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Well folks it's been a while since I posted anything on the forums here but I have some interesting news that I wanted to share with all of you concerning the on going battle against these sites that promote and sell hacks to players.
After doing some extensive research on the subject I have confirmed that what these sites are doing is illegal under US Federal law and that there are in most cases also international laws that apply here as well to the overseas operators of these types of sites
Last month I contacted the FBI to inquire as to the specifics of how the laws apply and what procedures I needed to follow to file and official complaint. They directed me to the website www.ic3.gov also know as the InternetCrimeComplaintCenter which is the Federal organization that the FBI works with to investigate and prosecute internet related crimes.
After collecting all the necessary information for the report I went ahead and filed my first of what may be many complaints against the folks at 187ci. After a few weeks of not hearing anything, this afternoon I was contacted by an agent from the local office here in Cincinnati that wanted to discuss the details of the complaint so that they could proceed with an official investigation. During our conversation the agent asked me quite a few questions one of which I found quite interesting.
Apparently in addition to the fact that what they are doing is illegal under Federal law, he also mentioned that he was fairly sure that considering the type of activity they are conducting that the money being collected from the sale of the hacks was not being reported as income to the IRS so as part of the investigation he was now going to involve the IRS in a separate investigation for possible tax evasion and fraud.
At the end of the conversation, I inquired as to how long this investigation would take and he was not sure and that it would be based on the case load and the severity of the crimes being committed but he assured me that based on the details I provide in my original complaint that they would follow up on this and if indeed the investigation produced the evidence necessary that owner of the site would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
After I was finished with the phone interview he told me that they would be in touch with me once the investigation was concluded and that I may be contacted by an agent from the IRS to follow up on any possible investigation by them concerning this matter.
This evening I contacted 187ci domain registrar and their host provider to make them aware of what was going on. The company that they used to register their domain contacted me back saying that they were only the registrar and that they had no control or authority to intercede to shut them down and at this point I have not heard back from the company that they are using to host the site but based on the information I provided I am fairly sure I can expect a reply once they talk with their attorneys as to what their response to me should be or on the other hand they may choose not to comment to me at all due to the fact that there is now a Federal investigation going on.
I am not sure how far this will go or what the end result will be, however if I am successful you can bet that I will start going down my list and taking the same action against the rest of these sites that are providing/ selling hacks over the internet.
For those of you that are interested in following the developments of my first test case, I will keep you posted on the forums here provided the staff of Total BF2 does not object, however I am sure this is going to be a slow going process, so please be patient I will post any updates or news that I get when it becomes available.
Thanks- Mitch
After doing some extensive research on the subject I have confirmed that what these sites are doing is illegal under US Federal law and that there are in most cases also international laws that apply here as well to the overseas operators of these types of sites
Last month I contacted the FBI to inquire as to the specifics of how the laws apply and what procedures I needed to follow to file and official complaint. They directed me to the website www.ic3.gov also know as the InternetCrimeComplaintCenter which is the Federal organization that the FBI works with to investigate and prosecute internet related crimes.
After collecting all the necessary information for the report I went ahead and filed my first of what may be many complaints against the folks at 187ci. After a few weeks of not hearing anything, this afternoon I was contacted by an agent from the local office here in Cincinnati that wanted to discuss the details of the complaint so that they could proceed with an official investigation. During our conversation the agent asked me quite a few questions one of which I found quite interesting.
Apparently in addition to the fact that what they are doing is illegal under Federal law, he also mentioned that he was fairly sure that considering the type of activity they are conducting that the money being collected from the sale of the hacks was not being reported as income to the IRS so as part of the investigation he was now going to involve the IRS in a separate investigation for possible tax evasion and fraud.
At the end of the conversation, I inquired as to how long this investigation would take and he was not sure and that it would be based on the case load and the severity of the crimes being committed but he assured me that based on the details I provide in my original complaint that they would follow up on this and if indeed the investigation produced the evidence necessary that owner of the site would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
After I was finished with the phone interview he told me that they would be in touch with me once the investigation was concluded and that I may be contacted by an agent from the IRS to follow up on any possible investigation by them concerning this matter.
This evening I contacted 187ci domain registrar and their host provider to make them aware of what was going on. The company that they used to register their domain contacted me back saying that they were only the registrar and that they had no control or authority to intercede to shut them down and at this point I have not heard back from the company that they are using to host the site but based on the information I provided I am fairly sure I can expect a reply once they talk with their attorneys as to what their response to me should be or on the other hand they may choose not to comment to me at all due to the fact that there is now a Federal investigation going on.
I am not sure how far this will go or what the end result will be, however if I am successful you can bet that I will start going down my list and taking the same action against the rest of these sites that are providing/ selling hacks over the internet.
For those of you that are interested in following the developments of my first test case, I will keep you posted on the forums here provided the staff of Total BF2 does not object, however I am sure this is going to be a slow going process, so please be patient I will post any updates or news that I get when it becomes available.
Thanks- Mitch
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