A new ‘website backup’ mail scam in circulation
We’ve been notified by our partners of a new scam practice where customers are being sent an invoice-like color-print letter, which mimics a notice of due payment for backup services, the sender being a company named Website Backup.
The company seems to be a legitimate web hosting entity, which, however, has used public business directories to obtain customer information and to target thousands of recipients with a misleading message.
How does the scam backup mail look like?
The postal mail sent by the Website Backup company is a legitimate-looking one-page letter, which resembles an invoice and includes the following payment slip:
The email also features an Account Summary section, which implies that the recipient has subscribed to a $70.00-per-year plan (WebsiteBackup Pro):
Also included is “an account number’’, which the recipient can use to log into their account at websitebackup.com/login.
The recipient is then asked to pay by check or money order and to send the payment to a real address (an office building) in Phoenix, Arizona.
What should you do if you get such ‘an invoice’?
Please note that since backup services are an indelible part of our web hosting packages, we perform them on our own, without needing to resort to third-party companies for that.
Also, we only send email notifications to customers. The only paperwork we send by mail has to do with the profit of those partners of ours who have selected to receive their reseller hosting commissions by check.
For now, if you or your customers receive such an ‘invoice’, you should ignore it.
There is already a heated discussion going on online, which questions the legitimacy of the company’s mail practices. The invoice-looking mail has no disclaimer, which is in violation of the laws of the US Postal Inspection Service. The latter disallows the sending of bill-type mails without an explicit disclaimer.
Hopefully, the case will be escalated to court very soon, so as to prevent other companies from undermining the legitimacy of the web hosting business in the future.
Originally published Friday, April 17th, 2015 at 4:18 pm, updated July 8, 2024 and is filed under Latest News.Tags: online security