Part 1 of “Spam, Lies and Videotape” was an introduction to how information can be deceptive, and how anyone can claim to be someone, even promoting their location and address profoundly.
But does it really matter where one resides? I suppose it does, when you want to achieve something of importance.
Nadia took on a mission: to find the truth. She drove her minivan in the post-dusk hours, guided by her instinct and her trusty GPS. Izzy, the dog whose biggest nemesis is the tape measure, kept her company, as she came closer to the mission’s destination.
The plaque on the luxury apartment building matched what was on the GPS: 443 New York Avenue. No cranes of the mechanical kind were in the proximity, and definitely no chain-link fences blocked the entrance. The Google car hadn’t visited this address for a while.
“It’s not under construction. It is a luxury apartment building. There are some condos next door – different street address and no affiliation- that aren’t as nice, but this place was as swanky as they come. I asked the woman at the front desk how long they’d been open, and she said late 2011. The rent prices range from $2200 for a 1BR to $3400/mo for 2BR, depending on the floor plan.”
Nadia’s on-site research was putting Google and Bing to shame, as their maps were three years old – antiquated in terms of Internet time.
Could it be that the elusive Mr. Samuel Washington resided in this luxurious location? Surely, at $2,200 per month for a studio he could afford at least mid-four figures for the domain he inquired about!
Alas, no such person was listed in the residence. It was all in the imagination of a serial domainer spammer, who appears to have contacted several other domainers about other domain names, never making an offer.
I should have known better; after all, no end user would use Fabulous.com for their registrar, with WHOIS protection turned on. This guy is a speculator hiding behind a fake name – and listing a real address of a luxury condominium building as his residence; if only he lived there.
Many thanks to Nadia for her willingness to go on a mission, late at night, at downtown Washington DC. The Samuel Washington hoax was debunked.
If you received emails from a Samuel Washington inquiring about domains that you own, send him this link – or a postcard from Washington DC.
Wow, based on the comments on Part 1, this guy gets around. I’m glad to have been able to help, and thanks Theo, for bringing information about another spammer (who seems to have contacted, and annoyed, dozens of domain investors) to light!
Many thanks, Nadia. Your research proved that one cannot rely solely on Google and Bing to determine what is actually out there.
I almost cancelled a hotel reservation for the latter part of a trip in Cartagena because of a Google map. However, since the second hotel wasn’t too far from the first, I decided to walk to the location provided by Expedia. Expedia was right and Google Maps was wrong. The Boca Grande and Castillo Grande sections of Cartagena are nice.