Its spam Jim, but not as we know it
Mikey 76 comments
It seems spammers just don't try as hard as they used to. I remember a time when it was difficult to tell a spam email from a legitimate email at first glance. As I look at the crud that has accumulated into my spam folder this week, I would guess the spammers are running out of ideas.
Grammatically incorrect subject lines accompanying the lowest of the low compressed Viagra and Vicodin jpg's make absolutely no misrepresentations of themselves, which in turn is making it all a bit too easy on my spam filter.
But while online spammers may be getting slack (you be the judge), 'offline spam' as I affectionately call it seems to be making headway.
The final straw for us came about a few months ago, when we were occasionally assaulted with late evening telemarketing calls. Except these were not your regular telemarketers. It seems even they are becoming obsolete.
I answer the phone at about 8pm, not long after dinner and desperately trying to keep the noise level to a minimum while attempting to put our daughters to sleep.
- Me: Hello
- Caller: Pause...
- Me: Hello?
- Caller: Pause...
- Me: Hel...
- Caller: Congratulations! You have been selected to receive a free blah blah blah...
- Me: Click.
The caller in this instance like the previous ones was actually a recorded message, complete with cheesy 1980-esque soundtrack. I kid you not. I can only ascertain from this that telemarketers must be tired of copping abuse from regular people like you and I who take offence to having product x pimped towards us at inopportune times - or any time for that matter.
Unfortunately for us Australians, we live in a society where we are expected to be assaulted by offline spam. This is evident when you consider that we are charged for the privilege to not be telephone spammed. That is to say, we have to pay our phone carrier a monthly fee for a private number. A private number means no telemarketers to ruin your evening.
The thing is, when I read through the terms and conditions provided by my carrier, there was nothing mentioned to the effect of "by taking on our services, you are agreeing to be a target of telemarketing services".
That doesn't sound as strange as you might think. When you sign up with an ISP they don't immediately make you a target of spammers. By default our email addresses are anonymous. I believe it is only a matter of time before telecoms are forced to practice the same. Once again, this is where the US of A is leaps and bounds ahead of us. They beat us to the anti-spam legislation, and they beat us to the national 'do not call' list. Kudos to them for paving the way.
The 'do not call' list is probably one the best methods of preventing offline spam. You register your phone number, and telemarketers have to check every number they call first. If you are on the list, they are not allowed to call you. If they do, hefty fines are aplenty per offence.
But the news for Australia is finally good. On 4 April 2006, Senator Helen Coonan (the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) announced plans to establish a national Do Not Call Register which will be operational in 2007. And the best part? Businesses and individuals will not be charged to register on the list, but telemarketers will have to contribute to the cost of running the service. How is that for sweet justice?
The press release can be accessed here. It is good to see a Minister approach a tecnological goal that can actually be achieved, unlike Mr Beazley's laughable proposal.
fawn girl
Thursday 27th April 2006 | 09:58 PMInteresting article Michael. I share your concerns. I remember a few years ago a reporter wrote about something similar, and deliberately posted the phone number of a telemarketing company in his article. The company complained because they had no warning they would be receiving unwanted calls. Oh the irony...
andrew
Sunday 30th April 2006 | 09:54 PMi recieved one of the pre-recorded you have won a trip etc. i hung up promptly but i just wonder where it will go? choose mobile phone numbers at random, send a text with a similar message...
jase
Monday 1st May 2006 | 09:34 PMHopefully registering will be as simple as the US site is. Although they curiosuly state "Your registration will be effective for five years" meaning you are an open target after that time unless you remember to re-register. I guess it might work differently here.
serena
Saturday 6th May 2006 | 04:15 PMI hate the one's that we get at work in the late afternoon. having 100 phone lines all of a sudden about 10 of them light up and it's all the same Indian voices wanting to speak to the manager. They wont give their phone numbers and only once was I able to get the correct company name from them.
Once I told them that the Owner had just died, so they then asked for their mobile number. The next one that called straight after asked for the owner, to which I said had just died, so they asked for the manager and I said he was at the owners funeral.. LOL Couldn't help having a little play around because it's such a nuisance when trying to anser 10 calls and you don;t know which is the legitimate business one.
Jasmin
Sunday 1st October 2006 | 12:16 PMWe get fax spam at the office. No sh*t. Who would take the time to fax spam anyone!
Yokum
Friday 16th November 2007 | 03:36 PMYeah. I tell them the owner died yesterday. Dead quiet...I could listen to it forever.
Another, I tried to be mannered...he just kept bugging me, so I said, "OK, here comes the countdown..."10..9..8..." He shut up when he figured, and swore at me! I ruined his ski slope!
Yokum
Friday 16th November 2007 | 03:54 PMBy the way, try... http://www.nofax.com.au/ and register your own number here. Only thing is, you need to know the fax-spammer's FAXCODE. It may be on the bottom of the fax. If not, I'm not sure how.
shay
Thursday 24th January 2008 | 05:03 PMLittle did we know we would have to pay to be on the do not call register and business cannot register at all. Charitys and several other kinds of animals are exempt from the register, which makes the whole service kind of pointless.
rico
Tuesday 19th February 2008 | 10:12 AMI had to prove i have a business which i have and they registered me free. it seems individuals are not allowed in as i understand. i think all of us should be allowed but the new gov might correct it. now i've got a lot less calls and faxes but some still sneak thru.
Pete
Wednesday 20th February 2008 | 10:57 AMRE: By the way, try... http://www.nofax.com.au/ and register your own number here. Only thing is, you need to know the fax-spammer's FAXCODE. It may be on the bottom of the fax. If not, I'm not sure how....
