# HudsonValleyHost Spamming the Helpdesk



## drmike (May 21, 2014)

HudsonValleyHost, subsidiary of VSNX, which is owned fully by ColoCrossing is taking to spamming helpdesks of providers directly...

This ended up somewhere earlier...



> Hello,
> I wanted to take a moment and introduce Hudson Valley Host to you.
> Hudson Valley Host is a member of the VSNX family which offers a variety
> of services including dedicated servers. We offer dedicated servers at
> ...


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## WebSearchingPro (May 21, 2014)

Got one of those earlier, very annoying. I straight up told them not to send us unsolicited sales in tickets ever again.


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## HenriqueSousa - WebUp 24/7 (May 21, 2014)

Unfortunately this is not the first company to do it, we also receive some emails from companies. This will only result in banning their IPs.

- Henrique


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## WebSearchingPro (May 21, 2014)

HenriqueSousa - WebUp 24/7 said:


> This will only result in banning their IPs.


Great idea, I checked our logs and got their IP. Looks like HudsonValleyHost employees are *going through lowendbox posts, page by page*.

If you care to block Ernie, you can apply this .htaccess rule.



```
<Files submitticket.php>
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
Deny from 162.219.179.18
</Files>
```

 

I would like to note that 162.219.179.18 is obviously a VPN IP address due to past history on the IP.

 

So Ernie's user-agent is "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:29.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/29.0" if you happen to get a ticket like that feel free to match that user-agent with the time and you'll get the IP.

 

Shame that HudsonValleyHost spams lowendbox users to make a sale for lowendbox's parent company. Full circle.


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## Virtovo (May 21, 2014)

Got one of these also.  I don't necessarily mind tickets like this; however I told him politely where to go:

"Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately due to the reputation (rightly or wrongly) of VSNX in one of the markets we target I am afraid we cannot consider services at this time.

Regards"


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## Aldryic C'boas (May 21, 2014)

Should cross-post this over to WHT, @drmike.  CC is already on shaky ground there - could be just the push they need to learn a few things about consequences.


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## drmike (May 21, 2014)

Aldryic C said:


> Should cross-post this over to WHT, @drmike.  CC is already on shaky ground there - could be just the push they need to learn a few things about consequences.


Feel free to run with it over there on WebHostingTalk... Anyone....  I am heading out the door now.

Issue I take with it, and probably always will, is CC operating subcompanies then calling it a subsidiary of VSNX.   Talk about intentionally misleading.   Should say a subsidiary of ColoCrossing since that's the public real momentum brand, IP allocation to, etc.


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## Francisco (May 21, 2014)

HenriqueSousa - WebUp 24/7 said:


> Unfortunately this is not the first company to do it, we also receive some emails from companies. This will only result in banning their IPs.
> 
> - Henrique


They aren't the first *colocrossing* company to do it either. There's a post from 2012 where

they were spamming VPS providers to buy from them before they snagged up LE.

I think one of their staffers replied with "well, if you aren't interested just delete it".

Francisco


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## HenriqueSousa - WebUp 24/7 (May 21, 2014)

Francisco said:


> They aren't the first *colocrossing* company to do it either. There's a post from 2012 where
> 
> 
> they were spamming VPS providers to buy from them before they snagged up LE.
> ...


In 2012 I wasn't to involved in the industry, but it is possible.

But you know sometime in the future if they run out of IPs and we block all of them, we will not receive this kind of spamms.

Also a few weeks back some "idiot" from a company used an email with auto responder to send one of those messages, which resulted in a stupid amount of emails sent between the servers.

- Henrique


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## Francisco (May 21, 2014)

HenriqueSousa - WebUp 24/7 said:


> In 2012 I wasn't to involved in the industry, but it is possible.
> 
> But you know sometime in the future if they run out of IPs and we block all of them, we will not receive this kind of spamms.
> 
> ...


Ahahaa so they were creating cross tickets back/forth?

That's terrible.

Francisco


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## TruvisT (May 21, 2014)

They still spam several of my e-mail accounts as well. ;/


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## DomainBop (May 21, 2014)

TruvisT said:


> They still spam several of my e-mail accounts as well. ;/


Email spam annoys me but spam submitted through the ticket systems or contact forms of my websites tends to really piss me off, and the companies that market this way are almost uniformly shit.


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## raindog308 (May 21, 2014)

"We also offer great IP pricing."

This seems to be the current thing among CC shell companies.  See also this from GVH:

http://lowendtalk.com/discussion/27682/gvh-spamming-me-like-no-tomorrow/p1

"We are delighted to announce that we have acquired access to legacy RIPE and IANA IPv4 address blocks and are now able to sell IPv4 addresses to clients WITH ABSOLUTELY NO JUSTIFICATION REQUIRED. This means you can purchase IPv4 addresses in bulk from us for ANY reason/usage you'd like, as long as the usage is legal in the United States (NO SPAMMING or sending DDoS attacks), for example, you can purchase IP addresses for: 1. Just because you want to!"


