m247.com: An Other Kid On The (spamming) Block

(Updated April 2019)

We’re currently experiencing a significant spam attack on several of our contact forms. These attacks are originating from IP addresses registered to M247.com across Europe. This appears to be the most severe spam attack we’ve encountered in the past decade. We’re under constant bombardment from these IP addresses.

Austria 185.210.219.x & 217.64.127.x

Italy 95.174.64.x & 37.120.135.x & 217.64.113.x

France 185.189.113.x & 82.102.18.x

Germany 89.249.65.x & 185.104.184.x & 185.130.184.x & 89.249.64.x & 83.97.23.x & 185.230.127.x, 212.103.50.x

Poland 194.99.105.x

Denmark 185.206.224.x & 95.174.65.x

Czech Republic 89.238.186.x. & 185.189.115.x

Netherlands 185.212.71.x & 185.253.96.x

UK 89.238.167.x & 185.212.168.x & 185.212.168.x & 81.92.207.x

Belgium 185.232.21.x & 77.243.191.x

Switzerland 84.39.112.x

Slovakia 185.245.85.x

Spain 185.253.99.x

We contacted their support several times, with all details and we got back some automated replies. We also filled their abuse form with all the details and also got their typical (mostly automated) replies.

After a while we were informed that our support ticket (case) is closed.

Hi ,

Thank you for your enquiry, your case 00490221 has now been closed.

We hope that this has been resolved to your satisfaction, if you have any further queries then please send a new email to support@m247.com or give us a call.

Please do not respond to this email as you may not get a response due to the case now being closed.

Kind regards,

M247 Support Team

Also:

Hello,

Your report has been passed to the relevant team.
As we don’t have visibility of the IP mentioned, I will close the case from our UK based office as this is currently with our Romanian office.

Please be assured the correct team will be looking into this for you.

If you wish to speak to us about this case, please call our friendly team at 0161 822 2580 and quote case number: 00490221.

Kind Regards,
Obi.

M247

Support Team

(who is Obi ? Obi-Wan Kenobi ?)

While we’ve managed to block some IPs, it appears the issue is more complex. We’ve reached out to them again and received a response stating that their Romanian branch is addressing the problem, and our ticket has been closed once more.

It’s puzzling that a company would overlook, and perhaps even shield, predominantly Russian spammers who promote pornographic and other illegal and obscure sites using M247’s services. The extent of the issue becomes clear when you cross-reference some of these IPs with IP abuse report sites.

So thanks M247 for spamming us and …. as you say in UK “Cheers” ….

M247 Ltd, Metronet UK Ltd and Venus Business Communications Ltd trading as M247.
Registered in England and Wales. Registered numbers: 04968341, 04975343 & 04800517

Registered office: Turing House, Archway 5, Manchester M15 5RL

2022 Update: Finally we had to BAN their whole ASN (AS9009)