The html source of http://www.nofax.com.au/ is a HOAX The company name is PROSPECT MARKETING PTY LTD and registered in Australia. I have laid a complaint with the NZ Ministry of Consumer Affairs. The ONLY way to get rid of these lowlifes is to publicly humiliate them.
Richard
Sunday 24th February 2008 | 01:02 PMRe the www.nofax.com.au (don't know if hoax or not? maybe the warning from Pete is a hoax in itself?? who to trus these days.......:-) ?? ). The other thing maybe is to name & shame & complain about the comanpanies that actually use these spam, unsolicited faxers (really ticks me off that MY consumables get used without my approval.....isn't that a form of theft by the way?).
I seem to receive quite a few "discount holiday weekend" faxes etc.............one organisation whose name appears un such an unsolicited fax is "Destinations R Us" with ABN # . I'll have to see if tehy actually exist or are just a fake...........
Yasmee SHAH
Tuesday 11th March 2008 | 12:28 PM...in response to this comment by Pete. I am trying to contact Destinations R Us but can not reach on their number. Can you please help me as I have paid for everything and did not hear from them. This is very frustrating.
Yokum
Thursday 27th March 2008 | 07:49 AMIt would be a better playing field if all fax spammers by law had to have an opt out means displayed on the fax page. Very few have the manners to do this.
Yokum
Wednesday 16th April 2008 | 11:48 AMTry: http://www.stopfax.com.au/domainnames. Only thing is you must enter the 'ID' listed from the bottom of the faxpage (if it exists) and enter it after the last slash in the web address to delete from their list. The ID 'domainnames' is the latest I entered to stop their spam amongst others I have tried. Seems to work.
Keep an eye on the last lines on the faxpages to get some clues to what tools may be available, as some 'spammers' actually give you an opt-out.
I'm only trying to work my way around this, so if others have a positive suggestion or another 'opt-out' site, let us know.
Alfred
Saturday 3rd May 2008 | 09:30 AM...in response to this comment by Yokum. The spammer I am referring to is "Destinations 'R' Us, www.druholidays.net and there is a code at the bottom of the page. I don't know if I'm reading it wrongly but when I enter it in "nofax" I get the message that "must be entered exactly as on the fax". Did you have the same experience?
Alfred
Saturday 3rd May 2008 | 09:34 AM...in response to this comment by Yokum. Hi Yokum! Yes I tried http://www.stopfax.com.au/domainnames and in this case I didn't have to enter a code at all, just my fax number. The message came up "You have been unsubscribed". Thank you for that, Yokum!
Yokum
Monday 12th May 2008 | 02:35 PM...in response to this comment by Alfred. Hi Al. Good to hear that it worked for you. The Nofax and Stopfax work in different ways. Stopfax is probably a little more likely to work with the right info to provide it. I have had positive results with it. I actually found the Stopfax offered on an adfax to me, so some 'spammers' do do try to do the right thing by the fax recipients. Odd how these sites seem to hide in dark unlocated corners of the web.
Laszlo
Wednesday 14th May 2008 | 06:21 PMWhat you do is -
for phone calls -tie them up - keep them talking while you wash up,give them false credit card details - waste their time and have some fun.
fax - dont waste your time going to each web page to remove your fax number - have some laughs - I used internet fax and sent hundreds of black pages (tone waster) to offending scum.They ran out of paper after 160 pages.They were not happy.
Dont be angry - get revenge
JJ
Saturday 24th May 2008 | 07:59 AM...in response to this comment by Laszlo. I love your idea of sending hundreds of black pages to the invasive faxer. How is this done? How do you send a black page?
Good on you!
JJ
donotfax.com.au is just a pointer to the correct 'removal' page on stopfax.com.au
But it is all a scam. It just confirms to the spammer that the fax was received and that the fax number is a good one.
If you read carefully what the spammer says on the site, the best you can hope for is not to receive that same 'offer' again. But they are spammers and have just got you to confirm your details, are you going to believe them?
Mo Evans
Friday 30th May 2008 | 12:50 PMWell I had the same problem with the unwanted faxes from druholidays. Found the unsubscribe by phone number panel and it would not work because I am in NZ. So I rang the number and the lady said she would unsubscribe me right now, I was impressed and I hope it works. Thanks for the help.
Regards
Mo Evans
...in response to this comment by Yasmee SHAH. dear shah,
we understand ur concern we have already despatched the pacage at your name.you gonna recieve it soon .have a good holiday
frm dru
Cindy
Thursday 5th June 2008 | 11:42 AM...in response to this comment by Alfred. Hello,
I not want it please, code DRU08 fax 0882606004 Please don't fax to me all the times.
I no interesting about this.
Thank you
bye Cindy
John A
Tuesday 24th June 2008 | 04:01 PMWith regards to the www.stopfax.com.au service, I am concerned this service is not quite what it seems. I have a fax here at home and never used to get any faxes. One day I received a fax and it said to unsubscribe go to www.stopfax.com.au/name and I did this. Since then I have been getting regular spam faxes from various other companies, all of which also use the www.stopfax.com.au service. Is this coincidence or is www.stopfax.com.au up to no good?
Faye M
Tuesday 26th August 2008 | 04:11 PMWe have had faxes on behalf of DomainNames.com.au stating they do NOT own the fax database. Today I went to www.stopfax.com.au and it was confirmed that my fax number had been unsubscribed. I'd like to know where they got it in the first place, and will probably never know, but I'm fed up with them wasting my paper and fax film!
