Cell Phone scam?

Today (June 12, 2012) I received two text messages on my cell phone, from the following numbers: 1-718-679-8931 and 1-718-724-3874, both messages had the following text: “”Congratulations, your number made you Walmart’s winner of the day. Goto http://www.walmart.com.wonacontest.com to claim your prize! You have 24 hours to claim”. I am ALWAYS suspicious of unsolicited text messages, even from my cell carrier, so I came home and started to check this out. I opened a console in linux and pinged http://www.walmart.com.wonacontest.com. I got several successfull replies of:
ping http://www.walmart.com.wonacontest.com
PING http://www.walmart.com.wonacontest.com (190.14.36.30) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=1 ttl=49 time=102 ms
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=2 ttl=49 time=104 ms
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=3 ttl=49 time=103 ms
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=4 ttl=49 time=102 ms
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=5 ttl=49 time=101 ms
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=6 ttl=49 time=100 ms
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=7 ttl=49 time=103 ms
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=8 ttl=49 time=101 ms
64 bytes from cpanel02.offshoreracks.com (190.14.36.30): icmp_req=9 ttl=49 time=100 ms
^Z
[1]+ Stopped ping http://www.walmart.com.wonacontest.com

I then did a whois on that IP address and got the following response:

% Joint Whois - whois.lacnic.net
% This server accepts single ASN, IPv4 or IPv6 queries

% LACNIC resource: whois.lacnic.net

% Copyright LACNIC lacnic.net
% The data below is provided for information purposes
% and to assist persons in obtaining information about or
% related to AS and IP numbers registrations
% By submitting a whois query, you agree to use this data
% only for lawful purposes.
% 2012-06-12 18:46:16 (BRT -03:00)

inetnum: 190.14.36/22
status: allocated
aut-num: N/A
owner: Offshore Racks S.A
ownerid: PA-ORSA2-LACNIC
responsible: Francisco Gonzalez
address: Apdo 0819-07269, ,
address: -- - Panama - PA
country: PA
phone: +507 3173633 []
owner-c: FRG9
tech-c: FRG9
abuse-c: FRG9
inetrev: 190.14.36/22
nserver: NS3.OFFSHORERACKS.COM
nsstat: 20120610 AA
nslastaa: 20120610
nserver: NS2.OFFSHORERACKS.COM
nsstat: 20120610 AA
nslastaa: 20120610
nserver: NS1.OFFSHORERACKS.COM
nsstat: 20120610 AA
nslastaa: 20120610
created: 20110223
changed: 20110223

nic-hdl: FRG9
person: Jorge Miranda
e-mail: info@OFFSHORERACKS.COM
address: 8409 NW 68 ST, ,
address: 33166 - Miami - FL
country: US
phone: +001 305 6472577 []
created: 20110215
changed: 20120402

% whois.lacnic.net accepts only direct match queries.
% Types of queries are: POCs, ownerid, CIDR blocks, IP
% and AS numbers.

After doing this, I attempted another ping but this time I never got a response. I tried a traceroute but it only goes so far before nothing replies:
Hop Hostname IP Time 1 Time 2
7 xe-1-0-1.bx01.mtrl.pq.aliant.net 18.804ms asymm
8 67.69.211.229 26.160ms asymm
9 bxX5-newyork83_POS9-0-0.net.bell.ca 33.098ms asymm
10 peer-XOCommunications_bx5-newyork83.net.bell.ca 32.407ms asymm
11 207.88.14.185.ptr.us.xo.net 32.589ms asymm
12 te-3-0-0.rar3.atlanta-ga.us.xo.net 62.983ms asymm
13 te-4-0-0.rar3.miami-fl.us.xo.net 77.182ms asymm
14 ae0d0.cir1.miami2-fl.us.xo.net 54.436ms asymm
15 216.156.104.58.ptr.us.xo.net 56.359ms asymm
16 ge-3-0-0.usa.nam-core02.columbus-networks.com 55.588ms asymm
17 xe-1-0-0.usa.nmi-teracore02.columbus-networks.com 98.002ms asymm
18 ge-6-0-0.usa.nmi-core01.columbus-networks.com 55.906ms asymm
19 ge-2-0-0.usa.pan-pob-edge02.columbus-networks.com 100.304ms asymm
20 190.242.14.226 105.553ms asymm
21 no reply *
22 no reply *
23 no reply *
24 no reply *
25 no reply *
26 no reply *
27 no reply *
28 no reply *
29 no reply *
30 no reply *
31 no reply *

It doesn’t appear to be associated with Walmart in any way. So my advice to you, if you happen to receive unsolicited text messages from a number unfamiliar to you, that contain a web link, DO NOT click on it! It is some kind of a scam, perpetrated by someone in Panama. BEWARE.

I will be attempting to contact Walmart.com about this.

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