ASICs new scamseek and wealth tips online

N

NigelW

FYI

There's an article on p43 of today's Fin Review which talks about new automated software called Scamseek that ASIC is using to surf the net to identify potentially illegal sites.

The article mentions that www.wealthtipsonline.com.au has been ordered closed by ASIC but gives no further details. Checking out the site showed this message:

Wealth Tips Online Is currently being revamped.

In the mean time we recommend you check out all the great information at: http://www.propertyinvesting.com
Click to expand...

Steve McKnight occasionally visits this forum. I wonder if he'd care to comment?

Cheers
Nigel.
 
Does the article give any details about what criteria they use to "identify potentially illegal sites" ?
 
Sim said:
Does the article give any details about what criteria they use to "identify potentially illegal sites" ?
Click to expand...

The article says the software searches for "catchphrases and slogans" and then drilled down to documents which had "scam like" characteristics.

I assume it's something more sophisticated than just googling "make me really rich really quick with no money and no effort" :D

Cheers
Nigel.

ps. couldn't find a mention of it on ASIC's website from a quick look. But a google search found this 2003 article which may be the genesis of the software http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/03/1044122320865.html
 
wealthtipsonline was Steve's first site, which was subscriber based and began well, but eventually wound down. I was an early member to the site and initially found it great- Steve and his accounting partner (Dave, I think) answered posts in detail and I found it good value for money, as the wealth of knowledge suited my strategies at the time. However, the last time I went on, activity had slowed and posts were taking more than days to be answered. I guess, as Steve and Dave became busier, they had less time and resources to dedicate to the site- after all, they were busy buying and onselling half of regional Victoria at the time! :)
I'm actually surprised to see the site still being revamped, as propertyinvesting.com has been around for some time now. One would assume this was the replacement for the first site.
 
Sim,

ASIC is actually launching a big campaign against websites atm as they've figured out that they're being used to run a lot more scams than seminars.

They are only playing with scamseek atm though.

For more on scamseek look at: http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~lkmrl/scamseek.htm

Symantec have done some interesting stuff with Brightmail for email scam detection as well - though much more brute force :)

Cheers,

Aceyducey
 
Hi,

Someone from the ASIC wrote to me a few months back about my old website www.WealthTipsOnline.com

They had two main gripes with me:

1. That the site made mention in my qualifications that I was a registered company auditor when in fact I had resigned.

2. That the site made mention in my qualifications that I was a company director of WealthTipsOnline Pty Ltd when in fact the company had been wound up (voluntarily as we got sick of paying too much in unnecessary ASIC company fees given my main website had become www.PropertyInvesting.com).

I explained to them that the information was correct at the time of writing but had since been made incorrect with the passage of time. While they were happy with me changing the text to reflect my resignation of both positions, I decided to just take the whole site down as the information was due for a revamp - which is what I did and that was the end of the matter.

To suggest the site was closed by ASIC as some sort of scam is totally incorrect though. It seemed they had no problem with 99% of the content, just the issues I mentioned earlier. No one from AFR called me for clarification either.

The whole matter was all quite friendly I'd have to say.

Regards,

Steve McKnight
 
SteveMcKnight said:
No one from AFR called me for clarification either.
Click to expand...

Not a surprise really given the standard of journalism these days.

Facts are becoming more and more optional in the press.

Cheers,

Aceyducey
 
Hi Steve

AFR has done an expanded article on Scamseek (see p38 16 August 2005).

Again it mentions wealthtipsonline being "taken offline as a result of ASIC's investigations".

The article also quotes ASIC's exec director of enforcement saying that "the beauty of the Scamseek technology is in its ability to zero in on true scams". My emphasis.

If things are as you say I'd be mightily peeved about the inference the article is drawing...

Cheers
N.
 
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