The Scammers Behind Xupiter
from the tracked-'em-down dept
Last week we had an article about the mysterious adware/spyware product called Xupiter that was mysteriously showing up on many computers. Wired News has now tracked down the team behind the software, saying it’s a father and son team from California who are known both as scammers and spammers. They apparently have a long history of pulling somewhat underhanded online tricks. The father owned 78,472 domains at one point – many of which were used to trick unsuspecting surfers who misspelled a popular site into one of his scams. He also sued Verisign at one point, after the company reclaimed a bunch of his domains. I’m really intrigued by these types of people, and really wonder how they justify their own daily existence to themselves – knowing that their whole lives revolve around making others worse off.
Comments on “The Scammers Behind Xupiter”
Hardened criminals
have invaded what was once the realm of technical elites, so there is still shock expressed in some quarters. A hardened criminal doesn’t feel remorse, because they haven’t been socialized appropriately. It’s best to just put them away and try not to get upset by their actions.
It’s sort of like a deaf girl I once met in a chat room — she thought that very few people listen to music, since none of her deaf friends do, and hearing friends tell her that music is no big deal.
Why? Why not?
Is that a trick question?
Clearly, the answer is: Because they want to, and they can, and you can’t stop them. Whatever you might do to try to block them, they’ll find a way around it. So you might as well just lay back and enjoy it.
It’s the new digital era, the new technological imperative. The name of the game is “screwing over and ripping off: online”. The goal is to be the top screwer and/or ripper, and to avoid as much as possible being the screwee and the rippee.
Making others worse off? Why should they care about that any more than you care about record company profits?
Re: Why? Why not?
Making others worse off? Why should they care about that any more than you care about record company profits?
Simple. Because a good, healthy business is one that offers its customers something that they want. These are transactions which are win-win – and everyone comes away satisfied. The buyer gets a product he or she wanted/needed for a reasonable price, and the seller gets money in return for the good or service. That’s what makes the economy grow, and keeps everyone happy. A company that has record profits doing so makes sense.
A company based on the idea of ripping people off and making others’ lives worse is bad for everyone. It’s bad for the economy. It’s bad for business. And it’s bad for the people who got ripped off.
xupiter owner
Hi all,
I found this old post by the same guy who OWNS XUPITER!@
he lists his cell phone how nice of him to make this information public! why not give him a call and tell him how you feal about his software?
more info can be found in this news article:
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57553,00.html
— origonal post by xupiter owner below
On Thu, 18 Oct 2001 dan@cashclicks.com wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I found your site listed on googles search engine and wanted to see if we could work out a deal. I am the owner of CashClicks and therefore have the ability to work out special deals. Our base payout is $35/trial signup but I am willing to start you off at $40/trial signup because I really want your business. Also, our sites are niche and convert extremely well and outperform most programs on the web. It would be great if you could throw our banners up for a week to see what I mean. If you have any questions at all feel free to phone me or email me and if you do decide to give us a try, email me with your account username so I can adjust your payrate to $40/signup. Let me know.
>
> Thanks,
> Dan.
>
> — Daniel Yomtobian
> Erika Online Inc.
> 15445 Ventura Blvd Suite 318
> Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
>
> http://www.CashClicks.com
>
> Phone: 818-728-6677
> Cell: 818-516-3091
Re: xupiter owner
Acccording to a search on USSearch that the guy who owns xupiter is 25 years old.