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Robo-calling Scum of the Week: TurboATM-dot-com

COLUMN: Well, it looks like the scammers keep on calling. This week the abusive law-breaking robo-caller is the scum suckers calling themselves “Turboatm(.com)” and calling after 7pm Pacific Time, and calling those numbers on the “do not call registry” in violation of both Federal and California law. The calls originate from 206-350-9029.

In going to the website being promoted by the illicit robo-caller, we find (big surprise) what looks to be a come-on to make money using a “secret marketing breakthrough!” The site proclaims they have “discovered a secret so powerful it literally ‘POURS’ Cash Directly Into Your Pocket Automatically!!” (capitalized words and double exclamation points from the site).

Besides the fact the site is collecting name, email and phone information (personal information), and does not display a legally required or California law compliant privacy statement, it claims there is “no MLM or Network Marketing.”

From the looks of it, I might suspect it’s one of the wide ranging “cash gifting” scams going around, and which have been widely covered on the TV news here in California.

Since there is only a one-page site (a sure sign of a money making scam, for anybody who has seen these before), the HTML title tag shows “Ez1up Cash System” and the sign-up form is being loaded from aweber(.com), a site offering “email marketing campaign” services, auto-responders, and other bric-a-brac often used by evil-doers on the Web.

I sent a query off to “AWber Communications” which claims to be in Huntingdon Valley, PA, informing of the mis-use of their services. We’ll see if we get a reply.

In looking up what info we could on the domain, the registrant appears to be somebody called “Bo Small” in New York, based on the domain record:

Whois Record Search

Registrant Search:”Bo Small” owns about 58 other domains Email Search: is associated with about 106 domains

Registrar History:1 registrar with 1 drop. NS History:8 changes on 6 unique name servers over 4 years. IP History:4 changes on 3 unique name servers over 4 years. Whois History:6 records have been archived since 2009-12-29 .

Registrant:
Bo Small
300 W St
Buffalo, New York 14201
United States

Domain Name: TURBOATM .COM
Created on: 28-Dec-09
Expires on: 28-Dec-10
Last Updated on: 28-Dec-09

The domain servers, seem to be (apparently owned by GoDaddy)
NS27.DOMAINCONTROL .COM
NS28.DOMAINCONTROL .COM

The reverse domain lookup seems to lead to the IP 64.202.189.170, which is owned by GoDaddy (*to clarify: it means GoDaddy hosts the site for the believed scammers/robo-caller, it does NOT mean GoDaddy has anything to do with the site! GoDaddy is a good company.). Complaints can be sent to the hosting provider, which is GoDaddy at: abuse@godaddy.com.

An entry has been made at “whocalled.us” for the offending originating phone number where the calls originated (http://whocalled.us/lookup/2063509029).

Remember – it’s against the law to call phone numbers on the national “do not call” registry. Robo-calling is against the law in certain locales, like California. Companies that robo-call any of our staff, family, employees, or companies will be glorified with this dubious award of distinction.

So, congratulations “TurboATM-COM” – you’re this week’s winner of the scumbag robocaller of the week award.

Next week we apparently have some signage show in Vegas calling with free pass info. Hooo boy. Lookout! More robo-calling scum to feature. Stay tuned, party people.

About Christopher Laird Simmons

Christopher Laird Simmons is a 25+ year veteran in the advertising and marketing business and has helped launch numerous companies including MacMall®, FindWhat.com, and Send2Press® Newswire. He is an award winning photographer, designer, and one of the first experts in the field of SEO. He is a former contributing editor to numerous magazines. He is a PR pro and member of the PRSA, a professional musician and member of ASCAP, and the founder of Neotrope®. He is the author of FRACTOPIA, an art book (Neotrope Press, Dec. 2008). UNAUTHORIZED REPUBLICATION OF THIS CONTENT IS PROHIBITED UNDER U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT LAWS.