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## WebSearchingPro (May 21, 2014)

raindog308 said:


> http://lowendtalk.com/discussion/27682/gvh-spamming-me-like-no-tomorrow/p1


Haha, nice to see other people got annoyed too, I finally opted out, since they got banned its constant email spam and their friends inconspicuously reposting emails on LET i.e. that one you linked.


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## Hxxx (May 21, 2014)

I guess is just me that doesn't find that type of offer/spam bad as long as they are genuine. 

But anyway is probably because of all the CC hate that usually runs around here.


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## HenriqueSousa - WebUp 24/7 (May 21, 2014)

Francisco said:


> Ahahaa so they were creating cross tickets back/forth?
> 
> 
> That's terrible.
> ...


Yes, it was pretty bad, after 10 or 15 minutes it created around 12 tickets.



hrr1963 said:


> I guess is just me that doesn't find that type of offer/spam bad as long as they are genuine.
> 
> But anyway is probably because of all the CC hate that usually runs around here.


I think we all consider this emails as spam, because if we need services we search for them. I don't think that we will be following a bot that is opening tickets. And taking the time we could be dedicating to our clients.

On the other day I had to close a big amount of tickets that were created by someone that spammed our HelpDesk, this is not good at all.

- Henrique


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## Francisco (May 21, 2014)

hrr1963 said:


> I guess is just me that doesn't find that type of offer/spam bad as long as they are genuine.
> 
> But anyway is probably because of all the CC hate that usually runs around here.


So because it's 'targetted' it makes it OK? But if it was ViagraCrossing it'd be bad and should be

punished? SPAM is SPAM any way you cut it. Some don't take the 'cold calls' as hard as other types

of spam, but it's still the same.

Francisco


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## DomainBop (May 21, 2014)

> I don't think that we will be following a bot that is opening tickets. And taking the time we could be dedicating to our clients.
> 
> On the other day I had to close a big amount of tickets that were created by someone that spammed our HelpDesk, this is not good at all.


That's my general gripe about any type of SPAM, whether it's email SPAM, comment SPAM, ticket/contact form SPAM etc.  SPAM=decreased productivity due to the time spent dealing with it (not to mention other associated costs in the battle against SPAM). The total cost of dealing with it add up to big money over the course of a year.



> Some don't take the 'cold calls' as hard as other types
> of spam, but it's still the same.


It's ("cold call emails") definitely still the same according to the CAN-SPAM act.


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## GVH-Jon (May 21, 2014)

raindog308 said:


> "We also offer great IP pricing."
> 
> This seems to be the current thing among CC shell companies.  See also this from GVH:
> 
> ...


I can't just simply have thousands of IP addresses laying around.


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## hellogoodbye (May 21, 2014)

GVH-Jon said:


> I can't just simply have thousands of IP addresses laying around.


Speaking for myself only, I would rather see my provider opting to have thousands of IP addresses lying around than to see them handing out free IPs with no justification required and subsequently putting my own IP(s) at risk of getting blacklisted when people inevitably take advantage of the generous offer and use them for spam. You may think what you're doing is generous and that you're just using up something you already have in abundance with little to no consequences, but it's reckless and ill-conceived at best.

Having a lot of something doesn't mean you have to use it all up ASAP in any way you can manage. The IPs aren't going anywhere (unless there's a caveat that I'm not aware of) and that number is a finite one as well. If you truly believe in your company and its growth down the road, it would make plenty more sense for you to hang on to those IPs and require justification since you'll end up using them all eventually.


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## raindog308 (May 21, 2014)

hellogoodbye said:


> You may think what you're doing is generous


No, there's no altruism - he's proud to be a jerk and will tell you so.

"We're IPv4 hoarders who find any way possible to sell IPs in both cheap and bulk, with little to no justification as possible. We follow bare minimum ARIN/RIPE regulations to pass the radar. "

So he know what he's doing is unethical and probably in violation of ARIN, but as long as it "passes the radar" (i.e., he gets away with it and makes 50 cents) he doesn't care.

Eventually, CC will tire of him and find a new orphan to toy with.


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## raindog308 (May 21, 2014)

hrr1963 said:


> But anyway is probably because of all the CC hate that usually runs around here.


Like this is the only place.

Yes, CC is hated here.

CC is also hated on WHT, where they're banned.

CC is also hated even on their own forum, LET.

Where _isn't_ CC hated?


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## HalfEatenPie (May 22, 2014)

raindog308 said:


> Like this is the only place.
> 
> Yes, CC is hated here.
> 
> ...


I don't think the nursery or whatever that address is?


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## Hxxx (May 22, 2014)

oh well. I'm not defending anyone. I enjoy some service there, pretty good actually. I know that some of other users here also enjoy service there (CC or Sub).

