PPI Spammers

I recently added a post about PPI scammers.  PPI = payment protection insurance and it’s a hot topic in the UK, apparently.  It was mis-sold to several people and it seems that claiming it back has become a very lucrative business.  To the extent that unscrupulous scammers and, in this case, spammers are prepared to send out unwanted texts and emails.  This post is about spammers.

I have a fairly new, online, email address that I use solely for corresponding with scammers – so that I can explain to my readers how scammers work.  A few days ago someone left me the story of how they believe they were scammed by an online film site (you can read it if you click on the “Victim, tell your story” link in the menubar above.  I headed over to the site and used my “scammers only” email address to set up an account.  (I didn’t give them any bank details).

Within hours, and I mean hours, that email address was being flooded with unwanted spam.  This morning I have woken up to find 3 emails from PPI claims firms.  All are spam – they are unwanted and unrequested.  All claim at the bottom to have been sent by “Spruce Mountain Networks”.  Here is a copy of the graphic they add at the end.  (Quite safe to click on, I haven’t linked it to anything, it’s just a graphic)

The companies who are, apparently, quite happy to send out spam to people who have expressed no interest and who haven’t even opted in to the PPI companies’ own lists include:

http://www.charterhouseclaims.com

http://www.haywardmarsh.co.uk

http://www.claimsfinancial.co.uk

Interestingly, who.is tells me that all three were registered on Feb 1 1995.  A coincidence?  Unlikely, I suspect.  It looks as if all three belong to the same person.  All were registered using a proxy so I can’t see who they are.  I’m suspecting that they aren’t based in the UK and that non of them are “real” claims companies.  I suspect they have all been set up by a rogue affiliate who is just hoping to earn commission.

As I’ve said in all the other PPI threads on here – you can claim back any mis-sold PPI yourself.  The Money Saving Expert website has all the info you need http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance

A few days later and another crop of spammers:

  • An unnamed company claiming to represent a legitimate firm of solicitors.  I know the solicitors are legitimate as I snapped and phoned them to complain!  The unnamed company use this email address info@zhughg.com.  Clearly the spammer was using  a “fill in the blanks” email, but was too dim to fill in the blanks.  So I received an email that said:

HAVE YOU TAKEN OUT A , OR IN THE LAST 10 YEARS?
Then you may have been .
Visit this link to claim back what’s rightfully yours

  • Belmont Thornton, whose email contains TWO unsubscribe links.  I have no idea if either of them are real and once claims to be for a company in Florida.  The Belmont Thornton website doesn’t inspire confidence and gives me no way of contacting them apart from filling in a claims application form.
  • fasttrackppi.co.uk – whose website doesn’t even exist.