Are other sites allowed to sell SpyBot?

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Dalharil

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You say you want to keep this program free, but are other sites allowed to sell access to your program? I did a search to see if there was another topic such as this one and couldn't find one. A friend said she paid 50.00 for 3 year access to spybot search and destroy. I have it on my computer so I knew you relied on donations and did not charge. Her program is the exact same one that is on my computer. Arn't they breaking some law??


MBContact.Com was the name on the receipt she showed me, but not the site she bought it from as they just process the payment. {She can't remember the name of the site itself and I can't get it to come up on google} All she can remember is it had a Application "box" like you would see on a store shelf pictured on the page.

Order status: approved
Merchant System Order number: 21726951
You have purchased: 3 Years VIP Membership Spybot Search and Destroy with 1 Extra Feature USD 49.90

Your billing statement will show a charge by MBCONTACT.COM

You have been charged: $ 49.90 USD

The owner/operator of each website is entirely and solely responsible for the content therein, the content of any promotional material and the means of such distribution.
Click to expand...
 
Hello,

We are sorry, but it seems like your friend got cheated.
Our software is called Spybot - Search & Destroy.
You don't have to pay $ for Spybot - Search & Destroy, it's freeware and does not need to be purchased (although we appreciate any donation).

The site you have mentioned (not any other) is not allowed to sell our software. They are breaking national and international law with this action.
So we would like to forward this to our attorney.

What your friend should do is asking her/his credit card company to cancel the payment (since a download is a non-physical thing, the other side will have no reason to object to the cancellation, and the fees are upon them, not you).
We would appreciate any further information. If you have any payment details, we can also forward them to our attorney.

Please forward us all information you have about your version / fake version or the payment. It would also be nice to know which site your friend visited or which site your friend searched for that is offering our software for sale. All informations are welcome on our e-mail address: legal(at)spybot.info .
Thanks in advance. :)

Best regards
Sandra
Team Spybot
 
linkremoved

linkremoved

I have started conversations with them thru email complaining this program didnt work. The links they send don't work, but here is what they are sending me. Her program is the EXACT same thing as mine. Spybot Search & Destroy.

The email they are sending from is
Software@linkremoved

She has since had her bank refund the charges.

Payment Information Requested.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your order has been successfully approved!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please review the details below.

Order status: approved
Merchant System Order number: 21726951
You have purchased: 3 Years VIP Membership and 1 Extra Feature USD 49.90
Delivery E-mail: REMOVED BY DALHARIL
Registration time: 17/7/2008 2:44:39 AM

Your billing statement will show a charge by linkremoved

You have been charged: $ 49.90 USD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here to continue : linkremoved
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For billing & technical support contact us by:
Email: software@linkremoved
Toll free: 1 866 903 4555
 
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Email sent. Currently in litigations with the credit card company and have given them your contact email as well as a link to this site to prove they are falsely selling this program.
 
duped by 'MBCONTACT.COM'

Hi there,

It appears that I too have been duped by 'MBCONTACT.COM'. I purchased Spybot S&D + download accelerator software this afternoon, from this website:

http://2008search-destroy.com/index.asp?aff=103&camp=gg_spybot_uk&se=google

believing it to be an online company that was selling those software on behalf of their makers. I was supposed to be billed for £13.92, but was billed for £25.86 instead from 'MBCONTACT.COM'. I was sent a link that does not work, therefore I do not have any of the software and 'MBCONTACT.COM' has taken my money.

This is the e-mail that I received after submitting my card details to the above website.

Your order has been successfully approved!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please review the details below.

Order status: approved
Merchant System Order number: 23034654
You have purchased: 3 Year VIP Membership and 1 Extra Features GBP 25.86
Delivery E-mail: removed by LMXL2008
Registration time: 21/9/2008 6:03:45 PM

Your billing statement will show a charge by MBCONTACT.COM

You have been charged: £ 25.86 UKP

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Click here to continue : http://www.transaction-id.com/thankyou/software/thankyou.asp?comp=multi&proid=spybot
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For billing & technical support contact us by:
Email:
misc.php

Toll free: 1 866 903 4555

Please advise me of what to do to get my money back, other than contacting my bank who will say that I should not make online transactions from unknown companies and that there is not much that they can do - money gone.

Kind regards,

LMXL2008.
 
