Announcing the end of the 2nd international 419 Flash Mob:


Yesterday, on the February 2nd 2004 the 2nd international 419 Flash Mob was conducted to bring down five fake bank websites set up and used by advance fee fraudsters for the sole purpose of ripping people off.

artists against 419 dedicated this worldwide online event to Leslie Fountain, a victim of the notorious Lotto scam who killed himself after learning that he had been taken for all he had.

The 1st 419FlashMob took place on October 30th 2003 and targeted a single fake online bank. In less than 20 hours we managed to put that “bank” out of business. The target was the fake First City Monument Bank.

Yesterday we set the goals a little bit higher and aimed at taking FIVE fake banks out at once. The word was spread on several scambaiting message boards and the media was informed as well. We are proud to announce that all five banks were put out of business in less than 24 hours again.

And this is how the 419FlashMob works: It is planned as a worldwide happening.

artists against 419 sets up the website as a meeting point for all participants. Then the participants open as many browser windows as their machine can bear with the pages hotlinking to the fake bank´s images, reloading every 10 seconds for DSL/Cable users and every 60 seconds for people who are on dial-up/ISDN.

Then the participants file complaints to the fake banks webhosting service.

In a short time, significant traffic is created on websites that are normally only scarcely frequented (only by the scam victims, that is).

Any admin who is on the case is bound to notice. That, combined with the many hints and complaints pouring in from all around the world will force the admin to act and examine the phenomenon.

If the admin then realizes that there is indeed something fishy about the targeted website, he will be forced to take some action, or the web host could be held reliable, since he couldn´t claim to not know about what is going on anymore should a legal case evolve out of it at a later point in time.



The targets taken out point blank yesterday were:

http://www.globe1fs.com aka GlobeOne Finance & Security
http://www.gsfcl.com aka Global Security and Finance Company BV
http://www.adcs-online.net aka Advance Credit Suisse Bank aka ADCS
http://www.equitycreditunion.com aka Equity Credit Union
http://www.ntfinsec.com aka NorthernTrust Finance and Securities aka NTFS Holdings

artists against 419 would like to thank all participants. A big “Thank you!” also goes to the admins of iPowerWeb and aplus.net for acting fast and correct!



The 3rd international 419 Flash Mob will take place on March O1 2004 !
artists against 419