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Vonage customers - Is this legit?

jeremy.king

jeremy.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 23, 2002
5,479
1
Holly Springs, NC
All,

I got an email supposedly from Vonage (I am a customer) claiming to offer IPO pricing on stock when they go public. They have officially filed for public trading, but to my knowledge, haven't gone public nor released a date. The weird part is that the email is very suspicious in that its generic, doesn't mention my name or any information about me then encourages me to a different URL...So my thought is SCAM!

Your thoughts?!??!?!?

Edit: update...Just tried to register using bunk information, but its validates and and picked up on that false info...could this be legit?

Edit #2: Looking back at other emails - anything account related always had my acct# and billing name included in the contents. The newsletters do not have any specific information...


As you may know, Vonage has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) related to its proposed initial public offering (IPO) of common stock. Because much of
our success is attributable to our customers, we have asked the underwriters of the IPO to reserve
shares of common stock for sale to certain Vonage customers at the IPO price in a Directed Share
Program.

You may be eligible to participate in the Directed Share Program if you meet certain eligibility
requirements, including having been a Vonage customer from December 15, 2005 through February 1,
2006. You do not need to continue to be a Vonage customer in order to participate. Further
information about the terms and conditions of the Directed Share Program, including the eligibility
requirements and the process for participating in the program, are available in our registration
statement and at the following website:

http://www.vonageipo.com

Thank you,

Vonage


Vonage Holdings Corp. has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus) with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the offering to which this communication relates. Before
you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents Vonage
Holdings Corp. has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the issuer and this
offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC Web site at http://www.sec.gov.
Alternatively, the issuer, any underwriter or any dealer participating in the offering will
arrange to send you the prospectus if you request it by calling toll-free 1-866-869-5224.

This is a transactional communication, as defined by the CAN-SPAM Act, 15 USC 7701.
Click to expand...
 
yellow

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
What is the source IP/DNS entry of the email?

Beyond that.. the IP for the website isn't owned by Vonage, it's owned by "Savvis" from Cary, NC. It's just a webhosting place..

I'd say it wasn't legit. No.

Code: 
Search results for: 216.74.162.26


OrgName:    Savvis 
OrgID:      SAVVI-2
Address:    3300 Regency Parkway
City:       Cary
StateProv:  NC
PostalCode: 27511
Country:    US

ReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.savvis.net:4321/

NetRange:   216.74.128.0 - 216.74.191.255 
CIDR:       216.74.128.0/18 
NetName:    SAVVIS
NetHandle:  NET-216-74-128-0-1
Parent:     NET-216-0-0-0-0
NetType:    Direct Allocation
NameServer: DNS01.SAVVIS.NET
NameServer: DNS02.SAVVIS.NET
NameServer: DNS03.SAVVIS.NET
NameServer: DNS04.SAVVIS.NET
Comment:    
RegDate:    
Updated:    2004-10-07

OrgAbuseHandle: ABUSE11-ARIN
OrgAbuseName:   Abuse 
OrgAbusePhone:  +1-877-393-7878
OrgAbuseEmail:  abuse@savvis.net

OrgNOCHandle: NOC99-ARIN
OrgNOCName:   Network Operations Center 
OrgNOCPhone:  +1-800-213-5127
OrgNOCEmail:  ipnoc@savvis.net

OrgTechHandle: UIAA-ARIN
OrgTechName:   US IP Address Administration 
OrgTechPhone:  +1-800-213-5127
OrgTechEmail:  ipadmin@savvis.net

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-05-07 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.
 
jeremy.king

jeremy.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 23, 2002
5,479
1
Holly Springs, NC
Full email headers - doesn't look legit...I also notified Vonage to see if it is a real offer.

From Vonage IPO Information Mon May 8 05:53:22 2006
X-Apparently-To: XXXXX@yahoo.com via 66.163.179.153; Mon, 08 May 2006 07:13:11 -0700
X-Originating-IP: [129.41.78.149]
Return-Path: <v-hobja_lbbgollj_oijjjh_oijjjh_a@vonage.bounce.abacus-email.com>
Authentication-Results: mta309.mail.re4.yahoo.com from=vonageipo.com; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 129.41.78.149 (EHLO mail1145.abacus-email.com) (129.41.78.149) by mta309.mail.re4.yahoo.com with SMTP; Mon, 08 May 2006 07:13:11 -0700
Received: by mail1145.abacus-email.com id hbt8ve064rkj for <xxx@yahoo.com>; Mon, 8 May 2006 08:53:22 -0400 (envelope-from <v-hobja_lbbgollj_oijjjh_oijjjh_a@vonage.bounce.abacus-email.com>)
Message-ID: <31581688.1147092802435.JavaMail.root@mailgen04.atlp1>
Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 08:53:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Vonage IPO Information" <donotreply@vonageipo.com> Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Reply-to: donotreply@vonageipo.com
To: xxx@yahoo.com
Subject: Important Customer Information Regarding Vonage's Proposed IPO
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_Part_53544_33408798.1147092789479"
x-mid: 516496
Content-Length: 930
 
yellow

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
I concur.. the site is pretty over the top with FAQs and info and legitimacy.. but I (like you) suspect it's a scam. After all.. isn't this insider trading?
 
eva01

eva01

macrumors 601
Feb 22, 2005
4,720
1
Gah! Plymouth
kingjr3 said:
DONE.

