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How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

empireflippers.com

61–70 of 71 posts

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Not really hacking when they gave you the passwords already. That's like me accusing you of breaking into my house after I gave you a key to the lock. If you lend me keys to your house for a specific purpose, am I also legally entitled to rifle through your drawers until I've found your car keys and then have a drive around in that? They used the word "password hacking" in the email, and using a password somebody…

>> but to then boast about the felony they've committed on a corporate blog? You must have missed the part in my original post where I said bragging about it probably isn't the best thing they did. It also means as a hacker, if you fuck with someone's business, be advised, you might end up getting the horns. I think to a degree, it helps put people on notice these guys don't take this stuff lying down and if you comm…

As a potential client I'd feel safer if they admitted that fraud had occurred and said what steps they were taking to avoid fraud in future, but considerably less safe from the revelation the fraudsters were rank amateurs and that the website operator might be prepared to use hacking and doxing as a means of redressing grievances.

I haven't payed particularly close attention to weev's trial but IIRC, the main points in his defence were that the "hacked" data was actually accessible via the public internet with no real subterfuge or misuse of private information required, and they'd tried to disclose it through appropriate channels. Neither seem to apply here, even if Russian hackers don't particularly deserve the Feds rushing to their aid.

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seriously doubt you're right, but I guess we'll see. Those that do appreciate it will be our customers and that might be a bigger pool than you'd think. Appreciate the comment, though.

I feel for you, but shady market, no buyer screening, plain text passwords, doxxing, ... not a lot of trust there. When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. I hope next thing you do won't be looking for a hitman on the dark web :)

Shit - time to throw the laptop in the oven. :-(

I understand where you're coming from, but I really think we'll have plenty of support.

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#63
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did your lawyer seriously say that posting this is OK? I'm having really hard time believing that.

Keep in mind he didn't vet the ACTUAL post before I pushed it live. In reading it back, I wouldn't say he was enthusiastically pushing it or anything: "I think you guys have your minds made up. The reality is the risk is probably low. Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. It's unlikely a couple Russians would try to sue you, but you never know. My boring attorney answer is try not to go too far to minimize any…

Honestly, you might seriously want to consider getting a new lawyer. No good lawyer would ever tell you that it's ok to publicly admit to a felony just because it's unlikely that you'll get sued.

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel for you, but shady market, no buyer screening, plain text passwords, doxxing, ... not a lot of trust there. When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. I hope next thing you do won't be looking for a hitman on the dark web :)

Shit - time to throw the laptop in the oven. :-( I understand where you're coming from, but I really think we'll have plenty of support.

Best of luck, but is there any danger for you to get in legal trouble with Namecheap, eBay, SitePoint, etc?

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel for you, but shady market, no buyer screening, plain text passwords, doxxing, ... not a lot of trust there. When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. I hope next thing you do won't be looking for a hitman on the dark web :)

Shit - time to throw the laptop in the oven. :-( I understand where you're coming from, but I really think we'll have plenty of support.

I'm not sure - I hope not.

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#66

If you knew he was getting a US visa, why not just wait for him to come over and have him arrested?

I don't really know anything about when he's heading over. Plus, not sure it would work out that cleanly.

https://instagram.com/p/18jkxdHXbH/?taken-by=smolensev June 28th Honolulu (stop over at LA)

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#67
post #5

"Because we helped with the website migration, we also had one of his passwords. As it turns out, he likes to use this password for his email address and other accounts as well. We ended up with access to multiple private email accounts, one of his registrar accounts (NameCheap), his eBay account, SitePoint account and more." That's as sketchy as it gets. Go clean out your support tickets with customers passwords in…

All of those passwords are changed after migration. In this instance they weren't, as we had an active/open ticket with him.

All of your customers change the passwords to all of their other accounts after doing business with you?

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#68

So Syndicate or one narcissistic guy?

Narcissistic guy and his brother, I guess.

From Wikipedia:

Crime syndicates

In the case of criminal activity, the syndicate is there to promote, and engage in, organized crime, that is, organizations which run common illegal businesses on a large, national, or international scale. The subunit of the syndicate is a crime family or clan, organized by blood relationships, as seen in the Italian Mafia and the Italian American Mafia crime families (the Five Families dominating New York City crime, namely, the Gambino crime family, Genovese crime family, Lucchese crime family, Bonanno crime family, and the Colombo crime family).

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#69
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're calling for censorship?

I would think that publicly displaying doxxed information was against the rules... not a matter of censorship. But I'm new around here. I just find it odd that it's allowed. Also think it's tasteless.

I agree with your sentiment. I'm just not a fan of censorship. Perhaps this company should be punished but blocking the link from HN would mean we couldn't have this discussion.

Re: How a Russian Syndicate Scammed Us for $25K

#70
post #30

"we also had one of his passwords." Sorry, but you should not have your customers plaintext passwords, so very unprofessional. Time to submit Empireflippers to plaintext offenders list?

They are directly involved in facilitating the site transfer... Of course they have access to the passwords.
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