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This is a very clever con trick - what they are selling is not software but a membership to a website, as the invoice says:
You have purchased: 3 Year VIP Membership and 1 Extra Features

The website (2008search-destroy.com) is deliberately misleading - using the product name and a very similar fingerprint logo - and is designed to make it appear they are providing Spybot as a product when in fact they are only recommending free software.

If you actually read the Terms and Conditions on the site it all becomes clear:
Internet Download Store Services
Internet Download Store makes no claim to ownership or other control or rights to any software recommended by Internet Download Store or its agents. All software recommendations refer to either "Freeware" or software that is otherwise available without charge to individuals at large for specific purposes. None of the charges assessed to members of Internet Download Store entitle You, as a Purchaser to any ownership, licensing rights or recourse with regard to use of the software other than those rights offered by the software owners or licensees. The fees and charges assessed by Internet Download Store represent recurring monthly club membership fees which entitle You as a Purchaser to access to the location, evaluation, and or recommendation of those software products available from the web site and for the information provided to purchasers.
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This could keep the lawyers tied up for some time.
 
This is what happens when people do not download free/paid products from official sites.

I'm sorry to say this, but, people should know better by now.
 
Soultrain:

Soultrain said:
This is what happens when people do not download free/paid products from official sites.

I'm sorry to say this, but, people should know better by now.
Click to expand...
Rather than state the obvious, do you have any specific advice for those who may duped or fall pray to similar rouses in the future?

If so maybe it could be added to the following thread:
 
One specific thing to look out for with these websites is they all give an easy to miss warning at the foot of the front page - often in a very hard to read colour and in a very small font size - which always seems to read as follows:
This website has no affiliation whatsoever with the owner of this software program, and provides ONLY a link to the software program.
Click to expand...
This says it all really - We just provide a link to software we do not own - and if you agree to pay us for that service well how very generous of you. This is often followed up by the by the following statement:
New computer users should find our services valuable, and a time saver.
If you are an advanced computer user, you probably don't need our services.
Click to expand...
Which once you realise the nature of the scam is just adding salt to the wound - If you fall for this you are not too smart.

The problem with the type of website described earlier is that the software they are offering is actually real and in many cases just links to the authors download site. So the software works and you don't get any malware. The con is that they are charging for something that can be downloaded for free if you go to the authors website.

Take a look at the following sites if you want to see how blatent the advertisements can be:
current-versions.com
software-hq.org
2008firefox.com

They all have the disclaimer at the bottom of the page.
 
i got the exact same problem a fake spyboy av2009.exe redirect all my web page.


Dear [Edited out name]

This email confirms that you have paid Advance Telecom Inc. (sales@ulimited.com) $34.98 USD using PayPal.

The exchange rate for this purchase is 1 CAD = 0.787885USD
This credit card transaction will appear on your bill as "PAYPAL *ANTISPAMGOL".

Payment details

Transaction ID: 1MM46689DD591480X
Item Price: $34.98 USD
Total: $34.98 USD
Order Description: 2 Years Membership
Item/Product Number: 1
Buyer: [Edited out name]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It may take a few moments for this transaction to appear in the Recent Activity list on your Account Overview.
Business information

Business: Advance Telecom Inc.
Contact E-Mail: sales@ ulimited.com [broke live link]




i dunno what to do!!!
 
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i call my bank and they said they can do mothing since i have download something i have to check with paypal
 
Here's another one, in case you're interested. It showed up as a sponsored result in Google.

spybot.search-destroy2009.com


Interestingly enough, they actually have a link at the bottom that says "You can download this software for free HERE." The link is to membersareaas.com.

I understand from above why they might be able to get away with this, but I have to question the legality of the following two specifics:
(1) the fact that they're hosting the download themselves; can Safer Networking not prohibit that?
(2) the fact that they're offering a subscription membership rather than just a one-time sale; how can they justify that?
 
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1. SaferNetworking does not associate anyway with rogue companies that scam users and uses deceptive marketing techniques to gain money.
2. Spybot-Search&Destroy is free for personal use. No subscriptions, no fees, nothing.
 
I think that he means that you should add specific warning about copyright notes like in About screens of other programs, like Avast or something else. Though, same thing already is applied to the license.
 
i'm baffled that tech people fall for this, with that said it would make sense for S&D to have some kind of a monitization scheme beyond donation
 
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