Gurusoft giveaway (posted on Apex frontpage)

[Carnivore]

Here's Hasan's resume: http://hasan.mir.tripod.com

Apparently he's been looking for work for a while: http://www.orafans.com/bbs/jobs/messages/1436.htm

It looks like the "Thinker" has used the same Hotmail addy for at least a couple of years: http://members.aol.com/swagner911/death_r.htm

This newsgroup post claims the website forms are fake: http://x52.deja.com/=go2net/getdoc.xp?AN=658986204&CONTEXT=966454476.1957101599&hitnum=1

I don't know enough about web creation to verify but I thought some of you might be interested.

[phredd]

The forms keeps telling me that I need to enter a mailing address eventhough I have...Anyone else encounter this problem?

Strangely, if I put a fake address in (gibberish), it submits the form. But if I put a real address (with numbers), it rejects the address as invalid.

[This message has been edited by phredd (edited 08-16-2000).]

[CarpeDiem]

I've had the same problem. I'm not going to enter in gibberish though because then I won't get my camera.

[Jaysnugs]

Here is what you do guys & gals http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

Enter your full name on the line it requests that

Next line enter your FULL NAME again.

Next line your street address

Next Line your City , State

Next Line, Zip code.

Then pick your prize http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif Hope I see my 500$ I have 10 referrals!

Jaysnugs

[LORDDCT]

Hey would it matter if I placed in my address differently I enter my address # on my first line my address name on my second line the city on the 3rd line and on the 4th lin my state and zip

[Jaysnugs]

LORD,

I doubt it, just needed your name in your address lines somewhere. Your all good http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

Jaysnugs

[phredd]

Okay....I got it to work...Did you see the part in 'Rules' where they check for duplicate IPs? I hope they don't disqualify me for trying to figure out why my 'real' application wasn't going through!!

[AJ]

looks like a scam to me. bad web design.

[This message has been edited by AJ (edited 08-16-2000).]

[Jaysnugs]

Has anyone received ANY sort of contact from this company regarding this promotion? I have emailed every address on their page and yet to get a reply. No phone # even listed on their site. (Just adds to my doubt)

Post if you heard *anything*

Jaysnugs

[[email protected]]

Bad web site with little support, a form that hardly works, no-name company -- in addition to a $50 customer acquisition cost? This place is *clearly* bs.

cya l8r

[JumboJack]

You're all wrong http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/wink.gif It wouldn't take my address at first but figured out what was going on, it doesn't like periods! http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

I finally got my address to go in like this:


Email address of the person who referred you to this site:

Your email address: [email protected]
Your full name: first last
Address: pobox 123456
beverly hills, ca 90210

Of course I made up that address but if you have a p.o. box make sure you enter it without the periods. You can have the city, state, and zip all on the same line.

[Chunky]

yeah...no reply here either. seems kinda weird for a company that does all of its business online, u'd think they'd respond quickly online. i was thinking that since the base url is diff (gurusoftinc.com and www.gurusoftconsultants.com) (http://www.gurusoftconsultants.com)) between the giveaway page and actual company site, that this is another paypai type of scam. some guy replicates the site with a similar addy, then links the main page to the real site (not a very good job). the form he has here is prolly pulling off our addy's and compiling them to be sold as a marketing list or something like that. but dang, the $500 or camera is so darn tempting that i'm almost willins to sell out my family's addies just to try...

Chunky

[Nanotech9]

AJ: the site is designed poorly, but it's very extensive.... they even have a full bookstore (it's better designed) where you can order stuff an all.... I have my doubts about getting the camera, but I figure it's worth the try...

[ChIcKeN_HaWk]

Did anyone check out the sponsors page. Pretty big names sponsoring this promo. Check it out!

Regards,
Sceptical But Willing

[bigfuss]

whosis lookup results::

Gurusoftinc.com is registered to Gurusoft Consultants (Registration Date: 07-Aug-2000 21:12:09)
Gurusoftconsultants.com is registered to:

Mir, Hasan (HMW245) [email protected]
Gurusoft Consultants Inc.
2018, 3665 Arista Way
Mississauga, Ontario L5A4A3
CA
9052750704 (FAX) 9052753971

Record created on 31-Mar-2000.
Database last updated on 16-Aug-2000 02:39:06 EDT.


