The tale of - eBay, FBI, Shawn Hogan and Brian Dunning.



Just finished reading this, and was going to post it myself. Very interesting indeed.
 
it's not as bad as it sounds
ebay was complicit in most of this
shawn will avoid jail-time and keep most of the $ too
 
At what point does this become criminal? Does anyone know?

He was breaking eBay's affiliate terms of service. Surely ebay should just sue him for damages, and get the commissions back plus legal costs? Where did the FBI come into this?
 
dsm56 said:
At what point does this become criminal? Does anyone know?

He was breaking eBay's affiliate terms of service. Surely ebay should just sue him for damages, and get the commissions back plus legal costs? Where did the FBI come into this?
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same. I guess since it is considered fraund and it is happening over a wire....

And as far as entrapment goes, I assume that only law enforcement can legaly entrap, not a company. But you would assume their encouragement would soften the fraud angle however. But that was addressed by "[It] would not have mattered. eBay affiliate program managers are not authorized from a legal standpoint to ask affiliates to violate their terms of service."
 
malloc said:
I was thinking the same. I guess since it is considered fraund and it is happening over a wire....

And as far as entrapment goes, I assume that only law enforcement can legaly entrap, not a company. But you would assume their encouragement would soften the fraud angle however. But that was addressed by "[It] would not have mattered. eBay affiliate program managers are not authorized from a legal standpoint to ask affiliates to violate their terms of service."
Click to expand...

The implication of that is that it is up to the affiliate to determine who is and who is not authorised within eBay, which is absurd. If it comes from someone within eBay, the reasonable assumption is that it is authorised, surely?
 
I am just going by Wiki but

Criminal fraud is intentional deception made for personal gain.
Civil fraud breach of contract.

If this was a civil matter, than I tbink eBay encouraging him would absolutly matter.

But since, this escolated to criminal fraud, what eBay says about its ToS is not relavent.

Anyway, silly but that is my guess.

Makes sense like, conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor is a felony (in some states)
 
I'm just wondering how a guy that alledgedly made $28 million over the past few years has a shitty 36" tube television in his living room?

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dsm56 said:
At what point does this become criminal? Does anyone know?

He was breaking eBay's affiliate terms of service. Surely ebay should just sue him for damages, and get the commissions back plus legal costs? Where did the FBI come into this?
Click to expand...

from aaronkellylaw.com

While cookie stuffing may not be singled out in the criminal law by name, the technique does fall under the more general rubric of Internet fraud. In February 2010, US federal authorities brought wire fraud charges carrying a maximum fine of $250K and five years in prison against Christopher Kennedy, creator of a popular cookie stuffing program called Saucekit. Though Kennedy claims he never stuffed cookies for his own profit, he licensed his software for $450 a month to a clients, some of whom may have made as much as $10,000 monthly in fraudulent eBay payments.
 
dsm56 said:
At what point does this become criminal? Does anyone know?

He was breaking eBay's affiliate terms of service. Surely ebay should just sue him for damages, and get the commissions back plus legal costs? Where did the FBI come into this?
Click to expand...

Its theft, plain and simple. When is that not illegal?
 
Good read. Wondering why both their flats/houses are pretty cheap with the items inside hogans are totally outdated... You seen his office? That's not $1/million a month for sure.
 
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