Where to begin?

Hey! This blog was created the 16th February 2008, with the purpose of fighting back against the fraud spreading over the internet. As a first case TV-DVD scams will be taken up, but feel free to add comments about other known scams or possible scams. I will put up new subjects to sort out the comments as fast as I can.

First of all I'll thank Andy Kaiser for his website. This may be the first step on the way of closing down these, and many other scammers. Even though you might have lost money, time and temper in the lone effort of punishing these internet thieves, do not despair. Together and with the help of international courts we can stop this and similar scams, avoid that more people suffer from their crimes, clean some of the filth from the internet and hopefully punish the perpetrators.

It should be said before anything else that I do not take shit from anyone, and that I do not give up. For this reason I cannot help but take this personally. For the same reason I have participated in several lawsuits against companies who did not act as law and logic proscribes, from small local businesses to international companies such as Toshiba Computer Systems. That said I am no law, scam or internet expert, and thus there are still a lot of things out there that I don't have any knowledge about. So please help me help you.

When it comes down to it I guess I was originally just another victim for this world-spanning fraud. Through 6 months I have tried to get Ultimate DVD Shop to honour their obligations through means of dialog. This day I finally called their bluff and send them a diplomatic e-mail, warning them of my intention to file a lawsuit if they do not take contact within 48 hours to begin settling affairs with their customers. I hope you will help me with this, and thus help yourself and all the other people who have been hurt by this scam and who will be in the future.

You might say that there are a million other, possibly better, causes to fight for and spend your time on. However, in this kind of fight we can actually make a big difference with just a little effort from everyone.
Remember, just because those who run these scams are smart, hard to find and maybe even wield considerable power, it doesn't mean that they can't and shouldn't be punished. Nothing goes unnoticed to the entire world and money and people can't disappear forever. Everything leaves clues; it's just a question of giving enough attention.

So, first of all let's get our options and needs on the table. Speaking about such things openly may seem odd, as the perpetrators can read this as easily as anyone, and probably will. However this knowledge will only leave them one of three actions, all of them satisfying to us:
A1) Stop their business and hide; the track may get cold, but at least the fraud has been stopped.
A2) Continue but try to cover their tracks; they'll be punished with stress from being constantly harassed and their business will become a lot harder, and we'll get them sooner or later.
A3) Continue unaffected; we'll get them anyway.

Our options, off the top of my head and in no particular order or combination:
B1) Gather all the evidence we can by ourselves, file complaints with the IC3 and similar agencies and advocate that they act on the case.
B2) Raise money for a private/public investigation and ensure it is followed through.
B3) Warn customers of the scam, through means of the internet and one-to-one communication.
B4) Attack the perpetrators directly by hacking, physical action or other means. I do not recommend this, as it conflicts with the law and thus our interests in a safe internet.

Now, for every one of those methods we need a place to discuss the problem and gather the information. This website is my idea of such a place, but suggestions for improvement and change are always very welcome.

Best regards,
Søren Ekelund