...in response to this comment by Pete. A pity you can't publicly humiliate a company when it's legal. My company owns the stopfax.com.au url All the stop fax url's you see are provided by different broadcast companies to offer an opt-out facility. No need for us to hide, it's a basic url that if you follow the prompts should have you removed from receiving faxes from the advertiser on the fax, unless they use several broadcast companies and then its best to call the advertiser directly and ask to be removed from all their supplier databases. Admittedly, in the industry we didnt really think about people spending time investigating to see who owns these urls for the purpose of public humiliation, hence I will add our company details to our removal facility to make it a bit more transparent for all.
Mark
Tuesday 2nd September 2008 | 10:12 AM...in response to this comment by Yasmee SHAH. www.druholidays.net do it yourself holidays is a scam run by Malcolm Ford and his wife Fiona. Their home address is 10-11 Marian Court Eltham North Victoria. I have a court judgement against Malcolm Ford t/a Destinations R Us. The sherriff has tried 3 times to sieze assets, twice at the house and once at a fake office address. It appears that Malcolm has no assets. I warned Dept of Justice, Consumer Affairs Victoria a year ago, NSW Department of Fair Trading and Federal Consumer Affairs and got the reply that there had to be more complaints before they would do anything! Ridiculous!
Mark
Tuesday 2nd September 2008 | 10:17 AM...in response to this comment by michel. www.druholidays.net do it yourself holidays is a scam run by Malcolm Ford and his wife Fiona. Their home address is 10-11 Marian Court Eltham North Victoria. I have a court judgement against Malcolm Ford t/a Destinations R Us. The sherriff has tried 3 times to sieze assets, twice at the house and once at a fake office address. It appears that Malcolm has no assets. I warned Dept of Justice, Consumer Affairs Victoria a year ago, NSW Department of Fair Trading and Federal Consumer Affairs and got the reply that there had to be more complaints before they would do anything! Ridiculous!
I am now applying to have Malcolm Ford Summoned for Oral examination in the Victorian Magistrates Court and then have him declared bankrupt!
Leni
Wednesday 3rd September 2008 | 03:04 PMI got a fax from domainnames.com.au and wanted it to STOP. So I snooped around on the net until I found the phone number . Her name is Wendy Syme. I told her what I wanted and she said she would get my 4 numbers off the list immediately. Her email is
Good luck!
Mark
Friday 5th September 2008 | 08:00 AM...in response to this comment by Mark. Just a correction to my earlier reply. Malcolm Ford's (destinations r us)wife's name is Feda Ford.
According to the Victorian Sherriff, she is in on the scam as well.
Jasmin
Thursday 11th September 2008 | 05:01 PM...in response to this comment by wendy. Wendy thank you so much for your transparency, it is very much appreciated. I understand that you are just running a business and trying to earn a crust like the rest of us. From some of the comments posted here you would think you are an axe murderer, lighten up people it's only a fax.
...in response to this comment by Jasmin. Thanks Jasmin,
I appreciate your understanding - Yes we are only trying to run a business, however I think it must be frustrating for people who get a high volume of faxes tying up their lines and wasting paper and ink, hence why we try to help. (Possibly a good idea to get an efax number which delivers faxes to your email inbox which can be deleted rather than waste paper)
Just so you are aware, we are working closely with ADMA in the creation of a "Do Not Fax" register and I think this will help with decreasing the amount of unwanted faxes received. So you are aware, it is in our best interest to do this as we do pay Telco costs for all faxes sent.
If anyone is having a problem with unwanted faxes, even international faxes not from cBox, please feel free to forward them to me... - as we've been having some success in blacklisting fax numbers on national and international databases for fax recipients. Always happy to help.
Wendy
...in response to this comment by Leni. Did it work Leni?
I've been trying to get yor number blacklisted on every database I know of, and I think it's worked. Let me know if you're still having a problem and I'll start the process again, or try something different.
Wendy Syme
Pete
Sunday 5th October 2008 | 01:53 AMThe following is the unsubsribe code for http://www.nofax.com.au/
The form below is just a feel-good loop... They hope it will make you happy but it does NOTHING.
NoFax.com.au
05 October 2008
Please enter the Fax ID found at the bottom of the fax, and your fax number.
Please enter the number without spaces, and include the state code
For example to enter a VIC fax number 0312345678
Fax ID:
Fax Number:
Pete
Sunday 5th October 2008 | 02:03 AMI'll try that again, this time with the markup disabled
Look where it says form action="" This means that form does NOTHING
________________________________________________
[p class="inst"]Please enter the Fax ID found at the bottom of the fax, and your fax number.[br /]
Please enter the number without spaces, and include the state code[br /]
For example to enter a VIC fax number 0312345678[/p]
[div id="form"]
[form action="" method="post" id="frmNoFax"]
[table]
[tr]
[td style="text-align:center;"]Fax ID:[/td]
[td][input name="faxcode" id="faxcode" type="text" maxlength="20" /]
[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td style="text-align:center;"]Fax Number:[/td]
[td][input name="fax" type="text" maxlength="20" /][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td][/td]
[td style="text-align:center;"][input name="stop" type="image" value="Remove Me" src="./images/removebtn.png"/][br /][/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[/form]
Kane
Tuesday 7th October 2008 | 02:55 PM...in response to this comment by Pete. Hi Pete
Having an empty "action" string doesn't mean the form does nothing - although probably not strictly standards compliant, I'd be surprised if any browser has an issue with it - most browsers will just post back to the current page.
