A phishing scam in John Kerry's name

Scam email ^ | August 1, 2004 | Scam artist in India

[Joe Bonforte]

I have received an obvious scam email requesting a contribution to the John Kerry campaign. A “whois” search traces the server in the links for the “contribution” to be in India. The main part of the email is reproduced below.

Even though I (most definitely) do not support John Kerry, I do not wish their campaign to be victimized by such a scam. I also would not be at all surprised to see a George Bush variation tried very soon, and that's why I'm posting this to FR. If you get an email solicitation to contribute money to any campaign, carefully verify that it is legitimate and not a phishing expedition.

A call to John Kerry's headquarters got only an answering machine (and I need to talk to a person to send them the actual email). I'm still trying to find a way to tip them off.

The URL for the “contribution” is http://testhost.yahoogoogle.biz/JohnKerry/contribute.html. The “whois” info for yahoogoogle.biz comes back as follows:

Domain Name:
YAHOOGOOGLE.BIZ
Domain ID: D7354044-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Domain Status: ok
Registrant ID: E45EA0AD02FAFFF8
Registrant Name: Nilesh Kothari
Registrant Organization: Web Hosting Solution
Registrant Address1: Tonk Phatak
Registrant City: Jaipur
Registrant Postal Code: 302015
Registrant Country: India
Registrant Country Code: IN
Registrant Email: kot_nilesh@rediffmail.com

Here's the body of the email:

		This is a message sent by John Kerry Online Volunteer Center. Just a few dollars can make the difference on Election Day. Since March hundreds of grassroots contributions from John Kerry supporters like you and me matched every g2000 check George Bush's fundraisers brought in. This is the only reason John Kerry has been able to counter George Bush's negative and misleading attacks. Every contribution large or small helps. John Kerry's campaign will only win if the same people who will support him on Election Day can provide the grassroots contributions which have fueled his campaign so far. Please join me and make a secure contribution This email is being sent on behalf of the JohnKerry.com system. We take your privacy seriously and will not share your email address.

Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc.

Contact Us

[Joe Bonforte]

Notice that they even use graphics from John Kerry's own site to look legit.

I can forward the actual email to someone appropriate if needed. Suggestions for further action are welcome.

[reed13]

Perhaps Kerry's people outsourced this part of the campaign? Although I would have expected China before India.

[dangus]

What makes you think this isn't Kerry's?
It's not like he's above outsourcing to India.
Yahoogoogle (a certainly disreputable name!) is merely hosting the domain.

[x1stcav]

Man, you're blowing it.

[x1stcav]

Man, you're blowing it.

[bayourod]

You can say that again.

[oblomov]

Kerry is just against outsourcing for the little people.

Never mind that outsourcing brings more jobs here than it exports.

[Phantom Lord]

It's not like he's above outsourcing to India.

Neither is Bush. His campaign outsourced some fundraising duties to India as well.

[Joe Bonforte]

What makes you think this isn't Kerry's? It's not like he's above outsourcing to India.

Not even Kerry's campaign is that stupid. Doing a web-based transaction in India? Besides being more expensive to transfer the money around like that, if it were legit, they would be crucified in the press for it. (Remember the call-center thing in Canada the Demos caught such grief for?)

Plus this has other earmarks of a scam. The return email address on the message is "online-votioc@johnkerrys.com". The "johnkerrys.com" domain is not owned by the Kerry campaign, and in fact is up for sale. There was also a misspelling in the subject (well, OK, they could be stupid enough to do that, but it's still suggestive).

[Joe Bonforte]

Man, you're blowing it.

Want to amplify that comment? Sounds like you think allowing Kerry supporters to be victimized by foreigners is just fine.

I'd like to think our side is above that. I detest Kerry. That doesn't mean I want to see Americans get their identity stolen because of a scam in his name.

[bayourod]

What made you think that the Kerry campaign would comply with the law that prohibits it from soliciting or spending contributions after the nominating convention?

The objective , and the ONLY objective is to win the election.

Charges of violation of campaign finance laws can be addressed AFTER winning the election. Or better yet, after taking office and appointing new attorney generals.

If violations are found and fines imposed they will just get Soros or the Chinese military to pay the fines for them.

We don't reverse election results just because campaign finace laws were violated, nor do we send candidates to prison, we just impose fines. Fines, that's all, just fines. Although a billion dollar fine could wipe out Teresaaas' savings, a loss will certainly destroy the world and the human species.

[Phantom Lord]

Why wouldn't the Kerry campaign outsource some operations to India? Bush's campaign did.

[Joe Bonforte]

Why wouldn't the Kerry campaign outsource some operations to India? Bush's campaign did.

Because outsourcing of web operations to India makes zero sense. Outsourcing to India is done for cheap labor. Setting up a contribution web site takes only a few hours.

Looks like we have some candidates on this thread that can be easily taken in by the George Bush equivalent of this scam.

[Joe Bonforte]

The "contribution" page has now been taken down, just in the last few minutes. I'd say the argument over whether it was a scam is now settled.

[Smartaleck]

""johnkerrys.com" domain is not owned by the Kerry campaign"

It is the KerryEdwards name that is owned by someone else.

"AP via Yahoo! News - 3 hours, 18 minutes ago
A Web site with the same name as the Democratic presidential ticket failed to attract the $150,000 minimum bid its owner wanted at an online auction."

Sorry, but the johnkery.com name is legit.

[Smartaleck]

Down? Did you go here

https://contribute.johnkerry.com/gelac.html?team=4595

[Smartaleck]

Since Kerry is using volunteers to get money it makes it difficult to see who is legit. But, the volunteer aspect makes it consistent with what's on his web site. Note the e-mail even makes reference to this....
"This is a message sent by John Kerry Online Volunteer Center."

Seems to me it's plausible that Kerry outsourced and to conceal this they make it look like "volunteers" are collecting the money and they can say something like they can't control where a volunteer lives or some other BS.

Nice catch though. This could be a great story if it is a sending of jobs overseas and not a scam.

[dangus]

Yeah... like it would get press. Contact Drudge, maybe.

[TexasCajun]

Yep, Kerry's Out-Sourcing! Beat me to it.

[boxerblues]

http://testhost.yahoogoogle.biz/JohnKerry/contribute.html

is blocked by works filter as being a sex related webpage hmmmm