Let's see...a Canadian company using a Burlington, MA office park address, a principal contact with a hotmail address, amature graphic design, non-working application form, no "personalized" referrer urls, grammatical errors (from the Sponsors page; "The main objective of this site is to education people about the benefits of learning Information Technology"), no follow-up communication, no phone number and no substantive content to speak of. Couple that with banner ads for stuff like "Weeed, the 100% legal smoke alternative" and the 1800Discount referral program (NOT on a banner rotation program but coded into the pages)...yep, sure sounds legit to me! If I were a mega-company like their sponsors Microsoft, Oracle and Cisco, I'd certainly be falling all over myself trying to give these guys and their brand-new company a couple million dollars to extol the benefits of IT to the world! After all, the site itself sets such a shining example of great IT application...

Apex must have 10 referrals by now. Site says that your "gift will be mailed to you via express mail within 5 business days of receiving 10 referrals." Let us know, Apex, if yours comes in by the end of next week?

[Edit]
Added note: Just to take a shot, I just called Guru Consultants Inc's phone number listed above. Four rings, then..."Hi, you've reached 9052750704. Sorry we're not home right now..."

[This message has been edited by bigfuss (edited 08-16-2000).]

[phredd]

Worst come to worst...all you gave out was a mailing address and e-mail. They won't be charging your credit card or nothing....

[Chunky]

oh but giving out ur addy to someone who's going to abuse it is so much worse...u can dispute cc charges and not pay them. u can't keep ur physical mail addy from getting jam packed w/ stuff like "Dear single friend..." from folks like the rightone.com

Chunky

[CluelessSi]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Chunky:
oh but giving out ur addy to someone who's going to abuse it is so much worse...u can dispute cc charges and not pay them. u can't keep ur physical mail addy from getting jam packed w/ stuff like "Dear single friend..." from folks like the rightone.com

Chunky<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
hahaha i gave campus addy so i couldn't care less about it being full =)

[Jaysnugs]

Clueless, you posted over 1,000 times since June 2000? In less than 2 months you made that many posts? wow, just had to do a double take on that one.

[CluelessSi]

*SIGH* hope this actually is true but as i look into the code i see that the submission is going ot http://www.gurusoftconsultants.com/free/thanks.html and i go there directly and it did not need me to submit any values. also upon refreshing it does not confirm a resubmission. I highly doubt this will come, u also have to put in a referral =P o well lets hope for the best.

[MaggieOK]

A nice fresh database of names and addresses and emails of people who are into those sort of deals and referral programs would be quite valuable. I have not promoted this deal since yesterday morning. If it looks like a scam and smells like a scam... well.

Maggie

[StonedWheat]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Carnivore:
Here's Hasan's resume: http://hasan.mir.tripod.com

Apparently he's been looking for work for a while: http://www.orafans.com/bbs/jobs/messages/1436.htm

It looks like the "Thinker" has used the same Hotmail addy for at least a couple of years: http://members.aol.com/swagner911/death_r.htm

This newsgroup post claims the website forms are fake: http://x52.deja.com/=go2net/getdoc.xp?AN=658986204&CONTEXT=966454476.1957101599&hitnum =1 (http://x52.deja.com/=go2net/getdoc.xp?AN=658986204&CONTEXT=966454476.1957101599&hitnum=1)

I don't know enough about web creation to verify but I thought some of you might be interested.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wow...Carnivore P.I.!

[Carnivore]

Yeah, and LOL, his resume claims he's a member of MENSA, but he can't structure a sentence with proper grammer?

[free4apc]

I just noticed on that job posting of Hasan Mir that is mentioned above it has "Posted by Hasan Mir on June 02, 19100 at 15:24:44:" .. notice the 19100 bwhahahah... its August and the dang thing STILL isnt y2k compliant!

[SpiNtEEwS]

what if this was a skam, what is the worst that can happen?? hahah u guys are scarying me hahaha, damn, i think i should had waited last nite to go and do the refferal... hopefully i dont get jacked from this, danx n e wayz, if it works, then SwEEt!!

[call-in]

Guru Software Services, Inc. is a true alliance partner of Oracle, but the company listed on Oracle's database is located in a Business Center in Roswell, GA NOT in Ontario.