If you test out the form (for example, by not entering anything and pressing submit), you'll notice some validation is done on the server side, so it's at least doing something..
(obviously this doesn't neccessarily mean that anything is done when a valid fax number is entered!!)
Cheers
Kane
Pete
Monday 20th October 2008 | 11:39 AMYep Kane,
I agree but It could also be done on the client too using CSS [I checked and its not] or via a redirect to a parent frame on another site [I have no way to check this] or a myriad of other methods. The point is that after I entered my correct details a number of times I realised that something was amiss and took a look at the source.
It obviously raised a very red flag when viewing the non-compliant code. The question is...
"Why would a company offering a legitimate service use non-complant code?" ... surely not to stop being spammed, hacked, cracked, infected by worms and trojans or otherwise dehumanised and demoralised - just as we are.
Pete
Google is currently (as of Nov 2008) listing http://www.nofax.com.au/ as an attack site trying to upload malware to visitors.
Google data and info is here:
Julie
Wednesday 21st January 2009 | 09:20 PM...in response to this comment by Mark. Hi Mark,
I have a feeling i have been wroughted from this DRU mob. They called me last year and asked me if i wanted to be part of this cheap holliday destinations for $198. We had just been on a holiday before that with Accor, who rang and charged exactly the same amount. Me being a bit stupid i guess, just thought it was them calling again to offer another cheap holiday as it was legitimate.
Anyhow they did not get back to me in the time frame they were meant to and whenever i have and still do try to call them, you can NEVER get through to an actual person, they call back sometimes. Another funny thing that happened was that they asked for my credit card number. I told her that she already had it from before and she said to just give it to her again. Weird?
We decided on a holiday spot and they chose a place we werent happy with. Before that though, 'she', calling herself Donna, (whom i get every single time) charged me $49 booking fee without even confirming over the phone.
Ever since these things have been happening i have been extremely suspicious which i why i guess i came across you guys on this chat thing.
Have you had the same sort of problem, and how are you going with the whole court order thing? I would love to take action but i just dont know whether it is worth it.
Regards, julie
Susi
Tuesday 17th February 2009 | 06:36 PM...in response to this comment by Mark. Hi Mark,
What is the druholidays scam? I was about to book a holiday with them in Thailand, I won a voucher...Please let me know, sounds dodgy!
Su
Mark
Tuesday 28th April 2009 | 01:02 PM...in response to this comment by Susi. To Julie and Susi
Re DUR Destinations R Us.
Sorry for the late reply but I have not looked at this website for a while. There is an outsatnding Sherriff's Warrant against this company run by Malcolm Ford and his wife Feda. This scam is still running but with a different telephone number. There is no office and the Sherriff cannot seize any goods at Malcom Ford's home address at 10-11 Marian Crescent Eltham North, Victoria as the Sherriff cannot get into the house. The Sherriff has tried 4 times. If anyone has lost money in this scam please contact me on as I would like to commence bankruptcy proceedings against Malcolm Ford. Consumer Affairs Victoria has receive numerous complaints against DRU but like typical bureaucrats, have not stopped this scammer, claiming they are still gathering information, this is over a year since I notified them of this scam. Even today, I received an unsolicited fax from DRU with only 1 phone number.
Mark
Ken
Wednesday 20th May 2009 | 08:23 AM...in response to this comment by Susi. Hi Susi
Don't know about the problems that Mark has had, but I booked a holiday with DUR, and have had a wonderful holiday, the thing that convinced me was their guarantee that you couldn't beat their price, and I couldn't I tried everything and everywhere, in the end I just booked with them, and I will certainly give them a testimonial to put on their website, I don't know about unsolicited faxes but as far as only one number, they have a 1800 number and millions of companies with 1800 numbers only have one number, but they also have an Victorian phone number and an email address.
Don't know if this will help, Mark has obviously had more problems than I have had successes, as far as I'm concerned it was a normal holiday booking and I didn't lose any money.
Ken
Mark
Saturday 23rd May 2009 | 04:23 PM...in response to this comment by Ken. Ken
If this company was fair dinkum, why do they lie about their address when you ask them where they? Why do they not refund money when they cannot provide the accommodation as per the voucher? Why is there a Judgement/Order against them? The address they gave me was Level 8, 322 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. This does not exist. The registered adress according to ASIC records is 10-11 Marian Court Eltham North Victoria. The Sheriff was twice refused access to execute a warrant. The registered address and phone number changes regularly. The latest is . This is the 3rd in a year. I have a letter from the Hon. Tony Robinson MP Minister for Consumer Affairs where he says "Destinations R Us was named in the Consumer Affairs Victoria Annual Report for 2006-2007". The scammers are Malcolm Ford, his wife, Feda and Avinash Abraham. Other names they operate under are Cedar Club Operations Pty. Ltd. and Prospect Marketing. If you still think they are a legitimate company, ask them where they are, they will refuse to tell you, or you will get a false address. They even lie about their names when you ring them. Try it.
at last, the perfect enhansment for the tortilla. I like mine with plenty of mayo.
F-
ken
Sunday 24th May 2009 | 01:14 PM...in response to this comment by Mark. Mark
Sorry to hear about all your troubles with DUR but as I said earlier I didn't have a problem with them, I wonder why Hon. Tony Robinson MP and Consumer Affairs Victoria don't do something for you, it sounds like you have been trying hard to get your money back.
ken
Mark
Sunday 24th May 2009 | 05:50 PM...in response to this comment by ken. Ken
If I had a suspicious mind, I would suspect you work for DRU and spreading misinformation. CAV and Tony Robinson's line is that they can only approach companies on consumers' behalf. Legal action is up to the individual consumer.
