DO NOT USE game-vouchers-uk.co.uk

Mod Note: Go Daddy/Godaddy has nothing to do with the scam. They are offering a service.

http://www.game-vouchers-uk.co.uk is a scam. DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE

Thought i'd share my very recent experience of being scammed and then having my bank account completely emptied today.

I was searching for a website to purchase two xbox Live Gold Voucher codes for my son and grandsons Christmas presents.

I came across http://www.game-vouchers-uk.co.uk - DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE

Yesterday it had a few reviews on it. Today they have been removed.

It also displays in its logo/banner area that it is a 'Limited Company'. (Although further investigation reveals that it is NOT registered as a Ltd or Limited company in the UK).

I ordered my items and was told that it was 'pending'. These downloads should happen instantly.

Over the next 24 hours and after repeated attempts at contacting the website through the contact form and an email address hidden in their privacy policy i am still without any items.

Today i received a call from my bank informing me that my bank account had unusual activity and that more than £800 had been spent to purchase items online using the details submitted to that website. (For reasons i wont explain here, It can only be this website that had these bank details).

My bank confirmed that £35 of this £800 stolen was recorded as being sat in the named bank account of this website. A clear record of them taking money from my credit card but I am yet to receive any 'instant' download or any response to my repeated messages to this scam website.

Further investigation reveals that the social media links (twitter, facebook etc) on game-voucher-uk.co.uk are not related to the website. No affiliation whatsoever.

The websites T&C's also direct you to a company called CDKeys as a further contact. I contacted CDKeys to be told that they have no affiliation whatsoever to game-vouchers-uk.co.uk.. (CDKeys are a genuine business).

The domain name, http://www.game-vouchers-uk.co.uk, was registered with Go Daddy on 12/12/2015 and it's details can be found by using the 'Whois' lookup. It was registered by an Andrew Thurman of 37 Cherry Tree Drive, Duckmanton, Derbyshire, S44 5JL, who is also the ex company director of 7 'dissolved' 'online trading' companies.

I have reported this to Go Daddy, who's customer services did a merry dance and asked me to email them with full details. I emailed them with full details and asking them to take this website down. I received a heavily worded generic email response from Go Daddy with little in the way of help or a solution. THE CRIMINALS WEBSITE IS STILL UP AND RUNNING, even as i type this.

I have also contacted Nominet UK. They are next to useless also and can do nothing unless asked to do so by the police or uk trading standards.

So we can be scammed and report being robbed and scammed and nothing gets done. Go Daddy can kiss my behind and will not see any business from me in future. They simply aid and abet criminals.

This website is clearly set up for fraud and criminal activity.You have been warned

Please spread the word far and wide. DO NOT USE http://www.game-vouchers-uk.co.uk

I am so angry but I am fortunate that my bank will eventually reimburse me the £800 that this criminal stole from me but at an inconvenience because my bank cards have been cancelled so i cant access any funds to finish my Christmas shopping. My internet banking has been put on hold. I can no longer access any funds until after Christmas. Yet this thief casually walked into a Currys store to pick up £800 worth of goods bought using my banking details and Go Daddy and Nominet UK do nothing about it to prevent it happening to soemone else. THE BLOODY WEBSITE IS STILL UP. IT IS A SCAM AND IS PHISHING FOR YOUR DETAILS.

Be warned.

My bank is investigating through its own fraud department and i believe that they also contact the police as a matter of course.

Can anyone else suggest who else this can/should be reported to so that i can get this website taken down as soon as possible?

Can anyone else suggest who else this can/should be reported to so that i can get this website taken down as soon as possible?

First of all, if you haven't done so report it to actionfraud : www.actionfraud.police.uk/

I can't answer your ?, SK2015. What I can tell you is that the internet can be a "dog eat dog" world, and it is up to you to protect yourself from things like this. A look at the registration reveals the following :

Domain name:
game-vouchers-uk.co.uk

Registrant:
Andrew Thurman

Registrant type:
Unknown

Registrant's address:
37 Cherry Tree Drive
Duckmanton
Chesterfield
Derbyshire
S44 5JL
United Kingdom

Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 11-Nov-2014

Registrar:
GoDaddy.com, LLP. [Tag = GODADDY]
URL: http://uk.godaddy.com

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 12-Dec-2015
Expiry date: 12-Dec-2016
Last updated: 15-Dec-2015

Registration status:
Registered until expiry date.