Discussion

11 comments for “Robo-calling Scum of the Week: TurboATM-dot-com”

  1. These six men are low down dirty thieves. They are from [redacted/not confirmed as accurate]. I was ripped off $4,000.00. For me that is a killer amount. They use cell phones that are stolen. They are in a world wide scam.

    Posted by Wendy | March 19, 2010, 00:41:45 +0000 UTC
  2. Great list of the top scams as reported to the Canadian mounted police … GREAT REFERENCE:

    http://www.phonebusters.com/english/recognizeit_topthree.html .

    Posted by Fight the Fraud | March 19, 2010, 00:54:06 +0000 UTC
  3. It’s weird I’ve been getting these messages every Sunday evening precisely around 7:20pm. For the past 6 weeks. He claims that he knows that I’m interested in this because I called him from this number before… I do not recall that; anyway, this guy has got a good flow to his speech … I’m not sure if it’s NLP (A.K.A. Covert Hypnosis) or what but I am suspect to my pleasant feelings towards this robo… Any thoughts? Anyways, thanks for reading my post, I hope you enjoyed my blog, and “have a blessed and prosperous day”!

    Posted by Lee Martin | June 19, 2010, 02:20:51 +0000 UTC
  4. I just got the call from them it’s 6:18 pm central time I live in Oklahoma and wanted to check the site out for a scam. So it’s happening all over not just Cali anymore.

    Posted by Laura | June 24, 2010, 23:20:07 +0000 UTC
  5. I got a call from turboatm claiming I could put 3200 to 6400 in my pocket a day, a week, ah… what ever. They called from a restricted number. I am on the do not call list and it was a recorded message.

    Posted by Jerry Ridge | August 25, 2010, 23:32:47 +0000 UTC
  6. I live in central AL, I was called at 7:20pm (during the live telecast of President Obama) from a restricted number and received a recorded message stating this was in response to my being interested in network marketing! I was irate to say the least!! How do you stop these people???

    Posted by Jeane Gross | September 1, 2010, 00:57:28 +0000 UTC
  7. I filed 2 complaints for do not call

    Posted by Eric H | April 10, 2011, 23:15:07 +0000 UTC
  8. What a bunch of scumbags, like the constant harassment is going to convert for these losers

    Posted by Ken Dugas | May 2, 2011, 00:19:36 +0000 UTC
  9. I have been getting calls from Bob and Jan from TURBOATM.com for months. The number they call me from is 206-339-8453 – the call, in general, on Sunday at 7pm PST. I have called the number back and left voicemail to be removed five times and I have reported these calls to the FTC several times too – nothing seems to be done to stop them. My number has been on the DNC list for over a year. I am so frustrated with this! How can they just not be stopped at all?

    Posted by Ldavis | May 2, 2011, 02:26:35 +0000 UTC
  10. Isn’t this interesting? A Cease and Desist order from the State of Illinois against TURBOATM_DOT_COM
    http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/securities/administrative_actions/2010/april/turboatm_socd.pdf

    Posted by Ldavis | May 2, 2011, 02:33:59 +0000 UTC
  11. They are now operating as BigCashAtm .Com from phone number 2063398453 and guess what:

    Registrant:
    Bo Rich
    777 44th Ave
    New York, New York 10035
    United States

    Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy .com)
    Domain Name: BIGCASHATM .COM
    Created on: 16-Feb-10
    Expires on: 16-Feb-12
    Last Updated on: 27-Feb-11

    Administrative Contact:
    Rich, Bo godaddy3000 @ gmail .com
    777 44th Ave
    New York, New York 10035
    United States
    +1.2063503067

    Technical Contact:
    Rich, Bo godaddy3000 @ gmail .com
    777 44th Ave
    New York, New York 10035
    United States
    +1.2063503067

    Domain servers in listed order:
    NS55.DOMAINCONTROL .COM
    NS56.DOMAINCONTROL .COM

    Posted by Robert | May 19, 2011, 00:47:11 +0000 UTC

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