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Holy Water from Lourdes Posted August 8, 2003: Scam Alert! A company is sending out spam directing people to a website (http://www.0te.com/3) that sells genuine Holy Water from Lourdes. They boast that it's a miracle cure. "Holy Water can save you where medicine failed!" they proclaim. And it's yours for only $39.95. I'm tempted to believe that if you pony up $39.95 they really will send you genuine holy water from Lourdes. That's not the scam. The scam is that you can head on over to lourdeswater.com and buy the same stuff for less than half the price. So this company is tricking people into paying them $39.95 for a product that they then order elsewhere on the web for only $15. That's a nice scam and a quick way to pocket $25. I was curious who the website 0te.com was registered to and checked it out on whois.org. Turns out it's registered to some guy named Mike Richardson who lives in Atlanta, Georgia and works for a company called n26.com that sells teeth-whitening products. That's an odd combination of products: teeth-whiteners and Holy Water. Maybe you can gargle with their overpriced Holy Water after brightening your smile. Update, September 6, 2003: The websites for 0te.com and n26.com no longer seem to be active. Perhaps they sensed that too many people were onto them. More than likely, these con artists will just pop up somewhere else in a little while pedalling a new scheme. Comments: most recent posts first Lourdes Water should not be sold at all. Originally, there apparently were plans to sell it, but when Lourdes was declared a sacred site and some of the cures were officially declared miraculous, they decided never to sell it but just give it away. I've sent for that water by the litre and all I paid for was the shipping from France and a bit more for the containers they put it in. It's possible, even likely, that what's being sold on these scam sites isn't even Lourdes water. Our guestbook gets spammed with ads for German and Indonesian hotels and travel agencies all the time. I may do just exactly what you did. Jay Young, Astraea's Web, http://www.astraeasweb.net/plural/ Thursday, August 07, 2003 at 12:29:53 Lourdeswater.com responds to my query about whether they were in any way affiliated with http://www.0te.com/3/: Hello Alex, Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. We are not affiliated with this website in any way. Having investigated we find that not only have they copied graphics from our website but also used text where it is to their advantage, confirming your email. Further more they have made fraudulent claims that the water is miraculous and are preying on the weak and ill informed. Here in Lourdes it is well publicised and every pilgrim is aware that the water has been officially analysed and no healing properties can be attributed to it. Bernadette, on becoming nun at Nevers, gave only a few drops of Lourdes water to the sick, and used to say : "It's faith and prayer which save". She knew that the water which sprang from the Grotto has no special properties and still less any "magic power" to heal disease... We believe that the water of Lourdes is a symbol of the hope Our Lady brings. She used it during the apparitions to remind us of the words of Jesus; "If anyone thirsts let him come to me. Let the one come and drink who believes in me." We have taken this matter very seriously as we believe that it not only brings our website into disrepute but also the message of Lourdes. It is in short offensive to every pilgrim and true believer. We have now reported their activities to Spamcop.net and are taking legal advise on the matter. It would be most appreciated if you had the time to report them as well. All information is found at: http://www.spamcop.net Once again we thank you for informing us. God be with you always, Annica Smith Tuesday, August 5, 2003 2:01 PM