Name servers:
ns43.domaincontrol.com
ns44.domaincontrol.com

WHOIS lookup made at 23:21:58 23-Dec-2015

You made a purchase from a website that is only 2 weeks old, and that is extremely risky. Not to mention the fact that since it is a one year registration, that is a virtual sure sign of a scam operation that does not plan on being in business for very long.

I'm sorry you were scammed, and I hope your bank is able to get your funds returned to you and there aren't many hassles involved along the way.

Please read this to help you understand what to look out for in scam websites : http://419advancefeefraud.blogspot.com/ ... their.html

Thanks HillBilly, appreciate your time.

I filled out the lengthy report form on actionfraud only to be told at the end of the form that not every report is looked at. Kinda feel I wasted my time with that.

Only as an after-thought did I find the same information on ‘Whois’ that you provided above and I had intended on leaving the URL to it. Thanks for showing it.

We live and learn and I suppose that if everyone was aware of how to make these simple checks to see how long a website has been live and what to look for on the site itself we would all be better off.

The bank will reimburse me so I won’t be out of pocket, which is a bonus I suppose but being scammed like this is so demoralising and makes me feel so stupid and angry. The fact that I know where he lives and although it is 2 ½ hours away I want to go knockin and give him something to remember me by. Certainly got a few people around me wanting to do just that at the moment.

Anyway, tomorrow is another day and it is Christmas so I suppose we ned to mellow for a few days at least. He will get his in return.

Thanks also for the link.

Merry Christmas

The scammer used all fake details. He does not live where you think he does.

Do not feel bad about falling for this fraud. Victims from all walks of life have fallen to these crimes. If they did not work the scammer would do it.

Mod Note: Go Daddy/Godaddy has nothing to do with the scam. They are offering a service.

I believe he is the person mentioned above, unless you know something that i don't. He has a history of failed online businesses going back to 2009. He is on the electoral role here in the UK as to is his female partner who also has failed businesses. She is likely to be his sidekick. Time will tell.

The bank account that he used to deposit the £35 must lead somewhere. Quite difficult to set up a bank account without leaving a trail and the banks fraud investigation team are already onto that.

He (or someone he knows) also picked up his goods from a known store at a known time. CCTV will deal with that.

Ultimately, the more that is written negatively about game-vouchers-uk.co.uk and Andrew Thurman the better chance that other people will be deterred.

If domain registrars where as quick and as keen to shut these con men down as they are at taking the measly $1 it cost this con man to set up through Go Daddy then we may not experience so much fraud online.

Boycote those domain names who operate this way. I certainly will never use or recommend Go Daddy to anyone due to their poor response. The site is still up and is being permitted to Phish for your details.

This specific case of criminal activity using a registered domain name has been known to Go Daddy for more than 8 hours now and they still have done absolutely nothing about it. I wonder how much this con man has managed to steal in that time?.

Scammers will often use identities of others.

Sadly to say in the UK it is common for scammers to open fraud bank accounts only to withdraw the money immediately and vanish. They will sometimes use unknowing mules to do same. The scammer will then open a new account to further his crime.

As to the camera surveillance you are correct.

If you believe this person is real and can be located please let us know.

Hello Everyone,

I came across this site and was tempted to purchase but I didn't for a number of reasons.

I work in website design and seo so I've got a keen eye and I know what to look out for.

I googled the domain name and found this site which was to no surprise to me so i did a little digging and pulled a few favours from a few old colleagues of mine from go daddy.