This is probably one of the most sophisticated spam/phishing attempts I have seen...That is, if it is illegitimate...
Click to expand...

or one of the most iffy legitimate emails i have seen
 
CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
Things to look for

1) Lookalike domain names and subdomain extensions
"macrumorsverify.com" has nothing to do with macrumors.com
macrumors.moderator.com is also unrelated to Macrumors, it would be a subdomain on the moderator.com server

2) Corporate mail that originates from a webmail address or a residential dialup address

Look in the headers for where the email originated. If you see AOL, hotmail, yahoo, gmail or any of the other free email services, or if you see a long string with ppp in it somewhere, you can be sure that the mail did not originate within the company in question. -- not on your receive address, but the origin. Sometimes you;ll also see a DSL address in the header -- that may be a residential address or it may be a smaller company that uses a cable or dsl service for their hookup.

3) look for tracking IDs in the headers

The more sophisticated bulk email sending programs embed bounce back and reply tracking codes

v-hobja_lbbgollj_oijjjh_oijjjh_a@vonage.bounce.abacus-email.com

The long string of nonsense could be an identifier of your address, so they can tell if it bounced. If it didn't then your address is valid.
abacus-email.com would appear to be the destination -- again the vonage there is just window dressing, it could be anything they want.

Now, following these guides, you'll get a few false positives, because some legit companies do use outside service providers to send mass mailings to customers, so occasionally a legit email will come from "emailblast.com" and have tracking IDs. I believe this is poor practice, and any company with any smarts will handle their communications in house from their own servers.

Next: does the address it was sent to make sense?
Does Vonage have your Yahoo address as a contact email?
A company should only ever communicate with you through the email address you provided them.
For example, only PayPal has the specific address I use for PayPal emails, which is not public, so any incoming emails 'from' Paypal that are not to that address, are automatically scams.

Does the content make sense?
I highly doubt that Vonage is going to sell shares at a discount to millions of people just because they had a phone. An expert in this area could also verify whether it would even be legal to make such an offer.

First step in any offer is to go to the real company site like vonage.com -- typing it in manually, NOT choosing the link -- and searching for corroborating information. Look in their News Releases and in their Support or customer service or Company information areas. If it is a legit program, it will be announced somewhere there. If it involves stocks on the stock market, it legally HAS to be released through the newswire services before any other announcements are made.
 
jeremy.king

jeremy.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 23, 2002
5,479
1
Holly Springs, NC
Good info CanadaRAM..All things I usually consider...Now for a wrench in the mix - the headers from a legit Vonage newsletter are strangely familar to the message in question...

X-Apparently-To: XXXXX@yahoo.com via 66.163.179.141; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:21:37 -0800
X-Originating-IP: [129.41.78.149]
Return-Path: <v-hcomb_ijndfpbk_kenigg_kenigg_a@vonage.bounce.abacus-email.com>
Authentication-Results: mta328.mail.scd.yahoo.com from=vonage.messages1.com; domainkeys=neutral (no sig)
Received: from 129.41.78.149 (EHLO mail1145.abacus-email.com) (129.41.78.149) by mta328.mail.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:21:37 -0800
Received: by mail1145.abacus-email.com id hvilr2064lcb for <XXX@yahoo.com>; Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:15:47 -0500 (envelope-from <v-hcomb_ijndfpbk_kenigg_kenigg_a@vonage.bounce.abacus-email.com>)
Message-ID: <28683487.1140632147017.JavaMail.root@mailgen01.atlp1>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:15:47 -0500 (EST)
From: "Vonage Customer Care" <vonage@vonage.messages1.com> Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book Add Mobile Alert
Reply-to: vonage@vonage.messages1.com
To: XXX@yahoo.com
Subject: News from Vonage
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_Part_5796_2181074.1140632026150"
x-mid: 470721
Content-Length: 8441
 
CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
It could be legit, it could be a sophisticated fake, or as has happened recently to me, it could be an email service provider who is working both sides of the fence. I had a third party service provider mailing arrive for a legit supplier of ours, and within 10 minutes, 10 more pieces of outright spam addressed with all the same IDs addresses and codes. The service provider charged the company for mailing out to their customer list, then promptly (and illegally) resold the list 10 times to scammers.

The supplier's legal team is on it (after my detailed and persistent complaints, pointing out that they had violated both their own terms and conditions and the Canadian privacy legislation...) and I am hoping they will bring a world of hurt down on that email provider.
 