Read the comments by others above, especially by Yasmee and Julie above. Even Den found that listing http://www.nofax.com.au/ as an attack site trying to upload malware to visitors. This is on the bottom of the faxes from DRU. Why would you do this if you were a legitimate company? Did you find out the office address for DRU? Probably not.
I am working to bankrupt Malcolm Ford and DRU. If anyone else has been scammed, my email is
Ken
Tuesday 2nd June 2009 | 11:09 AM...in response to this comment by Mark. Hi Mark
No I do not work for DUR, I work in retail in Adelaide, all I said was I booked a holiday and it was a wonderful holiday, surely I am not the only person in Australia to have done so?
If I am then your job would be easy there would be 1,000's of people out there to help you.
I hate people who rip others off as it has happened to me in the past, so I feel sorry for you and everyone else who has been caught.
Hope you get your money back.
Ken
Paul
Wednesday 7th October 2009 | 06:11 PMI have also been ripped off by Destinations R Us. They no longer have a telephone number and all contact is by email. Not a legitimate business.
Lizzie
Friday 5th February 2010 | 07:01 AMI work for an energy retailer (for another fortinght at least) and have been handling a complaint from Malcolm Ford, currently trading as Cedar Club... They do have an ABN and so are a registered business... unsurprisingly the only contact number I have is a mobile. Site address is in an industrial estate.
Liz
Friday 26th March 2010 | 02:31 PMI, too, have been scammed by DRU. Mark, I have sent you an email as I am furious at the runaround this company is giving me.
Mark
Friday 26th March 2010 | 10:18 PMHi Liz
How you go about this depends on who you made the contract with originally to purchase the tickets.
If you don't mind spending a bit more money and time, try this. Look for the Australian Business Number (ABN).
In my instance, the ABN number was .
Find out from ASIC http://www.search.asic.gov.au/gns001.html the status of the entity that you dealt with.
Malcolm Ford T/AS Destinations R US 10-11 Marian Court, Eltham North, Victoria 3095.
If they have been deregistered than you can only file a complaint with the Department of Justice, Consumer Affairs Victoria. If enough people complain, they may do something. They have already made adverse findings agaisnt DRU and the more noise and publicity the better.
You can also write to the Minister for Consumer Affairs in Victoria.
If the entity is still registered, you can simply go to your Local Court and make a small claim against the entity. You didn't say which State you are in but in NSW, it costs $73.00 for a Statement of Claim. If you do not wish to deliver the Claim yourself to DRU, you can have it sent by post for another $31.00. This will force DRU to either file a defence in Court or not to contest the Claim. If they file a defence, they will incur expenses (legal fees) and probably lose anyway. In my case, they did not file a Defence as I filed in Sydney and they are in Melbourne so the cost to them would have been more than if they simply repaid me. Wait until the day after the mandatory 28 day and get a Cout judgement in your favour.
If you are in Victoria, you can sent the Sherriff after them. Otherwise you need to get your Judgement registered in the Magistrates Court of Victoria at Melbourne before sending the Sheriff after them. In my instance Malcolm Ford gave the Sheriff the run around and it was a pretty pissweak effort by the Sheriff so I did not get any goods to sell. However, my aim now is to get enough people win enough judgements against Malcolm Ford so that I can commence bankruptcy proceedings against him. The minimum amount is $2,000.00 to commence proceedings.
This will force Malcolm Ford to appear to be examined rather than hiding to avoid the Sheriff.If he does not appear, he can be declared a Bankrupt. He may not be willing to be declared a bankrupt for such a small amount and may repay the money.
Hope this helps. Tell me if anything develops.
Regards
Mark
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:28:29 +1100
Subject: Destinations R Us
To:
Hi Mark,
I found your address on the website https://rustylime.com/show_article.php?id=252
I hope you don't mind me contacting you, as I have had a similar issue to "Julie" who has also posted on that site. I purchased four vouchers from DRU at a cost of $397 in May 2008. I was told I could use them at any time at "hundreds of Accor and other hotels around the world". I understand they had my number as I had previously bought a similar Accor voucher and had a great experience with them.
Earlier this year I booked a trip to Sydney through DRU, and, after a month, managed to get my booking confirmed. We have yet to take the trip, so I can only hope the booking actually exists.
I then tried to book another two trips, only to be told that I can only book one voucher every 12 months. As you can see, with four vouchers, each of which expires two years after issue, it would be impossible for me to use "only one every 12 months".
I then called DRU demansing a refund for the three remaining vouchers. I was sent to 24x7, the sponsor (which operates under four other names). 24x7 have now given me the runaround for a month. They first offered to extend the life of the vouchers, and when I said no, they have now stated that only "UpMarketing PTY LTd" who took my money in the first place, can give me the refund. Up Marketing have been deregistered by ASIC (conveniently).
I then called ProspectMarketing/Destinations R Us where a fellow named Oliver answered the phone, informed me theyonly sell the vouchers for DRU, but he will have someone call me this coming monday. Needless to say, I won't be waiting by teh phone.
I understand the woman who works at DRU, Donna, is only in the office between 10am and 1pm each day, making it very difficult to contact her.
Sorry to send such a long email - please do contact me as I would like these scammers to stop before some other fool (like me!) loses more money.
Cheers,
Liz.
