Sunday, July 31, 2011

Yet another scammy spammy email from the Beverly Hills Times

I get these types of emails from the "Beverly Hills Times Magazine" every once in a while.  They seem spammy or scammy in some way and I thought, rather than suffer alone, maybe I should share.  So here goes:



Dear Professor,
The Beverly Hills Times Magazine is considering running an article on experiments proposed at MIT and a few hypotheses. We are seeking background information on the topics related to these experiments and hypotheses. We are asking for your assistance because your extensive expertise has been brought to the attention of the Beverly Hills Times Magazine. The article deals with neuroscience, biophysics, theoretical physics, philosophy, religious studies, ethics, and particle physics.
As background information on the Beverly Hills Times Magazine, my name is Stephen Takowsky, and I am the publisher of Beverly Hills Times Magazine. The Beverly Hills Times is a free magazine that goes to the residences and businesses in Beverly Hills, California. We have several prestigious contributors including: Ralph Nader, Ron Paul, and Dennis Kucinich. We maintain close contacts with other media, and our articles have been featured on several media platforms.
For more information on our magazine, you can view our website at bhtmag.com, or you can Google us by searching for Beverly Hills Times.
Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Our main goal at this point is to determine whether there is any established scientific evidence that tends either to support or invalidate the hypotheses. We would also consider publishing one of your own articles as trade for your contribution. We are interested in opinions from multiple fields of expertise. If you do not have time please feel free to forward this to a colleague or students that may be interested in providing feedback.
Please let us know. We would greatly appreciate your feedback. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Here is the url to the hypotheses and experiments: (OfGrandeur.com)
If you are interested, we would appreciate having your comments by September 1, 2011.
Thank you for your time.
Stephen Takowsky
Publisher, Beverly Hills Times Magazine
bhtmag.com
Publisher@bhtmag.com
Others have written about how this seems to be a scam in some way:

If anyone knows more detail out there about this "magazine" please post them.  


6 comments:

  1. Yeah, I get the exact same emails. They're very 'scammy' sounding. Last few times I just deleted them, but I am curious as they come across like the biotech version of the Nigerian scam.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for posting this. I just got that email and, like you, my gut reaction was "scam or spam"; I did a quick Google, found your page (and the site linked therein) and can now bin it quite happily without looking back!

    ReplyDelete
  3. it is not Vanity Fair or the Harvard review, in an age of giant corporations this is a "family owned" and run ; mother-son-daughter operation, that is amazingly good for Beverly Hills Charities and People. No, they cannot pay you big bucks to contribute as a writer, but even the big mags and papers don't pay well these days. Major celebrities and thousands of top business pros read and have been featured in this mag. Leave the little guys alone, there are not many left. I know these people have helped many charities continue to help people and made almost "nothing" in return but "goodwill." Hard to find these days. Great people are everywhere, "if," you have an open mind. Jack Armstrong Artist

    ReplyDelete
  4. it is not Vanity Fair or the Harvard review, in an age of giant corporations this is a "family owned" and run ; mother-son-daughter operation, that is amazingly good for Beverly Hills Charities and People. No, they cannot pay you big bucks to contribute as a writer, but even the big mags and papers don't pay well these days. Major celebrities and thousands of top business pros read and have been featured in this mag. Leave the little guys alone, there are not many left. I know these people have helped many charities continue to help people and made almost "nothing" in return but "goodwill." Hard to find these days. Great people are everywhere, "if," you have an open mind. Jack Armstrong Artist

    ReplyDelete
  5. this is not Vanity Fair or the Harvard review, no, they do not pay for writers, they are a fine family owned "small magazine" with a large footprint in beverly hills. This magazine, run by a mother-son-daughter team, (almost unheard of in this era of huge corporations), has done "more for charities and the arts in B.H." than all the big magazines combined. Many charities could "not have helped reach" the donors they have, without this magazine. Open minds see great people everywhere. Small minds find scams everywhere. Leave the little guys alone, there are not many left in america. Thousands of business pros read and have been featured in this mag. including Magic Johnson, Don Sterling and myself. Hundreds of celebs have been featured and not one complaint in 19 years. Congrats and best wishes to Beverly Hills Times for 19 more! Jack Armstrong Artist

    ReplyDelete
  6. Domain Name: OFGRANDEUR.COM
    Registry Domain ID: 1559612217_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
    Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.fastdomain.com
    Registrar URL: http://www.ipower.com/
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    Reseller: IPOWER Inc.
    Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
    Registry Registrant ID:
    Registrant Name: STEPHEN TAKOWSKY
    Registrant Organization: BEVERLY HILLS TIMES MAGAZINE
    Registrant Street: 9903 SANTA MONICA BL
    Registrant City: BEVERLY HILLS
    Registrant State/Province: CALIFORNIA
    Registrant Postal Code: 90212
    Registrant Country: UNITED STATES
    Registrant Phone: +1.3102483711
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    Registrant Email: OFGRANDEUR@GMAIL.COM
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    Admin Name: STEPHEN TAKOWSKY
    Admin Organization: BEVERLY HILLS TIMES MAGAZINE
    Admin Street: 9903 SANTA MONICA BL
    Admin City: BEVERLY HILLS
    Admin State/Province: CALIFORNIA
    Admin Postal Code: 90212
    Admin Country: UNITED STATES
    Admin Phone: +1.3102483711
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    Admin Email: OFGRANDEUR@GMAIL.COM
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    Tech Name: STEPHEN TAKOWSKY
    Tech Organization: BEVERLY HILLS TIMES MAGAZINE
    Tech Street: 9903 SANTA MONICA BL
    Tech City: BEVERLY HILLS
    Tech State/Province: CALIFORNIA
    Tech Postal Code: 90212
    Tech Country: UNITED STATES
    Tech Phone: +1.3102483711
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