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Could it be? Could we have come across the first MLS Expansion scam?
In a sure sign that MLS is growing in popularity it appears one clever person has set up a donation scam site (as near as we can tell) called www.mlsdetroit.com
A casual search of the public domain name records uncovered:
Mlsdetroit
2700 Glenmore Drive
Westlake, Ohio 44145-3930
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: MLSDETROIT.COM
Created on: 07-Feb-02
Expires on: 07-Feb-09
Last Updated on: 25-Jan-08
Administrative Contact:
Frey, Robert webmaster@elitebiz.com
ELITEBIZ.COM
2700 Glenmore Drive
Westlake, Ohio 44145
United States
2169784601 Fax -- 4408717505
Technical Contact:
Frey, Robert webmaster@elitebiz.com
ELITEBIZ.COM
2700 Glenmore Drive
Westlake, Ohio 44145
United States
2169784601 Fax -- 4408717505
Domain servers in listed order:
NS.ELITEBIZ.COM
NS2.ELITEBIZ.COM
And Elitebiz.com appears to also be run by a guy named Robert or Bob Frey.
In short, MLSDetroit and EliteBiz are a one-man show run by some guy closer to Cleveland or Akron, OHIO rather than Detriot. While we can not be certain we are almost sure this whole thing is a scam to get people to donate money for a vaporware MLS expansion effort. Nice try. We encourage anyone who has information that proves this is legit to come forward otherwise it's bunk.
Know what isn't a scam? Your donation to MLSR.
You are what make us go. Your donations are used among other things:
-To pay for internet connection
-To "persuade" and reward informants for good info
-To fund our independent writers so they can devote more time to posting stories here.
-To provide coverage of non-league events
Haven't made a donation yet? If you value us, and our coverage of the league, we'd hope that you would. You can by clicking here or at the donate button above and no amount is too small. (Donations will go to our store address which is also our PayPal: GetStuckInDesigns@gmail.com)
That site has been out there for probably 4 years. A quick search of the BS Expansion forum would yeild this info.
It wasn't neccesarily a scam to begin with, just a really bad attempt to start some grassroots movement for Detriot MLS.
I poked around the site for less than five minutes and found that their target date was September 2004. Also, I tried to call up the donation page and couldn't get a link. So, I couldn't give them ten dollars if I wanted to.
With all due respect, I think you owe these folks an apology.
Fair enough, but do we know for sure that they weren't a scam? It seems odd that a site not associated with MLS would be soliciting donations for an MLS expansion big, no?
what seems more like a scam...a four year old site or this place on it's knees asking for donations...I know you all work hard on this place but it just looks terrible on you when you plead for ads and people to give you money like that...you don't see people like Ives begging for money like this...just sayin'
seriously guys, i know your a rumor site, but if your going to try and be investigative reporters, you should try, you know, investigating.
or was this just a thinly veiled solicitation for donations to MLSR?
Let's be fair though. Ives is paid for his blog by ESPN, Goff by the post, Luis Bueno by the Chicago Tribune, etc.
Bad comparison.
sidefoot: Ives blog isn't paid for by ESPN. He's said time and time again that SBI is a personal venture and he stepped away from the newspaper business to do it. Now ESPN does pay him for his articles but not for SBI. I think what the other person was trying to say was since Ives is out on his own with SBI that he isn't begging for money or sponsors. So the comparison was right in a way.
Can I donate a picture of my middle finger? You guys fucking suck