EmailDiscussions.com  

Go Back   EmailDiscussions.com > Miscellaneous > The Off-Topic Lounge
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Stay in touch wirelessly

The Off-Topic Lounge APPROPRIATE FAMILY-FRIENDLY TOPICS ONLY - READ THE RULES!
This forum is for posting anything (excluding topics prohibited by the forum rules) that's unrelated to email. General discussions, in other words.

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 5 Nov 2024, 09:51 AM   #1
webecedarian
Cornerstone of the Community
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: NYC
Posts: 510
International hub of fraud and misinformation

Some of the Web?s Sketchiest Sites Share an Address in Iceland
Kalkofnsvegur 2 in Reykjavik, Iceland, is the registered address for Withheld for Privacy, a company that allows operators of online domains to shield their identities

By Steven Lee Myers and Tiffany Hsu


The modern office building near the harbor in Iceland?s capital, Reykjavik, is best known as the home of the Icelandic Phallological Museum, which displays 320 specimens of mammal penises. To those who track cyber mischief, however, the building also has a reputation as a virtual offshore haven for some of the world?s worst perpetrators of identity theft, ransomware, disinformation, fraud and other wrongdoing.

That?s because the museum?s street address, Kalkofnsvegur 2, is also the registered address for Withheld for Privacy, a company that is part of a booming and largely unregulated industry in Iceland and elsewhere that allows people who operate online domains to shield their identities... Withheld for Privacy and other so-called proxy services have turned Iceland into a global hub for illicit activity far out of proportion to the country?s size.

The company ? created in 2021 by Namecheap, one of the world?s largest providers of websites ? has effectively shielded tens of thousands of sketchy internet sites. Even local authorities said they had tried and failed to reach the company?s representatives when problems had arisen...

The internet is replete with similar sites trying to trick or bilk credulous users, and proxy services, when abused, make it even more difficult to catch or even identify perpetrators.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/09/b...ity-theft.html

https://dnyuz.com/2024/10/09/some-of...ss-in-iceland/

https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech...ess-in-iceland
webecedarian is offline   Reply With Quote

Old 6 Nov 2024, 10:04 AM   #2
hadaso
The "e" in e-mail
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Holon, Israel.
Posts: 4,991
That's a service that is included with all domain registrations in Namecheap: Instead of having your contact details (street address, phone, email address) on the whois registry, you have the details of "Witheld for Privacy", and they are supposed to forward any email to you domain contact (perhaps after filtering spam and fraud. Practically all email sent to whois contact addresses is spam trying to sell various services to domain owners). Other registrars offer similar services. And since it's the default option probably most domain owners use them, and most of them are "sketchy internet sites". I know I am not one...
hadaso is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20 Nov 2024, 11:14 AM   #3
Grhm
Essential Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 282
Is "bilk" a real word? If so, it's new to me.
Grhm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21 Nov 2024, 03:53 AM   #4
somdcomputerguy
Cornerstone of the Community
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Rupert, WV
Posts: 898
Quote:
Originally Posted by Grhm View Post
Is "bilk" a real word? If so, it's new to me.
Yep it is.
I find, and have found for quite a while now too, this site A.Word.A.Day Home Page : Word of the day, vocabulary, wordpower, words ... - https://wordsmith.org/awad/ to be 'really neat'. I get a newsletter from there.
- Bruce
somdcomputerguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30 Nov 2024, 01:42 AM   #5
SideshowBob
Essential Contributor
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 322
I have heard it before, but I think it's more common in the US than in Britain. It only just occurred to me that it must be where the name of Sergeant Bilko came from.
SideshowBob is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30 Nov 2024, 05:49 AM   #6
n5bb
Intergalactic Postmaster
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Irving, Texas
Posts: 9,017
Quote:
Originally Posted by SideshowBob View Post
I have heard it before, but I think it's more common in the US than in Britain. It only just occurred to me that it must be where the name of Sergeant Bilko came from.
The character Sergeant Bilko from the Phil Silvers Show (1950’s television series) and a movie was supposedly created based on the name of baseball player Steve Bilko. Phil Slvers was a big fan of baseball. But, of course, it also also reminded viewers of bilk (to deceive). The name Bilko is an anglicized form of family names from Eastern Europe.

Bill
n5bb is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +9. The time now is 06:51 PM.

 

Copyright EmailDiscussions.com 1998-2022. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy