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French 3 strikes law used in another email scam

Written by Rich Fiscus @ 20 Oct 2011 2:07 User comments (3)

French 3 strikes law used in another email scam France's 3 strikes law to combat file sharing may not be making any more money for musicians, but it has, apparently been used to line the pockets of some online scammers.
The law, commonly known as HADOPI, the name of the agency tasked with policing the Internet for copyright infringement, involves sending out email notices to suspected infringers.

The scam took advantage of that by sending out notices which appeared to be legitimate but contained a link to a phishing site apparently setup by hacking the server of a legitimate online retailer. The page, which has since been taken down, instructed visitors to either send text messages or place a phone call to premium numbers, resulting in a payment to the scammers.

According to TorrentFreak, the SMS numbers have been identified as the same ones used in another scam.

This is the second online scam which has taken advantage of the HADOPI program. Just over a year ago a phishing scam was uncovered which used fake notices instructing the recipient to visit a website to pay a fine.

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3 user comments

120.10.2011 15:18

It boggles my mind how people fall for this crap. And ignorance is not an excuse. No one just hands a cop cash to pay a speeding ticket, but once you get on the Internet everyone just goes herp berp derp kerp.

221.10.2011 05:14

Originally posted by Azuran:
It boggles my mind how people fall for this crap. And ignorance is not an excuse. No one just hands a cop cash to pay a speeding ticket, but once you get on the Internet everyone just goes herp berp derp kerp.
apparently in thailand years ago if a cop pulled you over you paid cash or they'd litrally rip your car to pieces looking for drugs.might still be the same there.

321.10.2011 14:25

Originally posted by xboxdvl2:
Originally posted by Azuran:
It boggles my mind how people fall for this crap. And ignorance is not an excuse. No one just hands a cop cash to pay a speeding ticket, but once you get on the Internet everyone just goes herp berp derp kerp.
apparently in thailand years ago if a cop pulled you over you paid cash or they'd litrally rip your car to pieces looking for drugs.might still be the same there.
You can't compare France to Thailand...

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