A while ago, I stumbled across
www.helpinghandcancer.com
After reading some of the stories there, I made a sizeable donation, which went to
[email protected]. A few days later I contacted them about a tax-receipt for my donation, but received no reply. After repeated unanswered emails, I attempted to file a claim through paypal, which resulted in a phone message left by Greg or Craig which was filled with expletives. I filed a report with my local atty general, but have not received a response yet.
Recently, someone posted the following on their own forum:
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Seems like someone found the website
http://helpinghandcancer.com
interesting site, with information on various sorts of cancer, treatments, news. And of course, a DONATION link. So some friends and I researched the
site, and it has links to Adams/Adams Center and the Watertown area.
http://helpinghandcancer.com/donate.html
links to a paypal account for
[email protected].
That email address breaks loose all sorts of other websites, as below.
As sources, we used publicly accessible "whois" information
(http://whois.sc), and other sources, as shown.
When I first saw the site mentioned a few weeks ago, I gave it a small once-over, checked the whois, but there was no usable data there. The whois is "proxied" -- anonymous -- which in itself is enough reason to be
skeptical. But that email address on the donation page leads to the following:
chiseledads@ yahoo.com googled, gets you to http://www.chiseledads.com,
which is registered to
Davis, Christopher
[email protected]ChiseledAds
10493 Fuller Road
Adams Center, New York 13606
United States
(315) 778-2150 Fax --
Peglegtees is registered to:
(http://Peglegtees.com also has a link to helpinghandcancer.com; that's how
that site was found (google).)
Blackford, Edward
[email protected]17526 Doxtater St
Adams, New York 13605
United States
(315) 783-8560 Fax --
So those folks probably know each other. Furthermore, peglegtees and helpinghandcancer are both hosted by hostmonster in Utah, so there's some sort of relationship between the two.
Of the other sites advertised on chiseledads.com --
- skateboardextreme seems separate.
- bigboomads.com is hosted by hostmonster and anonymous. However, the
content appears to be the same as chiseledads, so it's probably Christopher Davis' brainchild as well.
- beprosperous.net -- seems independent, but linked to oneyearplan. net, which is registered to someone in Brooklyn, NY.
- thenewboston.com -- hosted by hostmonster and anonymous. Since they claim to do webdesign/tutorials and the site is equally poorly designed as helpinghandcancer, there's a good chance they're interrelated.
- jazzygear.net - seems independent. Possibly related to skateboardextreme.
- 126hits.com - seems independent; registered and hosted in Germany, bilingual website.
Google maps doesn't have streetview in Adams or Adams Center, NY, yet, but when you map the addresses of Christopher and Edward, they're only 2 miles/3
turns apart. Probably buddies. Edwards number has voicemail for "Buddy".
Both use the same voicemail system on Verizon Wireless (www.telcodata. us).
(Maybe a WDT reported would like to pay those guys a visit and ask about the fraudulent websites?)
(315) 778-2150 is currently listed on craigslist ads for chevy camaro and truck parts.
A google search for (315) 783-8560 (Peglegtees) brings up ticket purchases through "Tim Patenaude". Edward Blackford also has a myspace page, and the
first two friends are "Buddy" (see voicemail) and "Tim". There's also "Dave dog" ("It's Davis"):
http://www.myspace. com/chrisdavedog 01
Interestingly, there's no mentioned of "ChiseledAds", although that's clearly him (name, number, location match). But he wants to be a cop!
"I graduated with an associates in criminal justice. i have an amazing family, and great friends. i own a 97 chevy silverado and a 78' chevy camaro :). I like to try new things and meet new people. I plan on being in the law enforcement field in the future..."
Buddy is ChrisDaveDog' s 2nd "top friend".
So, looks like we have a 20-year-old future cop old receiving donations from helpinghandcancer. His 21-year old friend Buddy/Edward is selling t-shirts
under peglegtee.com.
We can safely conclude that helpinghandcancer.com is a scam, and everything on it is fake. To check out just one of their "news" stories, we looked at
http://helpinghandcancer.com/news7.html about a triple-amputee Jessica (highly improbably that someone would lose three limbs due to cancer), and her picture (which appears to be doctored somewhat) here:
http://helpinghandcancer.com/images/news7.jpg
I searched Christopher Davis' friends for a Jessica, and there were three. Including this one:
http://a398.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/55/l_910d894fa937c19d7eb29e7a930a76b5.jpg
(-lookup Chris' myspace profile, view all friends, search "Jessica")
Looks a lot like the girl on helpinghandcancer, doesn't she? Her profile is private, so that's all the pics I have of her, but if more turns up... well,
you know the drill.
Shortly after posting the above information, a "
[email protected]"
posted a defense of helpinghandcancer.com on yahoo; interestingly, that address is listed as a contact for bigboomads.com, which is a chiseledads.com lookalike.
One last look at peglegtees.com showed a "sponsored link" to lasiksightplus.com, another site registered through hostmonster, with same format as helpinghandcancer.com, including donation page and "fudged" news.
Oh, and funny side-note (if you can call this sort of criminal behavior funny) -- lasiksightplus. com has a copyright 2003-2008 at the bottom.
However, the domain was first registered March of 2008. Bigboomads and chiseledads were both registered 1/22/2008, btw.
We're submitting this information to FBI's wirefraud/online fraud department this week. All the information above is publicly available and checkable.
You might enjoy adding to your own paper's reporting by running the story of a local group of scamsters. We find it destable (and it is illegal) to collect donations on behalf of cancer survivors and their families to line their own pocket books.
1. Greg Roberts is the "master mind"
2. Chris Davis possibly wrote at least some of the fake articles -- read http://www.myspace.com/chrisdavedog01 and search for "articles". "r" is probably Greg Roberts (age, location). On 3/26, "r" writes to Chris:
"i wish i had some articles... and a roomate... and a lawn mowing business...o wait thats never gonna happen"
3. Ed Blackford possibly wrote some articles (see below).
4. Alex Rolfe (http://www.myspace.com/rolfieboy86) who is the "man from Scotland". He claims he knew about the article in a private message to a friend of mine on myspace. He also doesn't correct my friend who asked if Ed/Buddy wrote it.
5. Jessica Turck has not defended the claim that her friends used her picture to defraud others. There's a good chance she knew about it. Her profile is http://myspace.com/pinkhummer23
I will also forward under separate cover a message from "Greg" / whiteblue1942 which he posted in an online discussion forum, that contains falsification about his age, and claims he will "do good" with the donations. I do not have a screengrab of the paypal page linking chiseledads.com with helpinghandcancer.
The argument could be made that the website aims to mislead the casual visitor into believing the donations go to a worthy cause -- the fact that the stories are either fake or plagiarized from cancerguide.org doesn't help their defense. I'm not entirely familiar with US law on the matter, but on my home country, this is classified as "false advertising" and "fraudulent charity" and is a crime. I trust that in the US, the wirefraud law could come into effect here, as I believe that covers internet and interstate transactions.
One way or the other, the sites (helpinghandcancer.com and lasiksightplus.com) are ethically appalling. Greg Roberts seems to have a history of dishonesty, as shown in his bwlawncare.com business (see the included saved -- courtesy of archive.org -- as well as screengrabs of the lawncare forum's comments on his site; users are questioning his age, company size, experience, etc).
http://a41.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/111/l_20b8fd3677516415d2b9c6d450eb46a0.jpg
Did she get chubby, or did Greg knock her up? In either case, she managed to grow back her arms, and quite possibly her leg, too. It's a miracle!!
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Sounds like this is a scam. Don't send them your money. Even the news stories are made up, and the pictures either stolen or doctored.
Del
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.