Just think about it for a second, a company will spend 100s of thousands of dollars to give out to participants, but can't pay for a decent website? hmmm...

uhh... no thanks!

[muffdivr]

i have gotten over 15 "legit" referrals. diff names, emails, addresses, and ips's. ill let you know if i get a new digital camera next week http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

[got apex]

Nice Carnivore, that's some real spiffy work you got there http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Talk2raffi]

assuming this is a scam, there isnt anyone we can report this to to get the guy in trouble is there??

He's gotta be breaking some laws if it is a scam...false advertising or something maybe??

Ohh well, se la vi ...

[bigfuss]

Was browsing some of the other boards and someone messy'd on MyCoupons that they had contacted Microsoft who, poster said, was unaware of any such "promotion." Claims Microsoft response was that they would act "swiftly" to squelch anything wrong.

Just followed the lead by re-visiting Gurusoft - ALL of the "Sponsor" logos and names have been removed except for Gurusoft's own logo. Page now states simply, "The main objective of this site is to education people about the benefits of learning Information Technology. The free gifts are provided by Gurusoft Consultants Inc. and by its partners." Same grammatical mistake as earlier but now no indication of who Gurusoft's "partners" are. (Note that they're not sponsors anymore, now they are partners!)

[WhiskeyPapa]

To top it all off, they are hosted by a $3.90 per month hosting service.

[TofuNinja]

Whats the big deal? Just give away your fake email and your addie, then go the the friggin hone book under appartments and maek up apt #'s and names and seeing as there isn't any vital info giving away what is the risk? No SS number, no cc number not even a friggin' phone number. If you don't want this eal or scam... don't do it, just let us members with balls the size of Grapefruits try it out. Apex himself said it was too new to know if it was legit. so now we all wait..... http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

Tofu

------------------
http://home.earthlink.net/~mediumsexy

[bigfuss]

Tofu - Scanning the previous posts in this thread, I don't see anybody advising anyone else to try or not try this...just some members pointing out the facts and indicating that it looks an awful lot like a scam. That way, anybody who chooses to do it is informed and goes into it with realistic expectations.

Oh, and "balls the size of grapefruits?" Don't really see how it takes balls any bigger than peas to make up fake registration info for this one!

[jstreet]

I sent Cisco, Oracle, and Microsoft letters asking if they were actually supporting Gurusoft, and I got the following message back from Cisco Systems:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Case: SC-0611243 Sponsorships


Hi Ben,


I am addressing your question about Cisco sponsorship of a specific website. Yes, Cisco is one of the sponsors of this site. We utilize different companies to spread the word about Information Technology.


If you need any further information please let me know by replying to this email.


Take Care,
Jan Weaver
Customer Service Helpline Escalation Team
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I love Jan's title ;p "Customer Service Helpline Escalation Team to the rescue!" Sounds a bit like a Sailormoon attack http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

I also got an e-mail from Oracle neither confirming nor denying their role:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
To: Williams <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: WEBMASTER MAIL Is Oracle really a corporate sponsor for this
company?


Thank you for the information I will pass this on to the appropriate people.


Regards,
OPP Team
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If this e-mail has helped you want to sign up, I'd appreciate if you use my e-mail address, which is listed in this post and in the e-mail link that comes with all my messages, though I won't explicitly post it again due to the referral rules for this forum that I vehemently disagree with ;p

[Angel719]

I read the article posted but then nothing about the coding for the free 500 dollars option. So does anybody know that if you select the free 500 dollars, will the information provided go through to that guru place?

[s2]

It looks like a rip. If you go to www.gurusoftinc.com (http://www.gurusoftinc.com) the page design, while similar is much better. In addition to this there is a different registration form. Both websites have the same contact address however. In addition to this, all my searching could not find a link from www.gurusoftinc.com (http://www.gurusoftinc.com) to www.gurusoftinc.com/gift. (http://www.gurusoftinc.com/gift.)

[bigfuss]

Does anyone think we should start a new Got Deal thread with the title:

"Deposit $25...Get $50,000 to $100,000 Job in Three Months!"

Sounds like that would be a really hot deal to me! LOL!

