North America Scholar Consortium (NASC) Honor Society is a SCAM

If you receive an e-mail similar to the one below, beware as it is a scam. Though their letter may sound legitimate and though their web site may seem somewhat professional looking, there exists no such "North America Scholar Consortium" or "NASC Honor Society." It is purely a scam, as this fake organization reels you into paying $68 or so for a lifetime membership.

Upon closer inspection of their web site, one will notice that there is no contact phone number and there is nothing to back up any of their facts. Digging even deeper, a WHOIS lookup on their site leads to the following information:

Registrant Name:Registration Private
Registrant Organization: Domains by Proxy, Inc.
Registrant Street1: DomainsByProxy.com
Registrant Street2:15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Scottsdale
Registrant State/Province:Arizona
Registrant Postal Code:85260
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.4806242599
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:+1.4806242598
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:NASCHONOR.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com

In other words, their web site is a proxy. And, oddly, though they claim to be one of the oldest and most reputable organizations in the country, their web site was only created on:

Created On:30-Oct-2008 17:55:00 UTC

Need more evidence? Their privacy policy is probably as close as one can get to a confession from the scam artist(s) himself/herself, as they state:

WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, NEITHER NORTH AMERICA STUDENT CONSORTIUM, ITS AFFILIATES NOR ITS LICENSEES SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, INACCURACIES, OMISSIONS OR OTHER DEFECTS IN THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS WEB SITE, OR ANY LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS WEB SITE....IN NO EVENT SHALL NORTH AMERICA STUDENT CONSORTIUM, ITS AFFILIATES OR ITS LICENSEES OR PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE ARISING OUT OF ACCESS TO, OR THE USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THIS WEB SITE OR ANY PRODUCTS OR SERVICES, INCLUDING OR RESULTING FROM LOST PROFITS OR DATA, WHETHER IN AN ACTION FOR CONTRACT OR TORT, EVEN IF NORTH AMERICA STUDENT CONSORTIUM HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

And, last but not least, a reverse DNS look-up of their IP shows that they share the same IP address with:

Domain Name: ALWAYSADULTSCHATTING.COM
and
NetName: COLOSTORE-COM

Below is the e-mail the scam artist(s)/mastermind(s) send out. If you have already sent your money to them as you read this, I would advise that you contact your bank immediately and notify them about what happened. You can also try to file a transaction dispute, which may get you your money back. But more importantly, you should close the credit card/debit card you used and get it replaced with a new one to prevent this phony organization from doing you any more damage since they already have your information.

Dear Bob Smith,

As a result of your dedication to scholarly success in The University of _______, North America Scholar Consortium extends to you an invitation to apply for membership in the NASC Honor Society. Membership application is by invitation only; therefore, membership is a special honor afforded to a small group of outstanding students.

Membership applications are available at _______________.
Please use your assigned invitation code when you apply.

Invitation Code:

To learn more about the opportunities that accompany NASC Honor
Society membership, please visit _______________ for more information. I encourage you to seize this valuable and rewarding opportunity and look forward to seeing your name among the next list of new NASC Honor Society members!

Sincerely,

Louis Birch
President 2009-2010
NASC Honor Society