Christine
Thursday 27th May 2010 | 01:15 PMIf you are getting spam faxes, I encourage you to lodge a complaint with ASIC. It's not yet illegal to send spam faxes, but maybe we can hurry up the legislators by lodging complaints:
This is the ASIC complaint form:
https://www.edge.asic.gov.au/008/complaintV006?get/complainant/t=6ae0d748309f3eedd1d8d637378517a879b26f5e
I just lodged one today against Big City Promotions, who must be one of the worst serial pests in Australia right now. Hopefully they'll soon be shut down.
Mark
Friday 30th July 2010 | 09:56 PMI find the best way to stop faxes is to fax back to the 1300 number and let it clog up their lines for an hour at a time. It cost you nothing as it is a toll free number and by programming your fax to dial the number 30 times, it forces the company to pick up the phone, hear the fax tone then hang up only for the phone to ring again and again. After a while, I ring the number and tell them to take my fax number off their list and they are more than happy to do it.
Geoff
Monday 9th August 2010 | 07:02 AM...in response to this comment by Mark. Hi Mark
We are getting alot of spam emails .I would like to return their annoying fax to them. Can you give me the 1300 number
thank you
Geoff
Bec
Tuesday 17th August 2010 | 08:06 AMJust got a fax from DRU this morning. Mark I'm assuming this is the same Malcolm Ford below...? The PO Box address on the DRU website is coincidently Greensborough as well.......also scamming people as a marketing coach it looks like.
http://www.malcolmford.net/Contact_.htm
Office Address: Suite 6, 83 - 87 Main Street, Greensborough, VIC 3088, Australia.
Office Contact: or
Fax:
E-mail:
Also has links to Skype, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook
Why don't you book an appointment with him for some marketing advice and meet face to face or have the Sherriff try the address above. This comapny of his is also selling holidays with DRU as part of its marketing strategies it sells to its clients. I have seen companies offering holidays as incentives to buy their product in NSW so god only knows how much these companies themselves paid MF for his marketing strategy which in turn earns him more money through DRU.
Mr x
Thursday 16th September 2010 | 04:52 PMHi all, I worked for this Scam company for nearly 1 year before I found out how shonky they are.
The good news for you all is that I have all the dirt that is required on this guy, what names he trades under, where he is, who his affiliates are, office address (the real one which has a two year lease on it) - everything!!!! I have documented proof of everything this guy does. Nobody works there anymore - just Malcom and his 'wife'
There are at least 50 employees that I could get in contact with to testify against him. To all who read this, the parent company is Cedar Club Operations!! They trade under other names such as Destinations r us, Druholidays, mspbusinessgroup and there are a few more also. This guy is a scammer!!! All fax's you get that offer these holidays have him behind it - no matter what the name on the fax is. He ran 24x7 dont be scammed by this fool.
Wds
Wednesday 6th October 2010 | 01:04 PM...in response to this comment by Mr x. Hi Mr X and others....
My wife rang 'Dru Holidays' in June 2010 enquiring about their holiday deals.
She spoke to a sales girl. During the course of the conversation my wife paid $398 by credit card for 3 holiday vouchers.
My wife was told she books the holiday whenever she wants it, and that was all there is to it. It was made to look easy and simple.
About 2 months later me and my wife decide to use one of the vouchers.
Upon making enquiries and filling out a web based booking form, we find out that we must participate in a sales presentation at the hotel during our holiday.
This sales presentation is meant to last at least 90 minutes, but we are not commited to purchasing anything.
Upon making further enquiries I find out the company running the sales presentation, whoever that may be, has paid for our hotel booking, and if we do not cooperate with them we are required to pay for the hotel room ourselves.
My wife was not aware that we would have to sit through a sales presentation.
I have contacted Dru Holidays, but they say my wife was told all this. My wife does not remember being told any of this and she was as surprised as I was once we discovered this small detail.
I have asked Dru Holidays (Malcolm Ford) for a refund, but they (he) refuses and insists we book a holiday.
They suggested I give the vouchers to someone else as a gift.
Basically I do not want to sit through a sales pitch while on holiday and want my money returned.
Does anyone think I going overboard and should just accept my fate?
Cheers Wds
Henk V
Wednesday 6th October 2010 | 03:19 PMWds this is so easy!
If you need irritating lessons contact me.
I got suckered into a special that entailed a sales brief and interrogation. The wife and I put up with the brief and took notes. During the interrogation, we interrogated the sales guy for more than half an hour before he gave up.
Polly and I were a great tag team in that regard (hey, I wouldnt have asked to get married otherwise, she is as sharp as a scalpel).
We were supposed to get gifts and they said that wasnt the case. She had brought the brochure with some worthwhile suitcases as the offer to torture.
we got the suit cases....
The steak knife set sales tag later in the relationship was a classic...
Anything to bug a salesman!
Henk,
Here we are on an outdated article again. We've got to stop meeting like this. With this Random Access, we could end up at a Strip Club if we're not careful. Then what would you do without your S.S.R.I.'s?
I'm a bit concerned about a couple of things in the above article. Firstly, the fax spam. Sometimes I go down to the lunchroom at work, and can't find anything. Now don't get me wrong, I am not nuts over Spam, but when I'm busy, I just want to stop the gap,(hell, I've eaten Pizza Crusts out of the garbage) sometimes a can of spam sounds pretty good, compared to the other possibilities. Dispensed by a fax machine no less.
And then theres this Do Not Call thing. I won $10,000.USD on a phone call once, and you can bet I aint goin' on any list. Here in America, we are willing to stand up for our No Do Not Call List Rights. Jesus...And to think you could make it stop with some code. (Me thinks Mike is behind this somewhere.)