Again IMO I don't find that email/spam insulting. Seen worst.



raindog308 said:


> Like this is the only place.
> 
> Yes, CC is hated here.
> 
> ...


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## HalfEatenPie (May 22, 2014)

I think in general people dislike other people contacting them through their helpdesk to promote their product.  Its similar to having solicitors come to your house and try and sell you things, it's just in bad tastes (generally).  

If I recall correctly Limestone Networks did the same thing a while back and it wasn't popular at all.

http://lowendtalk.com/discussion/5328/spammed-by-limestonenetworks/p1

Mostly for me, I simply block their e-mail and IP and delete the "ticket".  "Server selling" Tickets like these get grouped in together with "Buy Pageviews from us!" and "Buy ads from my really low-traffic site for 100/month!".  It gets incredibly annoying over time.  

What they're doing isn't right.  It's an unconventional form of spamming.


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## Coastercraze (May 22, 2014)

Francisco said:


> They aren't the first *colocrossing* company to do it either. There's a post from 2012 where
> 
> 
> they were spamming VPS providers to buy from them before they snagged up LE.
> ...


Yup ColoCrossing limestoned me offering the first month free to switch to them.

List of known offenders:

Limestone

NetDepot

VPS.net

ColoCrossing

Burst.net (although I didn't get hit directly as I already had servers there)

etc...


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## drmike (May 22, 2014)

GVH-Jon said:


> I can't just simply have thousands of IP addresses laying around.


I'll say it in public and to some it won't be news.

You should focus on selling and profiting on the core products (hosting services).   These IPs I swear are your cash positive flow.   You are selling the condiments essentially while giving the burger away at cost or not much above it.

Lots of IP whoring abounds with the IPv4 run down.  I expect foolishness, but that email/offer  for IPs.  Yeah, I wanted to play shake the baby with you.


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## Francisco (May 22, 2014)

Blacklotus did it too.

Staminus had some foul up where a CC field was used instead of a BCC and someone at BL spammed all the customers offering BL services instead.

In the end Jeff simply didn't care and shrugged it as 'Shit happens, delete it'.

Limestone also DMCA'd LE when it was under Joel's control because of their spamming I think.

There was something where they contacted Joel, Joel told them to toss off and posted the email

that came up, at which point the LSN rep DMCA'd them for it.

It hit WHT and was a hilarious thread.

Francisco


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## Francisco (May 22, 2014)

drmike said:


> I'll say it in public and to some it won't be news.
> 
> You should focus on selling and profiting on the core products (hosting services).   These IPs I swear are your cash positive flow.   You are selling the condiments essentially while giving the burger away at cost or not much above it.
> 
> Lots of IP whoring abounds with the IPv4 run down.  I expect foolishness, but that email/offer  for IPs.  Yeah, I wanted to play shake the baby with you.


That is his core product, though. Remember the 100TB bandwidth plans? He justified whatever bandwidth overages he had with 'well I nailed down some VPN companies that bought enough to offset stuff some'. If the plans were constantly profitable he'd still offer them, he wouldn't be banning any sort of transferring of them between potential customers.

It's all silly in the end. I'm sure he'll get a subnet from someone at some point and it'll be mass banned at the major blacklists and he'll suddenly change his tune somewhat.

Francisco


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## drmike (May 22, 2014)

raindog308 said:


> CC is also hated on WHT, where they're banned.
> 
> CC is also hated even on their own forum, LET.
> 
> Where _isn't_ CC hated?


CC isn't banned on WHT, at least Biloh's account isn't... nor is Ernie's...   whole bunch of CC-related companies are banned from WHT though.

LET isn't really CC hatefest lately.   Althought last quarterly Dewlance protest vote struck a cord in that vein. But, most Lowenders these days would accept a VPS from Satan himself if it were, meh, cheaper.  Time to just start that offer,  souls for free-vee-pee-ssss.

CC earns what it gets.  No one can claim CC is a good netizen, that their companies adhere to privacy and common sense and generally are above board.  Then there is the history that preceeds now, the massive spamming (what at least 1% of all spam originates from CC's network).

Hey be my guest, lounge on CC's network.  The place is a honeypot  for the alphabet agencies.


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## Nett (May 22, 2014)

Virtovo said:


> Got one of these also.  I don't necessarily mind tickets like this; however I told him politely where to go:
> 
> "Hi there,
> 
> ...


What are the "services"?


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## WebSearchingPro (May 22, 2014)

Nett said:


> What are the "services"?


The OP has a copy of the email as the very first post.


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## Nett (May 22, 2014)

If he can't provide the "services" why would he spam the providers?


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## Eric1212 (May 22, 2014)

Nett said:


> If he can't provide the "services" why would he spam the providers?


I think you need to read the whole thread. This is explained already.


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