Z

Zeke

macrumors 6502a
Oct 5, 2002
507
1
Greenville, SC
I think it's legit. I went through and no where did it ask for any personal info (social security, etc...) and they have company balance sheets.

http://reviews.infoworld.com/article/06/04/28/77886_HPvonageipo_1.html?MEDIA NETWORKING

The numbers were all correct so basically it just looks like if you sign up you're reserving the opportunity to buy shares. I would've worried if there was something asking for my bank account info. All it asked for was your Vonage account #.

Here's a phone number for questions
Technical Customer Care
Phone: (866) 431- 9801
Hours: Open 7 days a week from 8:00 am EST to 8:00 pm EST
 
jeremy.king

jeremy.king

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jul 23, 2002
5,479
1
Holly Springs, NC
Zeke said:
I think it's legit. I went through and no where did it ask for any personal info (social security, etc...) and they have company balance sheets.
Click to expand...

I don't like having to enter my acct #...Still no response from Vonage - I'll try calling, but usually end up with a dude who can't speak english. You should have seen me trying to request a wireless router/vonage bridge - I ended up giving up...
 

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CanadaRAM

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Oct 11, 2004
12,417
6
On the Left Coast - Victoria BC Canada
Well, it's a b*tt-stupid move on Vonage's part, setting up a different domain and soliciting by email using an outside provider.

There's nothing on their Vonage.com site, nothing under Corporate, or FAQs, nothing relating when you search for IPO.
 
Transeau

Transeau

macrumors 6502a
Jan 18, 2005
869
13
Alta Loma, CA
I got this email too this morning.

The first problem that I see is that the Vonage Logo is different than the one on the Vonage.com site.

However, the WHOIS information is identical to Vonage's website.
 
yellow

yellow

Moderator emeritus
Oct 21, 2003
16,018
6
Portland, OR
Transeau said:
However, the WHOIS information is identical to Vonage's website.
Click to expand...

It is?? Doesn't look the same to me..

http://www.vonageipo.com

Code: 
OrgName:    Savvis 
OrgID:      SAVVI-2
Address:    3300 Regency Parkway
City:       Cary
StateProv:  NC
PostalCode: 27511
Country:    US

ReferralServer: rwhois://rwhois.savvis.net:4321/

NetRange:   216.74.128.0 - 216.74.191.255 
CIDR:       216.74.128.0/18 
NetName:    SAVVIS
NetHandle:  NET-216-74-128-0-1
Parent:     NET-216-0-0-0-0
NetType:    Direct Allocation
NameServer: DNS01.SAVVIS.NET
NameServer: DNS02.SAVVIS.NET
NameServer: DNS03.SAVVIS.NET
NameServer: DNS04.SAVVIS.NET
Comment:    
RegDate:    
Updated:    2004-10-07

OrgAbuseHandle: ABUSE11-ARIN
OrgAbuseName:   Abuse 
OrgAbusePhone:  +1-877-393-7878
OrgAbuseEmail:  abuse@savvis.net

OrgNOCHandle: NOC99-ARIN
OrgNOCName:   Network Operations Center 
OrgNOCPhone:  +1-800-213-5127
OrgNOCEmail:  ipnoc@savvis.net

OrgTechHandle: UIAA-ARIN
OrgTechName:   US IP Address Administration 
OrgTechPhone:  +1-800-213-5127
OrgTechEmail:  ipadmin@savvis.net

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-05-07 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.

www.vonage.com

Code: 
OrgName:    Vonage Holdings, Inc. 
OrgID:      VONAG
Address:    23 Main St
City:       Holmdel
StateProv:  NJ
PostalCode: 07733
Country:    US

NetRange:   216.115.16.0 - 216.115.31.255 
CIDR:       216.115.16.0/20 
NetName:    DATACENTER
NetHandle:  NET-216-115-16-0-1
Parent:     NET-216-0-0-0-0
NetType:    Direct Assignment
NameServer: AUTH00.KEWR0.S.VONAGENETWORKS.NET
NameServer: AUTH01.KEWR0.S.VONAGENETWORKS.NET
Comment:    
RegDate:    2003-07-18
Updated:    2006-04-19

RTechHandle: ARINC18-ARIN
RTechName:   ARIN Contact 
RTechPhone:  +1-732-365-2698
RTechEmail:  arin-contact@vonage.com 

OrgTechHandle: ARINC18-ARIN
OrgTechName:   ARIN Contact 
OrgTechPhone:  +1-732-365-2698
OrgTechEmail:  arin-contact@vonage.com

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-05-07 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.
 
plinden

plinden

macrumors 601
Apr 8, 2004
4,029
142
Ok, just to maintain the paranoia of you Vonage customers ... so it does appear that Vonage are offering IPO shares, but considering how difficult it is to determine from this email if it's legitimate, how do you know that a phisher hasn't been quick off the mark and crafted his/her own version?
 
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