Anybody know how to catch a thief - in the Bahamas?

11 replies
Hi all,

I'm sure some other marketers have gone through a similar situation,
so I hope somebody here can point me in the right direction.

I discovered on Saturday that some bozo is selling one of my products
from his own website without my permission. (I've never sold resell
rights to it.) He's using my sales page with a few modifications, and
the salesletter even has my name on it, not his.

I sent him a cease and desist email, and CC'd it to his webhost as
well.

I threatened further action if he didn't pull my product from his
website immediately, including informing PayPal that he is selling a
product illegally and accepting the payments into his PayPal account.

It's now almost 48 hours since I sent the C & D email and my product
is still being sold from his site. (I also have reason to believe
that he is sending his customers to MY download page, thus stealing
my bandwidth, too.)

Unfortunately, this guy and his web hosting company are both in the
Bahamas. I will call PayPal about this in a little while but beyond that,
I don't know what to do.

Obviously his hosting company hasn't yet acted upon my complaint. It
would have been easy for them to shut him down - my C & D contained
both his website url and mine, so they had proof right in front of
them that what I was saying is true. (But for all I know, he might
own the hosting company. I can't find any whois information on them.)

If anybody has any ideas or suggestions, I'd appreciate hearing them.

Thanks in advance.

Denise
#bahamas #catch #thief
  • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
    You need to issue a DMCA to the host AND the host's Upstream Provider. That may work.

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...oad-sites.html
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Gosse
    Yeah I second the DMCA post. Best way to handle it. Paypal will probably shut him down if you complain enough.
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  • Profile picture of the author AverageGuy
    call paypal. the support is pretty good.


    david
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  • Profile picture of the author Denise Hall
    Thanks everyone! The link listed above showed me how to find the
    whois information on the guy's hosting company (which is also his
    domain registrar).

    It turns out that he does own the company. Not only that, but they
    are in the U.S. according to the IP information, not the Bahamas.

    Seems like this guy is trying to hide, which doesn't surprise me,
    since he's also using spam methods to sell my product.

    Unfortunately, the "upstream" provider doesn't answer their phone
    except to give a canned message to email them for support or abuse
    issues, but I'll do that right now, as well as contact PayPal.

    Thanks again for your help.

    Denise
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  • Profile picture of the author gyar29
    Denise,

    You may also want to change the location of your download page. If he is sending his customers to your download page he will quickly start getting some angry email from his pissed of customers. And they may also complain to paypal, initiate charge backs on their CCs, talk bad about him in forums. And other cool stuff like that. Every little bit helps.

    Good Luck,
    Gene
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    • Profile picture of the author Jon Alexander
      Originally Posted by gyar29 View Post

      Denise,

      You may also want to change the location of your download page. If he is sending his customers to your download page he will quickly start getting some angry email from his pissed of customers. And they may also complain to paypal, initiate charge backs on their CCs, talk bad about him in forums. And other cool stuff like that. Every little bit helps.

      Good Luck,
      Gene
      move your download to a new page, but leave the old page up. BUT... instead of downloading your software, make it download a malware app, or a porn dialler or something.
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      PS my PM system is broken. Sorry I can't help anymore.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
        No, no no...that will get your site flagged by Google. Replace the product with a "lightweight" product that clearly lacks critical information but it packed with affiliate links. Then offer a link at the end for the full version.

        Originally Posted by Jon Alexander View Post

        move your download to a new page, but leave the old page up. BUT... instead of downloading your software, make it download a malware app, or a porn dialler or something.
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  • Profile picture of the author Denise Hall
    Thanks, Gene. I had already thought of that and I'm going to do it after making these other contacts.

    Denise
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  • Profile picture of the author gyar29
    Denise,

    I thought you probably had, but decided to mention it just in case. Sometimes when we're angry the obvious ain't so obvious.

    Good Luck with the Knucklehead,
    Gene
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  • Profile picture of the author Tyrus Antas
    You're too soft. Immediately hit his domain registrar, Paypal and search engines with DMCA notices. He won't know what hit him.

    Tyrus
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    • Profile picture of the author Denise Hall
      Originally Posted by Tyrus Antas View Post

      Immediately hit his domain registrar, Paypal and search engines with DMCA notices. He won't know what hit him.

      Tyrus
      Great idea! Thanks.


      Originally Posted by Jon Alexander


      instead of downloading your software, make it download a malware app, or a porn dialler or something.
      Bad idea! lol

      Denise
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