Mulling over MARNIE TROSCLAIR to STEVE ASHER 10 Oct 2003

Hi Marnie...

SA> A Network Solutions Whois search for goldshield-inc.com shows it to  
SA> be registered to a web design company in Utah. A dead end?  

 MT> A dead end?  We're just getting started. Maybe you'll search
 MT> Google on the contact person's name or the company's phone
 MT> numbers. That might turn up something.  

Well, it looked like a dead end at the time, but added to your 
find of K&R Investigations, & lo and behold, [Quick] Design Pros 
has the same phone number as K&R Investigations - 801 785 5698.
( http://www.quickdesignpros.com/contactus.html )

SA> A google search on "1 877 316 6160" finds www.usaskiptrace.com  
SA> which offers much the same set of "find" services as Goldshield  
SA> ... A Whois search on usaskiptrace.com is more rewarding,  
SA> pointing to Worldwide Investigations, Inc in Denver Colorado.  

 MT> Maybe the same person is doing business under at least three names:
 MT>     
 MT> 1) Goldshield Inc.  
 MT> 2) USA Skip Trace  
 MT> 3) Worldwide Investigations Inc.  

 MT> We may discover another company or two before our scavenger hunt  
 MT> comes to an end.  :-)

4) K&R Investigations
5) Design Pros [website / stationery / brochure / logo design]
6) Quiet Corp [genealogy]

 MT>   The FAQ at www.usaskiptrace.com says you can
 MT>   make payments to "AMS Research Services."  Who's that?  

SA> www.usaskiptrace.com/contact.html which offers much the same set of   
SA> "find" services as Goldshield, with the addition of data - pdas,  
SA> email, chat logs & the like  

 MT> This sounds bogus. How could usaskiptrace.com obtain your email 
 MT> or chat logs or information from your pda? Your pda? 

At the moment, their server cannot be located. To get info from a PDA,
I would expect that they physically gain access to it, by some ploy
or another.

These "investigations" sites seem to be as pernicious as porn sites.
While looking for usaskiptrace again, I came across Verify People
( http://verifypeople.com/ ) and Zackary Zane Clark
( http://zackaryzaneclark.com/ ), which are two identical web sites
flogging Net Detective 8.0, which purports to find unlisted phone
numbers, anyone's email address, addresses & phone numbers etc.
Both sites are copyright to DataArchitects, Inc.

 MT> Do you think the Boston Globe, Richard Smith or Declan McCullagh 
 MT> did any kind of an investigation before publicizing Goldshield's 
 MT> activities? 

I have the Boston Globe article, and it looks like it was the Foundation
For Taxpayer And Consumer Rights in San Francisco that brought attention
to Goldshield by obtaining Governor Mitt Romney's Social Security number
for $30... The Globe followed up by paying $125 for Romney's credit 
report, credit card accounts & numbers, limits, auto leases & payment
history. ( http://tinyurl.com/orgh ) will redirect to the Globe article.

 MT> Maybe we can write a follow-up article and send it to them.    

It might be better to send it to the Foundation above, which has other
interesting privacy related stuff at http://www.consumerwatchdog.org

Cheers, Steve..

---