Take a look at the home page of GuruSoftInc's iSchool to see the details. www.gurusoftinc.com (http://www.gurusoftinc.com)

(Hey, this couldn't all be some weird attempt to drive up verifiable traffic counts so that they could start lining up real sponsors or something like that, could it?)

[kingz]

hm, where does the information go to? frickin no where. they do not make money off refferals. they dont care how much refferals they get because they do not collect ****. look at the frickin source code damnit. oh, and how nice of them to have vstores selling books, hahahahaha.....this is nice.....=)

[butterface]

Here's some info. hope it helps.
oops here's the right info

Gurusoft Consultants Inc.
2018, 3665 Arista Way
Mississauga, Ontario L5A4A3
Canada
(PH) 9052750704 (FAX) 9052753971

Domain Name: gurusoftinc.com

Administrative Contact:
Mir, Hasan (HAMI291) [email protected]
2018, 3665 Arista Way
Mississauga, Ontario L5A4A3
Canada
(PH) 9052750704 (FAX) 9052753971

Technical Contact:
Williams, Mark (MAWI6) [email protected]
PMB544, 18373A E Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
US
(PH) 626-964-4952

Billing Contact:
Mir, Hasan (HAMI285) [email protected]
2018, 3665 Arista Way
Mississauga, Ontario L5A4A3
Canada
(PH) 9052750704 (FAX) 9052753971

Registration Date: 07-Aug-2000 21:12:09
Expiration Date : 07-Aug-2002 21:12:09

Domain servers in listed order:

NS0.THEHOSTPROS.COM 206.111.8.40
NS1.THEHOSTPROS.COM 206.111.8.41

And:




[This message has been edited by butterface (edited 08-17-2000).]

[bigfuss]

butterface; the info you've posted is for GuruSoft.com. That domain hasn't been involved in this "deal." The domains in this are two:

gurusoftconsultants.com (where the camera offer is posted,) and

gurusoftinc.com (the home of the IT training school.)

Both are registered to the same guy, Hasan Mir, in Canada, and both were registered this year. (In fact, the camera site was registered 10 days ago!)

That doesn't mean that there couldn't be a connection to GuruSoft.com, but there's been nothing so far to indicate that there is any connection.

My guess is that the same sort of confusion with similar names is what led to Cisco's email (see the "GuruSoft is legit" thread)indicating some degree of sponsorship. I bet Gurusoft.com is legit, but that neither GuruSoftConsultants.com or GuruSoftInc.com are. We'll see how it unfolds...

EDIT:

Wow! you're quick! By the time I'd posted this follow-up you replaced the GuruSoft.com ifo with the correct GuruSoftConsultants.com info! Same contact info that I'd posted early on in this thread. Also, as I indicated in a later post, I called their contact number yesterday morning and got a "we're not home" message." I left a message with just my name & phone, but, so far, no return call. I'm not holding my breath

[This message has been edited by bigfuss (edited 08-17-2000).]

[MaggieOK]

Actually, the information IS being captured... in the server log files. :/

[ganb]

The page has gone... Maybe the offer has expired... Will see if they send the money

[guste]

Well, I live about an hour away from there. Maybe I should pay this Mir guy a visit hehe. Pick up my money in person, you know http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/smile.gif

While I probably won't do that, I will look up the appropriate government office in the blue pages and let them know what's going on. I'm sure this guy has had complaints lodged about him before.

[This message has been edited by guste (edited 08-18-2000).]

[Jaysnugs]

Guste,

Let us know what you find as far as legal procedings are concerned. I will help ya with anything if ya need :-)

Jaysnugs

[dallas4u]

Not that it will make a difference, but I emailed Hasan at [email protected], as I'm sure many of you have done already, and told him false advertising will not be tolerated, and that I would also get my lawyer friend involved if things weren't taken care of as I'm sure they would love the work!

[CivicGirlRacer]

http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif I had a feeling this offer was a fake, but I did it anyway... Another thing, there is nothing emailed to you to confirm your sign up or to inform you when you reach 10 referrals. I know I have referred at least 10 people, and will be http://www.gotapex.com/ubb/eek.gif SURPRISED if I get a $500 check in the mail.

------------------
~CivicGirlRacer