Thursday, March 08, 2007

Fraudster Wanted?

I admire the human brain's ability to come up with yet another idiotic stuttering cure. Or is the person just a fraud who tries to make money out of desperate people who stutter? Check out for yourself the website Natural therapy for stuttering.

Unfortunately, the website owner does not leave his or her name, so I cannot give him or her Crackpot Award No 3 (after No 1 and No 2). But I have the very strong suspicion that the person is not a true crackpot, because true crackpots love to put their picture on the website and say who they are!!! And I tried to find out the name, but s/he has registered the domain name via a domain name company and therefore the whois information is not available. Interesting. Also, the email address for the contact is a bit suspicious and completely anonymous: PROGRAMSALES@AOL.COM. I therefore strongly suspect that the person wants to defraud people who stutter.

Let's track down the person! Do you stutter and you are a fluent computer hacker, can you please try to track down the person? Thanks! I'll out him or her on my blog. But please no violence! :-) What is your view? Should we send emails to the domain name company and make them aware of the dubious activities? Should we try to find the name and reveal it?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom, this is the registrant of the domain name:

Mark Clay
Natural Therapy for Stuttering
mclaym1@aol.com
3048 West Cortland St Apt 1
Chicago, IL 60647 US
+1.7733843817(FAX)

Tom Weidig said...

Thx a lot! How did you do it? I couldnt find it using http://www.whois.net.

Tom Weidig said...

Adrian challenged me. :-) So I spent more time tracking down the registrant. And I got the same information than Adrian.

Mark Clay
Natural Therapy for Stuttering
mclaym1@aol.com
3048 West Cortland St Apt 1
Chicago, IL 60647 US
+1.7733843817 (FAX)

Somehow the registrant was hidden using the standard whois information. I needed to download a special software called ActiveWhoIs.

Can we find out more about him? Criminal record? phone number? age?

Unknown said...

Go get 'em, Tom! What a crackpot fraud this guy is...he gives almost NO information *about* the contents of his "program" that costs nearly $100USD. Also, he's probably breaking Federal Trade Commission & FDA laws by using the word "cure" in connection with an authentic disorder and his treatment. I've been through FDA-speak training and you simply cannot do it. Once you make medical claims...you are saying your "product" is a drug.

I'm going to email both the FTC and the FDA.

Unknown said...

Go here to report the website to the Federal Trade Commission. I wrote them an email. Now, I am off to the FDA.

https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$solcq.actionview

Unknown said...

This is the letter I sent to the FDA:

"www.naturaltherapyforstuttering.com is advertising a "cure" for stuttering, using homeopathic formulation and therapy. He is charging customers $93USD for a program that offers no research or any details at all about what this product is or does. On the very front page, this content is at the very top: Natural therapy for Stuttering - A Cure

This site preys on the uninformed stutter who is desperate for a cure for their stutter...and as the medical community well knows, there is no such cure. As an informed stutterer and a law student, I keep an eye out for such sellers of "snake oil". To advertise his program and natural homeopathic remedies as a "cure" is potentially an act of fraud and might be against FTC and FDA regulations with regard to selling health supplements, and at the very least, should be investigated to protect any potential consumer who might order from him.

Thank you for your time."

To send your own email:

http://www.fda.gov/oc/buyonline/buyonlineform.htm

Anonymous said...

I guess the name and address on the site's "contact" page are phony:

Galina Tchekan
1002 Montrose Ave. # 183
Chicago, IL 60613

Tom Weidig said...

I am sorry. I completely missed the contact address!!!! So there is an address and a person. So the question is how does this person relates to Mark Clay.

Anonymous said...

I just googled "Galina Tchekan" and found he also has the following therapies for anxiety and OCD.

http://www.alternativetherapyforgad.com/

http://www.solutiontherapiesonline.com/index.html

I think we should all follow law student's advice and report this Clay/Tchekan character to the FDA and FTC. There may also be Illinois state regulatory agencies that we can report him to.

BTW, Tom, I used the whois feature at networksolutions.com to find the Mark Clay info.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Look at the similarity between these three sites. The questions and answers section are almost identical for instance. I bet the therapies are the same too.

Tom Weidig said...

Thx Adrian! I actually found the site just now! I wrote a post! Great minds think alike! :-)

Unknown said...

Wow, I feel like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible! Now...if only I looked like him. *sigh*

Anonymous said...

Founding more (including background check and criminal record) about Galina, in Chicago, is just a matter of money:

http://preview.ussearch.com/preview
/newsearch?&searchLName=Tchekan
&searchFName=Galina&searchZip=60613
&searchState=IL&searchCity=CHICAGO
&TID=0&cid=people&searchtab=people



Fabio

Anonymous said...

Uupps
I read this too late, I purchased the program already..I did not read it yet though.