BTW, how are those tickets coming?
Oh hey, on Glenn "Man Overboard" Beck. I thought you might want to see this wack, so here is a link to his Right Wing Religo Fashist Fearmongering Wackidness.
You will get the idea anyway. Sadly, the guy is on a roll here in the States. It's funny how the same people who support Palin, Bush, and Christine O'Connell think Glenn is the new messiah. This is the type of person who people get behind in this country. The bigger the Bullshit, the bigger your following. After all 159,030,402 Catholics can hardly be wrong. Millions mean might, and might means right. Right?
Man, I gotta quit this shit...and to make matters worse, I just found out due to a bungled keystroke that my outdated browser is no longer supported...Smells like burning plastic in here.
Hell, I didn't really want to go to work anyway. Here in America, it's already yesterday, Wednesday, and work goes off in 5 hours.
Remember: Keep doing what you're doing, and you'll keep getting what you've been getting.
f~
Henk V
Wednesday 6th October 2010 | 05:05 PMTis a pity that I am not the SSRI kind of person. Lithium is cheap and innocuous if you dont worry about bone mineral loss and a constant check of your parathyroids at over 45. If both hit at once your femurs fall off (figuratively). Yep my days of roundhouse (ie useless displays of martial artistic dancing) kicks are gone by decades.
My own personal personality disorder (and my own personal Jesus..me) coupled with ridiculous displays of mania are long gone too (well I do pray to myself every morning...Dear George Clooney in a hobbit suit...) thanks to this simple salt. Personally I feel that everybody should be exposed to real natural therapies like lithium, aspirin and arsenic (for the naughty boys with spotted willies.).
Sorry about the air tickets, retirement means retirement from spending but you are welcome to share your saturday male courting displays P2P. I'll get the kids to film me crying, begging and scratching at the door of the empress...P2p direct.
Conversations confuse me at times.. everyone who owns a shop wants to have a chin wag. I lost a kilo of osso bucco between the butchers and the car today. Thankfully it was cheap beef junk and not veal.
Do you think Jake is at tech tonight? Uni is so much fun, I'd like to be back in the 70's, 80's and 90's with only my classical, Pixies and early metal.. And those absolutely drop dead gorgeous viet and korean girls.. sob... I miss those days of toil and anguish! and the girls teasing this silly married man for assignments and student to student tuition.. I drink to forget.
TUSK!
I remember spam and canned corned beef... well enough to want to forget. The fact is, in the sixties, I liked it! Forgive me, I actually was only allowed to use the stove once I was seven.
Henk V
Wednesday 6th October 2010 | 05:06 PMDo you think if I acted as if I was a nutter the Oz government might give me money?
Wds
Thursday 7th October 2010 | 09:52 AM...in response to this comment by Henk V. Hi Henk V
Well personally I believe Malcolm Ford is a Con Artist, pure and simple.
The companies he runs, Destinations 'R' Us, http://www.malcolmford.net, are dodgey to say the least.
My wife purchased 3 holiday vouchers from him, and absolutely nothing was said about the need to sit in on any sales presentations. My wife paid for the vouchers. But only later did she/we find out about this scheme.
This is a common trick played by most high pressure salesmen/companies enticing you into their sales presentations. The price of paying for a hotel room is small compared to the amount they try to fleece out of you.
Stay clear from DRU Holidays, Destinations 'R' us, and his bunch of unethical sales people.
I have asked him for a refund on 3 vouchers I have no intention on using and he doesnt want to know me. He is very Slippery this Mr Malcolm Ford. A number one Con Artist. Avoid him at all costs, because it will cost you if you dont.
Cheers Wds
Henk V
Thursday 7th October 2010 | 10:09 AMHire a wheel chair. Look horribly incapable (a litre of scotch will do the job). Have two packs of incontinence pads visibly in luggage.. get wife to dress as a nurse
Just use a bit of imagination. Salesmen dont like having "handicapped" folk visible in the audience.
If it is Peter Popoff doing the gig, immediately change tactics to dressing as satanists or a gay couple.
Henk V
Thursday 7th October 2010 | 10:12 AMHa ha ha ha... i just saw the site, get two wheel chairs. and get pee bottles. He wont let you whizz for 4 hours.
Mark
Thursday 28th October 2010 | 07:03 AMFor all the people scammed by Malcolm Ford of DestinationsRUS. Go to his new website and tell all his contacts what a crook he is.
http://www.malcolmford.net/_RAVING_FANS32.htm
Unsurprisingly his website has no address or telephone number but is still promoting his scams.
mr x
Tuesday 16th November 2010 | 02:15 PMhow do i make a comment on his website??
Henk V
Tuesday 16th November 2010 | 02:21 PMyou just did..
Henk V
Tuesday 16th November 2010 | 03:17 PMive been getting spam calls from telstra... how apt
Suz
Tuesday 21st December 2010 | 08:22 AM...in response to this comment by Ken. Hi Ken
What is the phone number and email address? Because I have booked through them too and can't seem to get a hold of them.
Thankyou
Suzie
mark
Sunday 16th January 2011 | 05:42 PMHi Suz
I think Ken is just Malcolm Ford or his wife. I have cup and pasted my comments in March 2010 to someone else who got scammed. See above.
Hi Liz
How you go about this depends on who you made the contract with originally to purchase the tickets.
If you don't mind spending a bit more money and time, try this. Look for the Australian Business Number (ABN).
