Is this illegal?

I had no idea where else to put it, but since this is going to be part of my method I thought why not open thread here.


Simple question, so I hope for simple answers:
If I were to set up a website promoting a product that usually costs money, but say I give it away for free and lead people to my content lockers/PPD/whatever and make them download/access a faked file, would that be considered illegal in any way? Please remember, I'm only using the promise to give away something expensive for free, to boost the incoming traffic, I won't be giving away actual material.


Thanks in advance guys.

Of course it is.

ddederick said:

Of course it is.

Click to expand...

Can you explain why?

You're falsely promoting a product/advertising your own stuff.

i'm no lawyer or something but for me it's the definition of false advertising.

This is legal until you get banned, so...

motzart said:

You're falsely promoting a product/advertising your own stuff.

Click to expand...

I get what you're pointing at, but you're actually just repeating what I told you I'd do. Can you tell me what the actual felony is called? And is it truely a felony or more of an inbetween illegal and legal thing?

lakim0 said:

This is legal until you get banned, so...

Click to expand...

Getting banned isn't what I'm afraid of, but having to face actual legal consequences.

If you will put on the content locker an application that might look like the one you are selling and giving an error when installing ( fake app ) it won't get you any problems. Since you can state that it`s their fault that it`s not installing or running or w/e. You did your part of deal and gaved them the app but you are not responsible about it if it`s not working since it`s not developed by you.

You will have copyright problems. Depending on your niche or who are you copying, it could get from no serious problems to very ugly situations.

Usually, they do not give a crap. Small scale operations are looked over, and do not cost the company anything.

tixpf said:

Getting banned isn't what I'm afraid of, but having to face actual legal consequences.

Click to expand...

IANAL but this is illegal in my region's consumer protection legal code. It carries heavy fines and MAY be considered a crime depending on how a prosecutor interprets it, for example, same crime as forwarding a fake check or fake currency.

But this will depend on your legal system, I am not in the USA so things may be different there, although these types of crimes are pretty similar everywhere, as you're not the first to try this(and get busted)

Having said that, there are more than a billion offshore people doing exactly what you describe. Who knows whether they're getting busted or not.

It's all in the wording dude, you must of seen the people selling pictures of the latest cell phone or games console on ebay.

The term "illegal" is used far too freely by many people, illegal means that an act committed is against the law of the land. Most of the things discussed on this forum are not illegal but they are usually against the rules or terms of whatever company/organisation that you are with.

For example most cpa companies state that you must deliver what you offer but if you don't the worst you can expect is to lose your account not get a visit from the police, even such things as copyright infringement as you describe is not illegal, the copyright owner can sue you of course but the police do not handle that side of things.

You may get away with your method for a while but if enough people complain to your cpa company you will end up losing your account and all earnings.

mrfred1 said:

The term "illegal" is used far too freely by many people, illegal means that an act committed is against the law of the land. Most of the things discussed on this forum are not illegal but they are usually against the rules or terms of whatever company/organisation that you are with.

For example most cpa companies state that you must deliver what you offer but if you don't the worst you can expect is to lose your account not get a visit from the police, even such things as copyright infringement as you describe is not illegal, the copyright owner can sue you of course but the police do not handle that side of things.

You may get away with your method for a while but if enough people complain to your cpa company you will end up losing your account and all earnings.

Click to expand...

I'm agreeing with you 100%, even though you probably meant me by 'many people'. It drives me nuts when people stretch out true meanings of words or interpret them however they see fit. Problem is, english isn't my first language and therefore I can't be as specific as I wish I could be, but I think you get what I what this thread is about.

This thread is actually pretty helpful. This 'false promotion' doesn't neccessarily have to be ilegal, but as long as it's illegal-ish, I'm not gonna do it. Even the slightest risk of getting sued isn't worth it at all. I know enough scene methods how to make a shipload of money, but I got into IM, because I wanted to stay legal.

Thanks for your replies, guys.

No, I meant by many people. not just in this thread but in lots of others. Your "method" is one that is used by many people, whether the prize is a file/film/mp3 or keygen etc, it is obviously better to offer something that isn't fake but you wouldn't be the only one using such a tactic.

In the US it probably falls under Unfair or Deceptive Practices
http://business.ftc.gov/advertising-and-marketing/online-advertising-and-marketing
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Unfair+or+Deceptive+Trade+Practices
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_advertising
http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus35-advertising-faqs-guide-small-business/

W130SN said:

In the US it probably falls under Unfair or Deceptive Practices

Click to expand...

I don't live in the US, but our legal system is pretty similar to the one over there. Thanks for your work.

tixpf said:

I had no idea where else to put it, but since this is going to be part of my method I thought why not open thread here.


Simple question, so I hope for simple answers:
If I were to set up a website promoting a product that usually costs money, but say I give it away for free and lead people to my content lockers/PPD/whatever and make them download/access a faked file, would that be considered illegal in any way? Please remember, I'm only using the promise to give away something expensive for free, to boost the incoming traffic, I won't be giving away actual material.


Thanks in advance guys.

Click to expand...

There's several issues with this tactic (I've considered doing it myself in the past admittedly.)

1. Your CPA network is not going to be real happy that you're locking fake content....if you're fine with possibly losing the account w/ them, then go for it.
2. IF you use the product name in your domain and all over the website, with images of their product etc, you could possibly be subject to "brand dilution" which is definitely not legal. Copyright infringement, etc...
3. Videos on youtube with titles like "PRODUCTNAME Torrent" get removed quick, so if it's a software that you're offering most likely youtube won't be an effective method to draw in traffic, and that's a big thing to not have available.
4. Again w/ the product in the domain name, even if they don't take legal action against you as far as a lawsuit, they will at the very least take ownership of the domain that has their trademarked name in it, and you can't do shit to stop them.

mrfred1 said:

The term "illegal" is used far too freely by many people, illegal means that an act committed is against the law of the land. Most of the things discussed on this forum are not illegal but they are usually against the rules or terms of whatever company/organisation that you are with.

For example most cpa companies state that you must deliver what you offer but if you don't the worst you can expect is to lose your account not get a visit from the police, even such things as copyright infringement as you describe is not illegal, the copyright owner can sue you of course but the police do not handle that side of things.

You may get away with your method for a while but if enough people complain to your cpa company you will end up losing your account and all earnings.

Click to expand...

Was about to post exactly what mrfred1 talked about. There is a vast difference between civil and criminal legalities. The majority of laws that are broken are considered civil violations. One could say that "fraud is fraud" and breaking a websites Terms under false pretenses is just that. But that is when common sense comes into place. Heck, we all know a niece or nephew that is under 13 and has a Facebook account. So would that be considered fraud? We've all dropped a piece of trash out of our pocket by accident. Is that littering? Both are technically violations of some law but that isn't how the justice system works.

I would say the worst that could happen to you is a complaint being filed with your CPA company and/or hosting company. Now, if you're owed a lot in commissions and get them pulled, well, that could be worse than getting sued by the company. Speaking of CPA companies, it works the same way for them too. If you violate any of their Terms, technically they can withhold all commissions and ban your account. But most will give you a warning or withhold just a small portion of the commissions. If they know the commissions brought in were in violation of their Terms, they generally still pay you (with a warning) or just isolate those out. In short, we're all in violation of the law everyday whether we realize it or not.