Vale Copyright Dot Com - I smell a rat!

[Frank-0-Video]

Greetings ...

Recently I received an e-mail from a web-site called Vale Online Services (url is valecopyright.com) "recommending" that I pay at the very least $45.00 to settle a case of illegal downloading which actually never happened because there was no reasonable means to download the program in question - a long-forgotten (1961) ABC-TV documentary called "Automation, the Awesome Servant", which I was doing a legit search for.

Seeing that the e-mail originates out of Belize, I immediately suspect that I may be a victim of a scheme where a fake torrent was set-up to offer downloadable content and then that link's owners would hit up on anyone who took the bait. As far as is known, all they have on me is my e-mail address (how they got that I don't know) and maybe my internet provider's IP address as well . At no time did I submit any personal info such as credit information. Proof of that is that my accounts to date show no sign of anything wrong.

I don't recall the specific site that I visited during my search for the "Automation" program. Interestingly enough, the ValeCopyright.Com e-mail -DOES NOT SAY- what site I visited to do this alleged download -- a big red flag for me.

There was one more red flag -- this phone number +420 775279357. A Google search returned several hits that ID'd 420 as a country code for the Czech Republic. Case closed right there.

I would be grateful for any recommendations regarding this matter. If this is something that should be reported to a proper authority here in the states, please let me know.

[TreeTops]

Just delete that email and have a nice day.

[Frank-0-Video]

Greetings TreeTops ....

It's already been assigned to "spam in the can" status, but I've made PDF copies of it "just in case".

BTW -- Love your signature quote

[redwudz]

I got a call on my cell a few days ago that promised to fix my computer online if I just gave them my credit card information.
And I didn't know my PC was broken, but they assured me it was. (And apparently only money would fix it.)

I blacklisted their 800 number and noticed it had been blacklisted three times already. Samsung blacklisting apparently was useless.

I then did a internet search for the phone number and it was in Taiwan, the home of online computer fixing.
They had at least 40 cases pending against them. They will just change their number and try again if the government comes after them.


Your 'rat' wants to charge you 'protection money' against 'possible' copyright lawsuits. Good luck with that idea.

[lingyi]

Greetings ...

Recently I received an e-mail from a web-site called Vale Online Services (url is valecopyright.com) "recommending" that I pay at the very least $45.00 to settle a case of illegal downloading which actually never happened because there was no reasonable means to download the program in question - a long-forgotten (1961) ABC-TV documentary called "Automation, the Awesome Servant, which I was doing a legit search for.

Seeing that the e-mail originates out of Belize, I immediately suspect that I may be a victim of a scheme where a fake torrent was set-up to offer downloadable content and then that link's owners would hit up on anyone who took the bait. As far as is known, all they have on me is my e-mail address (how they got that I don't know) and maybe my internet provider's IP address as well . At no time did I submit any personal info such as credit information. Proof of that is that my accounts to date show no sign of anything wrong.

I don't recall the specific site that I visited during my search for the "Automation" program. Interestingly enough, the ValeCopyright.Com e-mail -DOES NOT SAY- what site I visited to do this alleged download -- a big red flag for me.

There was one more red flag -- this phone number +420 775279357. A Google search returned several hits that ID'd 420 as a country code for the Czech Republic. Case closed right there.

I would be grateful for any recommendations regarding this matter. If this is something that should be reported to a proper authority here in the states, please let me know.

A few other things to add to your suspected scam checklist:

Check for poor spelling and grammar:

From the website:

"Our goal is to help people who are at risk due copyright

In these days there is lot of companies which sues ordinary people for watching or downloading movies online.
Today, in digital world, the only thing they need to success is your IP address and knowledge that you do something illegal."
- My BOLD emphasis (lingyi].

And this are just the first few sentences from the site!


Do a WHOIS:

The website claims they have 779 Days in Business.

A WHOS shows:

Domain Name: VALECOPYRIGHT.COM
Registrar: GRANSY S.R.O D/B/A SUBREG.CZ
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 1505
Whois Server: whois.regtons.com
Referral URL: http://subreg.cz
Name Server: NS1.WEBSUPPORT.SK
Name Server: NS2.WEBSUPPORT.SK
Name Server: NS3.WEBSUPPORT.SK
Status: ok https://icann.org/epp#ok
Updated Date: 17-jan-2016
Creation Date: 17-jan-2016
Expiration Date: 17-jan-2017

If they were been around before 17-jan-2016, they did it under a different domain name!


Do a thorough anti-virus AND malware scan using at least two different progams

It's extremely unlikely, but there may be a virus or malware (possibly there before you did your search) that triggered the email.


As far as reporting anything to law enforcement in the U.S., there are few if any agencies that would be able to do anything overseas, especially given the very small amount of the potential scam. In addition, this is the equal to whispering "I know what you did" in your ear. It's only your imagination and possible guilty conscience that's causing you concern.

Finally, IF you were really targeted for a copyright infringement investigation / lawsuit, you'd receive notice from someone else first (i.e. your ISP with a Cease and Desist email / letter, the copyright holder, etc.). Even IF this were to happen, $45 or even hundreds of $$$ would do nothing against the thousands of $$$ plus that would be required to follow through with the lawsuit.

Bottom line...follow Treetops advice: "Just delete that email and have a nice day. "

[Frank-0-Video]

Greetings and Thanks to All ...

The message has been put in the Spam-Trash folder and reported to my e-mail provider as a phishing attempt.

[JVRaines]

If you want to be safe, disable read-receipts in your email configuration. Then you will only be responsible for demands which come by certified mail or personal service.

[TreeTops]

Neither one of those sound like e-mail.