In my instance, the ABN number was .
Find out from ASIC http://www.search.asic.gov.au/gns001.html the status of the entity that you dealt with.
Malcolm Ford T/AS Destinations R US 10-11 Marian Court, Eltham North, Victoria 3095.
If they have been deregistered than you can only file a complaint with the Department of Justice, Consumer Affairs Victoria. If enough people complain, they may do something. They have already made adverse findings agaisnt DRU and the more noise and publicity the better.
You can also write to the Minister for Consumer Affairs in Victoria.
If the entity is still registered, you can simply go to your Local Court and make a small claim against the entity. You didn't say which State you are in but in NSW, it costs $73.00 for a Statement of Claim. If you do not wish to deliver the Claim yourself to DRU, you can have it sent by post for another $31.00. This will force DRU to either file a defence in Court or not to contest the Claim. If they file a defence, they will incur expenses (legal fees) and probably lose anyway. In my case, they did not file a Defence as I filed in Sydney and they are in Melbourne so the cost to them would have been more than if they simply repaid me. Wait until the day after the mandatory 28 day and get a Cout judgement in your favour.
If you are in Victoria, you can sent the Sherriff after them. Otherwise you need to get your Judgement registered in the Magistrates Court of Victoria at Melbourne before sending the Sheriff after them. In my instance Malcolm Ford gave the Sheriff the run around and it was a pretty pissweak effort by the Sheriff so I did not get any goods to sell. However, my aim now is to get enough people win enough judgements against Malcolm Ford so that I can commence bankruptcy proceedings against him. The minimum amount is $2,000.00 to commence proceedings.
This will force Malcolm Ford to appear to be examined rather than hiding to avoid the Sheriff.If he does not appear, he can be declared a Bankrupt. He may not be willing to be declared a bankrupt for such a small amount and may repay the money.
Hope this helps. Tell me if anything develops.
Regards
Mark
lisa
Tuesday 1st March 2011 | 05:36 AMPlease do not sending me the fax because you are wasting my ink many thanks
lisa
Tuesday 1st March 2011 | 05:38 AMPlease do not sending me the fax because you are wasting my ink many thanks code number is DRU11 and my fax number is 98248090
Tish
Thursday 14th July 2011 | 10:00 AMI'm a sceptic. My work keeps getting the faxes & curiosity just got to me, I googled the ABN listed on the fax ABN: plus the trading name Golden Bough Pty Ltd, Suite 2B, 40 Young Street, Frankston Vic 3199, none exist. So I phoned them & spoke to a Mark who said the sale team was busy, he asked for my phone number (I called from work blocking my number), I asked why is the ABN listed non existent, then Mark said try, B 23 55 029B, or www.DRUholidays.com.au. So it did!! The website is actually not .com.au but a .net. I continued to google, and hence found this blog.
I would love to be one of those people who attends the 90 minute session at the resort, and become the 'most difficult' customer they have ever seen. I think the more people who make life difficult for this Malcolm Ford guy the better!
Glad I researched before commiting to anything, seriosly everyone who seriously believes that 14 nights in Bali for $99 is real?
I also found this on http://www.abr.business.gov.au/SearchByAbn.aspx?abn=82689830473
Entity name: FORD, MALCOLM
ABN status: Active from 01 Jul 2003
Entity type: Individual/Sole Trader
Goods & Services Tax (GST): Not currently registered for GST
Main business location: VIC 3130
Trading name(s): DESTINATIONS 'R' US
Oznz Lifestyles
Entity names From To
FORD, MALCOLM 28 May 2007 (current)
FORD, MALCOLM 01 Jul 2003 28 May 2007
ABN Status From To
Active 01 Jul 2003 (current)
Entity type
Individual/Sole Trader
Goods & Services Tax (GST) From To
Cancelled 01 Jul 2004 (current)
Registered 01 Jul 2003 30 Jun 2004
Main business location From To
VIC 3130 03 Nov 2008 (current)
VIC 3095 03 Jun 2005 03 Nov 2008
VIC 3057 01 Jul 2003 03 Jun 2005
Trading name(s) From To
DESTINATIONS 'R' US 01 Jul 2003 (current)
Oznz Lifestyles 03 Nov 2008 (current)
He is providing a service, but not registered for GST??
A simple google can go a long way, this is a total scam & for those who do not take it upon themselves to do their research, well I'm sorry but you will continuely to be sucked into maipulators like this one.
Greg Weir
Wednesday 17th August 2011 | 05:35 PMA Shark for sure - www.askoff.com.au doesn't seem to exist either so I cannot stop the continual faxes wasting my paper and ink.
Sharon
Thursday 29th September 2011 | 07:35 AMFinding the whole discussion fascinating! We have twice purchased vouchers and used them successfully - once for 7 fabulous nights in Florida and once 3 nights in Sydney. Yes we sat through 2 90 minute sessions, but for 7 nights in Orlando for a couple of hundy, we figured it was well worth it. The Sydney one was a little more irritating, but they fed us, so what the heck.
For what it's worth, the latest seems to be Destinations 4U and they are not answering the New Zealand 0800 number at the moment. The recorded message says they are only open Wed - Fri but we are trying right now to no avail. We don't currently have any vouchers but now we really want to find out more.
I look forward to further developments!
equinox
Thursday 27th April 2006 | 09:47 PMthat is some pretty good news. the telmerketers annoy me to no end always trying to sell me security screens or some other shite. I keep telling them to not call me but some other company does anyway. bring on the do-not-call list!