
Bringing Down a Copycat Site - mixmax
http://www.xequte.com/fraud/
======
dcx
I found the below comment on the 2004 slashdot discussion. IMO this is the
best way to handle this - thought it would add value to discussion on HN (edit
- formatting):

 _"1. Immediately(!) purchase the stolen software, using a Mastercard or Visa.
The resulting download is evidence, and the purchase itself will be used
later. Make every effort to identify who (URL, domain name, contact info,
company name, etc.) is actually processing this credit card transaction (hint:
it's usually not the kid in Pakistan).

2\. Notify the contact info of the domain of the infringement. Use a DMCA-
compliant notification.

3\. Notify the next upstream ISP of that domain of same.

4\. Notify the domain's registrar. Some have TOS which forbid illegal
activity.

5\. Is the bad guy still up? Then start notifying the credit card processor
that they have participated in a sale of stolen goods. Use a letter that
calmly documents the date of purchase, how you identified the download as a
stolen copy of your software, etc.

6\. When your credit card bill arrives, follow the instructions on the back of
the bill to contest that purchase. Inform the credit card company of
everything that's happened, including dates and times and copies of
correspondence

7\. Join the ASP [asp-shareware.org]. It's a chance to notify fellow software
producers that their software is being ripped off along with yours (and
increase the pressure on a particular pirate site). It's also a way of
supporting an organization that works to support your right to make a living
selling software.

The linchpin in this effort is credit card processing. I don't care if you
live on a small island that you rule yourself, if you take Mastercard/Visa
transactions, you rely on American companies and American law. These giant
companies grant smaller companies the right to parcel out merchant accounts,
and they can cause non-trivial financial pain for merchant accounts that
generate too many complaints for them.

The wheels of the law can take much time to grind to a conclusion, and not
always in your favor. Visa/Mastercard can issue a $20,000 fine in a much
shorter time, and they don't have to consult a jury.

In the Wild West of Internet fraud that involves money flow, Mastercard/Visa
is judge, jury, and executioner. Most victims simply don't know enough to
bring their case to them, or the amount of fraud would be dropping."_
[http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134264&cid=1121...](http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=134264&cid=11211953)

~~~
ErrantX
I read that and initially thought the same. But in one of his emails the guy
asks for a trade of "cards"; I think he's meaning card details.

I would hesitate to give him active credit card details.... almost certainly
they would go on file ready to sell to someone.

(though for the period of time it would take to sort this out your probably ok
- I would cancel it straight after though)

~~~
sh1mmer
Lots of places do "one shot" credit cards now. Numbers which can be used once,
or with a small prepay balance and then discarded. This would seem like an
ideal use of that.

------
ck2
They should have used the DMCA. You don't go to the registrar, you go to the
host.

You can takedown nearly any site hosted in the USA within a few hours these
days (even with content you don't actually own, if you don't mind being
counter-noticed or even sued).

~~~
zaph0d
If you RTFA, you will notice that the site was hosted in the great country of
Pakistan.

~~~
ErrantX
check the link to /. at the bottom; in the end it turns out the host was based
in the US

------
pingou
Looks like it's sometimes fair to judge people based on their spelling.

------
akirk
It adds a somewhat funny touch that the guy actually responded, and also what
he had to say. Sounded like a 15-year old.

Still very annoying and nice to read that Nigel managed to get the site down.

Also nice to see that the software is still being developed, more than 5 years
later :)

~~~
kunley
Unfortunately, it did sound like typical grown person there -- by mid-asian
standards.

~~~
palish
Not sure why he's being downvoted. As an avid gamer, I can verify that most
foreigners who speak English don't care enough to try to write properly. I'm
not bashing, I'm just saying, from my observed experience, that is the case.

For example, I once bought virtual money for an online game called Ragnarok
Online. The sellers I interacted with appeared to be from China, and they all
spoke pretty much like the guy in the article. These were probably adults,
since they had accounts to receive (real-life) money transferred to them. And
this is just one example over many years of gaming.

So based on experience, I wouldn't be surprised at all to find that he was in
fact at least 20-30 years old.

Does any of this matter? Nope. I'm just trying to work up the motivation to
implement a particularly annoying feature, so I'm chilling here talking about
randomness. :)

~~~
kunley
Well I was not referring to a lack of proper English grammar. I was thinking
about a specific mindset which could be summarized as: "Everybody's cheating
around and I will try my little not-so-smart cheats on you too. That's how
everybody behaves so don't tell me it's a problem". And this is (sadly) mid-
Asian standard. Especially when you get there physically.

~~~
palish
Wow, really? I had no idea that attitude carried over to real life. I mean, I
could make the observation that most Asians seemed to behave that way online
in a game, but I didn't realize that they mostly behaved like that in real
life too.

Of course this is all just hearsay...

------
jrockway
What about getting a default judgment? This could be annoying if the fraudster
ever wants to visit the US or work here under an H1-B, etc.

(Don't know if that is possible or not, but if it is, I would be satisfied
with that. Google de-lists the site, and the fraudster has an open warrant for
credit card fraud if he leaves his home country.)

------
wesley
Anyone know of any online tools to find those copycat sites? I know there's
www.copyscape.com, but is there something similar for graphics/logos?

~~~
sili
www.tineye.com lets you search for images online based on one you provide.

------
acangiano
This is a great story. However, I hate how the fraudster didn't do any jail
time.

~~~
lallysingh
Welcome to the international community. Just be happy he didn't get elected or
promoted.

------
vaksel
i give it a week before the copy cat site adds the software back.

~~~
paraschopra
I guess the article is from year 2004?

~~~
vaksel
so it is...still anyone smart enough to try to fake a response from a
host...would at least try to wait a little bit before putting the software
back up, after the other person stops looking.

