Website owners - BEWARE!

A client recently got an email, apparently coming in from Manas Hosting asking for “…. all ur domain names, controlpanel url, login ID paswd of ur domains + secret key / authentication code ….“.

The client is in the process of transferring his domain name and hosting to my Website Solutions firm viz. CREAIMA (formerly mailnspace) and therefore called me up to inquire about this mail. Fortunately, he isn’t naive to fall for this trick. But this is just to warn all those who own domain names and/or websites. BEWARE! Do not fall for such tricks.

Here’s the full text of the mail - VERBATIM. Check out the spellings and grammer. I wanted to preserve the formatting (and colour combination) of the mail as well. But it was would spoil the decency of my blog. I therefore resisted the temptation.

From: Transfer [mailto:transfer@manashosting.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 2:30 AM
To: xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx
Cc: xxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxx
Subject: Re: Vinay: for Domain Transfer : easiest & correct steps…thanx :xxxxxx.xxx
Importance: High

Dear Client,

this is about ur domain transfer which is in other server

we need such co-operation from ur side, please kindly do the need ful

very fast: these status should b OK

Domain Status: pendingTransfer in whois look up

Please provide us all ur domain names, controlpanel url, login ID paswd of ur domains + secret key / authentication code for ur domain trasnfer to our server fast. thanx

& Please put ur email id in w[] hois look up

Thanx a lot for ur best support & more co-operation

Awaiting ur quick & positive response.

Thanx
Best Regards
Vinay
Manashosting

Buck up guys! People are getting more net-savvy! Such tricks no longer work.

There is one very objectionable thing that I noticed at a few forums. Whenever there is a thread with negative reviews of this hosting company, there is always some posts by newly registered users that praise their services! Do they think most people are idiots? I will not be surprised if I find such comments on this post as well!

While on the subject, here are some of the negative reviews/opinions on Manas Hosting that I could find in 15 minutes of googling.

Full Review: http://www.ashishmehta.com/blog/2008/12/website-owners-beware/