone.com

Does this strike anyone else as being odd?

Originally posted by WEB01PATROL:
Also you may send email complaints to (web01patrol@aol.com) - and they will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities, as a consumer web patrol agency - helping consumers shop safely online)

I would expect if this was a consumer web patrol agency, they would have their own domain with email going to that domain. Hopefully, I'm way off base, but I would hesitate sending email to that address as it could actually be someone from Vikmar posing as an agency to help victims out just so they can secretly get more information about you (anyone that's been reading this forum for any amount of time would agree there have been times where this sort of thing has been done by dishonest people).

Again, I hope I'm way off base here, but just be careful who you give your information to.

tk

Originally posted by Greytree:
Here's my take:

- Web01patrol didn't read VikMar's acceptable use policy.
- Web01patrol violated that AUP.
- Web01patrol got booted.
- Web01patrol got upset and resorted to this.

Greytree, if this is fruadulent, I would doubt it is from a former customer of Vikmar. Rather, the point I was trying to make was that I suspect Vikmar may be doing this to find out who is saying bad things about them.

Again, hopefully I am wrong about this. Then again, if this person was really interested in helping people, I would have thought they would have been watching this closely and responded by now. The lack of a prompt response only seems further proof of suspicious activity.

Lastly, I don't think gramatical and/or spelling errors have anything to do with whether or not someone can be trusted. We all make them, I know I have, and I've seen errors in most of the posts on these forums. Don't get me wrong, I tend to agree with some of your points. I'm just waiting to see if this webpatrol person pans out to be legit and is able to stand up to further scrutiny by some of the smarter minds on this forum...

Cheers,
tk

[This message has been edited by tk (edited 05-31-2000).]

[Nukem]

Yeah I agree, that email address does sound a little fishy... The whole AOL thing...

[Greytree]

The Attorney General's office is being really quiet about anything dealing with VikMar, IF there is indeed anything going on, rather than a pathetically immature attack.

Some points about this "Web01Patrol" that make me suspicious:

- "web01patrol@aol.com" Already mentioned.

- Where's YOUR Web site? If you're a Web consumer protection agency, where's your Web site?

- If you're a legitimate consumer protection agency, why not give a summary of what VikMar allegedly committed, with an offer for more details at your suspiciously missing Web site?

- Do you have a phone number I can call you at -- or can direct a representative of the Attorney General's office to reach you at so they can confirm your story?

- Spelling/grammatical errors. "The BBB and the Michigan's Attorney General's office - warns consumers..." Improper use of hyphenation.

- Fraud is a consumer/business concern. Why is the MSP involved?

- Contradiction -- if the Attorney General's office and MSP are investigating allegations, why would they "warn consumers to stay away"? "Investigating allegations" means that there is not yet any definitive proof. Aren't we "innocent until proven guilty"?

- This person missed a parenthesis.

Here's my take:

- Web01patrol didn't read VikMar's acceptable use policy.
- Web01patrol violated that AUP.
- Web01patrol got booted.
- Web01patrol got upset and resorted to this.

If Web01patrol was legitimately dissatisfied with Vikmar, then I'm sure that Web01patrol could have found other, more professional ways to express such displeasure than resorting to this asinine, immature tactic.

I am not associated with VikMar or the Attorney General's office, nor am I a Michigan State Trooper. The only ties I have to anything mentioned here is that I also live and work in Michigan.

Hmmm......I have a feeling that this is an angry ex-customer. I'm very suspicious of the AOL account...someone is just trying to screw VikMar over. I've never had any problems with vikmar, and i find them a great hosting service. I might just call the Michigan Attorney General's Office to see if this is real.

[tk]

Originally posted by govikmar:
Hmmm......I have a feeling that this is an angry ex-customer.

What would an ex-customer have to gain by misleading people in this forum if he's trying to pursue action against Vikmar and gain allies?? That wouldn't make any sense!

Either it is an ex-customer that is being for the most part honest, or it's someone associated with Vikmar trying deceive people. (By the way, still no response from this webpatrol person...?)

tk

[This message has been edited by tk (edited 05-31-2000).]

[tk]

Yep, me too.

Almost a week and a half and no response from webpatrol. Did we successfully call his bluff?

[Greytree]

Good points, TK. But I guess the reason why I picked on the grammatical and spelling errors was because the original message wanted to seem so official, and I just find it difficult to believe that an official organization wouldn't have proofreaders or spell-checkers....

And you're right -- it may not be a former customer. But at the same time, it COULD be a former customer who wants to throw mud on a company's name just to "get back at them".

But then again, this whole thing MIGHT be legit...I don't know. I'm still incredibly suspicious of this, though.