Exposed: Dodgy domains spam message boards

Spammers appear to have found a new target of choice for 2006 - bombarding internet message boards with unprecedented ferocity.

The amount of message board spam has been escalating dramatically since mid-2005, according to experts and a search of Google shows a number of frequently recurring domains are appearing in bogus comments on message boards all over the internet.

Among the most common domains appearing on message boards as spam, there is a definite trend.

Domains such as 888.typo7.com, e-casinoroom.com, HobbyWorkshop.com, onlinepokerment.com, TopSitesRanking.com and g4h5.com all appear in bogus postings which reference online gaming. Many of the actual sites link through to more than one established poker site.

Typical comments often start with some fairly random text, such as "Good guess Smith" or "I agree with John", which looks like an attempt to appear part of an existing conversation on the board. They then include little more than links through to the websites, backed up with crude testimony such as "This is a great poker site", despite the fact none of the above offer any kind of gaming on their own domain.

A second trend is also apparent with these domains. The Whois information for every single one of those websites named above reveals the same registrant in each case - Moniker Privacy Services, part of domain name registrar Moniker.com, based in Florida in the US.

However, Monte Cahn, the CEO of Moniker.com, told silicon.com Moniker Privacy Services does not actually operate the sites but is simply the default registrant for its customers who, for whatever reason, want to operate anonymously.

In this case anonymity would appear to be preferred due to the controversial way these sites are promoting themselves.

Cahn declined to tell silicon.com what action, if any, would be taken against the owners of these sites.

Matt Sergeant, an anti-spam expert from MessageLabs, told silicon.com he's seen a real increase in levels of message board spam, which he attributed in part to the growth in blogging and forums such as Wikipedia.

Sergeant believes individuals and companies are abusing the system to increase their Google ranking, or those of their affiliates, or increase the resale value of a domain name by raising its prominence.

He said: "It's a huge problem. They target wikis, blogs and message boards and once they have found a weakness they have programs which will keep coming back and exploiting them."

The comments are invariably posted automatically in large numbers, he said.

Moniker.com operates out of Florida and although the state's reputation has been tarnished in recent years by strong associations with cyber crime, CEO Cahn is insistent his Icann-approved registrar is operating entirely within the law and the guidelines laid down by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) in allowing clients to operate anonymously.

Cahn said: "It is similar to not wanting your name listed in the phone book. It is a common and accepted Icann statute for registrars to provide and protect the privacy of clients who wish to be protected."

Moniker.com also boasts the seal of approval of the World Association of Domain Name Developers (WADND) - another Florida-based organisation, whose board Cahn actually sits on.

Cahn has made a sizeable fortune out of the sale of domain names over the years. In 1999 he reportedly made more than $1m from the sale of WallStreet.com. A year later he sold Autos.com for $2.2m.

Among those domains currently registered by anonymous clients of Moniker Privacy Services is BillGates.com.