When ContestLife.com found a shiny looking Telus contest called "The Ultimate TELUS Mobile Internet Package Contest" with only an IP address as the URL, we were suspicious and reluctant to promote it to our loyal audience. So we decided it was not worth publishing on ContestLife.com But this didn’t stop many other contest websites from posting this contest, who are more concerned about delivering contests in quantity, not quality.
Just now it has come to light that this suspicious-looking website is indeed not from Telus. Here is an official response from a Telus representative:
We have conferred with our Web Development Team and our Promotions department and have determined that the Web site included with your inquiry is not a legitimate TELUS contest. We thank you for bringing this to our attention so that we may take the necessary steps to deal with this matter.
We have verified that currently 5 other contest websites are still unaware they are promoting a phishing scam. Have any of you become a victim of the bogus website?
A whois query on the owner of the IP returns this generic company.
OrgName: Webair Internet Development Inc
OrgID: WAIR
Address: 333 Jericho Tpke
Address: Suite 200
City: Jericho
StateProv: NY
PostalCode: 11753
Country: US
The morale of the story is, do your homework before handing over your personal information. A slick-looking website doesn’t cut it.