Firstly I'd like to say that the Whois domain registrant info is not accurate and shouldn't be taken as accurate although it could well be that person, the chances are slim to none and people can get wrongfully accused when they have done nothing wrong.(if only it was that easy )

Although we would all like to drive over to their houses if we knew where they lived and beat the living daylights out of these people, this is not a wise choice. They tend to be gangs that turn around these websites like they are on a production line and are usually involved in other crime, plus you could land yourself in some serious bother with these people and don't forget they have your name and address. (It's not worth the risk)

The only way in which to find out who registered or at least paid for the domain is to have the domain provider flip the registrant information which I have asked my associate at go daddy to do. (Hasn't worked yet though but he assures me it will be done)

He has also frozen the go daddy account and took the site offline pending investigation.

And although he can't endulge in personal details from the account he did tell me that the account owner and domain owner do not match so they have been changed after purchase which means our friend currently on the Whois is very likely a victim of identity theft.

All in a mornings work

Be safe guys and if it looks to good to be true it probably is.

This guy is still active, but with a different domain. He's now using simplyxboxlive.co.uk

Whois: http://www.nominet.uk/whois/?query=simp ... is-results

"Domain name:
simplyxboxlive.co.uk

Registrant:
Andrew Thurman

Registrant type:
Unknown

Registrant's address:
39 George Street
Mansfield Woodhouse
Mansfield
NG19 9BW
United Kingdom"

My card was entered on this website last week and came up as a failed transaction. I didn't think any more about it until I saw a purchase had been made at an online store for some motor parts (I can't say why at that minute, but if you entered your card on one of these sites you should definitely look out for purchases of motor/car related items on your statements!). I rang the store my card was used at, and sure enough, the delivery used my card details, but the items were delivered to an Andrew Thurman, postcode S42 6ND. Coincidentally, that is VERY to near me (I'm very tempted to go and knock on the door and ask him to explain himself!!!).

I did some digging and found this page, and quite a few other pages where people had been done by the same name (the name may be a ruse or identity theft of course!). If you search "simplyxboxlive" you'll find quite a few online reports of fraud, there's a facebook page full of people, and some trust website reviews. It seems like this guy has been pretty prolific.

I spoke to Action Fraud. They were very interested to hear the links I'd found between the website I'd been ripped off on, and the website in the top post here, and the other people I'd found online. The more links they can find between cases the bigger a priority it becomes, so if you've been ripped off, please update your case by giving them this case number: NFRC160701472990

And of course, to state the obvious, if you haven't contacted them already, please do so as a matter of priority. Whoever this is (Andrew Thurman or someone else) is not being careful, they are using traceable transactions and should be fairly easy to find and prosecute once we start the ball rolling!

One more small details: he's hosted it on godaddy again. I'm currently in the process of e-mailing their abuse team.

He's also had a website up on simplyxboxlive.com (note, in addition to .co.uk! so this is at least the third site he's been active on).

Trustpilot reports here: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/simplyxboxlive.com

This guy is still active, but with a different domain. He's now using simplyxboxlive.co.uk

Whois: http://www.nominet.uk/whois/?query=simp ... is-results

"Domain name:
simplyxboxlive.co.uk

Registrant:
Andrew Thurman

Registrant type:
Unknown

Registrant's address:
39 George Street
Mansfield Woodhouse
Mansfield
NG19 9BW
United Kingdom"

Thanks for the new information, ZZZ. One of the most important indicators of fraud is the single year registration on the domain. Combined with the fact that it was recently registered, and that those pilot reports that claim it is real were made before the domain itself even existed makes it a sure fraud. The other option is it used to be an honest, real domain and the former owner gave it up. Most whois services only post up to date information, not historical information of domains. Some whois services offer historical information for additional fees, which most people do not want to spend even though the money could save them a big loss in the long run.

canonical name simplyxboxlive.co.uk.
aliases
addresses 160.153.18.20
Domain Whois record

Queried whois.nic.uk with "simplyxboxlive.co.uk"...

Domain name:
simplyxboxlive.co.uk

Registrant:
Andrew Thurman

Registrant type:
Unknown

Registrant's address:
39 George Street
Mansfield Woodhouse
Mansfield
NG19 9BW
United Kingdom

Data validation:
Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 04-May-2016

Registrar:
GoDaddy.com, LLP. [Tag = GODADDY]
URL: http://uk.godaddy.com

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 01-May-2016
Expiry date: 01-May-2017
Last updated: 01-May-2016