BitTorrent Scam Shutdown After SMS Regulations Breach

Written by enigmax on January 27, 2009 

Sites offering downloads of BitTorrent clients and other well-known software, which then require an SMS to be sent to ‘activate’ the installer of free software, have been appearing at an increasing rate. Not only does uTorrent end up costing up to $20, but these sites are in breach of new telecoms regulations and are set to be shut down.

As the file-sharing phenomenon continues unabated, more and more outfits are taking the opportunity to milk this cash-cow. Unfortunately, there are a growing number that operate in a legal gray area and/or prey on the likelihood that they will receive few complaints.

One business model in operation for some time now is the selling of otherwise free software to unsuspecting entrants to file-sharing and P2P. Unaware that everything they need can be legitimately acquired for free, they hand over payments for access to public sites such as Mininova or The Pirate Bay. Equally, they end up paying for uTorrent or other P2P clients via credit card or other methods.

Recently there has been an increase in sites offering these type of services, but utilizing premium rate SMS to collect revenue. One such site being complained about right now is Bittorrent-net.info. The site offers downloads of most of the popular P2P clients including uTorrent, Vuze/Azureus, LimeWire, eMule and Ares.

However, the downloads have a sting in the tail. Once downloaded and the installer is run, the software package requires the user to SMS a provided number via cellphone to get codes to ‘activate’ the software. The site has sections for users around the world, but for UK users this sequence of events ends up costing individuals around £9 in call charges. Spot the deliberately obscure gray-on-gray prices in the screenshot below, written in letters instead of numbers so they don’t attract the eye.

SMSFraud

On closer inspection of the rarely viewed ‘Legal Terms‘ section of the site which is buried away in the usual legalese, it does indeed say that that the ’service’ will cost £9. Unfortunately for the site this just isn’t enough to give it legality under regulations just introduced in the UK.

Under new rules from premium-rate phone regulator PhonepayPlus, hiding away charges as BitTorrent-net.info has done is strictly disallowed. In effect now is this rule:

Clearer pricing – No matter where you see a mobile phone-paid service advertised (whether it’s in a magazine or newspaper, on TV, on the internet or somewhere else), the pricing of the service must be given just as much space and attention as the rest of the advert – the cost shouldn’t be hidden in small print. Also, providers must not say a service or download is ‘free’ unless there really are no other costs involved.

The number that people have to SMS to obtain ‘activation codes’ is 78881, which is currently operated by mBlox Ltd. Touting itself as “The world’s largest mobile transaction network” and the company behind delivering the ‘Crazy Frog’ ringtone, mBlox does not provide the content or schemes behind such SMS’s, merely the infrastructure.

In a response to rising complaints as outlined in this article, mBlox provides an online tool to find the companies behind these numbers. Unfortunately our searches using this method drew a blank, but two company names kept cropping up linked to these operations – Netlink Network Corp. and Panama-based Soletto Group SA.

TorrentFreak’s calls for comment from mBlox have so far gone unanswered but we did managed to discuss the situation with SMS regulator PhonepayPlus, who gave us this statement:

Following intervention from PhonepayPlus, as a result of public complaints and its own internal monitoring, this service has been suspended from operation. Readers [in the UK] affected by this service should contact PhonepayPlus on 0800 500 212 (Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm), or at www.phonepayplus.org.uk

We are unable to confirm at this stage if people affected will be able to get a refund, but it certainly looks like the chances of people getting scammed by this method in the future are diminishing.

On other sites using the same business model the software BitComet, BitSpirit, Frostwire and Kceasy feature, but unfortunately this scheme doesn’t stop at P2P clients. Messenger Plus! Live, WinAce, WinZip, 7Zip, DirectX, CDex, and Adobe Acrobat have all appeared with similar installers.

Previously: ‘Lost’ Most Pirated TV-Show on BitTorrent

Next: Cox Suckers BitTorrent Users with More Slowdowns

58 Responses

1 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:18 by Anonymous

yeah in the UK but what about all the other countrys, may these assholes rot in hell

2 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:19 by Anonymous

yeah in the UK but what about all the other countrys, may these a-holes rot in hell

3 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:58 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
<a"" target="_blank">http://www.10ch.org/"target="_blank"&...href="http://http://www.10ch.org/%22%3C/a%3Etarget=%22_blank%22

4 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:58 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
<a"" target="_blank">http://www.10ch.org/"target="_blank"&...

5 Jan 28, 2009 at 01:00 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
<a href=”http://http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”><a href=”http://<a href=”http://www.10ch.org/“” target=”_blank”>www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/

6 Jan 28, 2009 at 01:17 by rockhospital

people that fall for this is new to the internet, I guess the only one that could stop scams are mozilla and microsoft, having them embeding these warnings that you can see in firefox, where it alerts you of a scam site, which is really great.

people should know about this, every1 should know these scam shit thingies, new computer people to non-new computer people, every1 can be fooled…

7 Jan 28, 2009 at 01:22 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Note: the first link to Bittorrent-net.info doesn't work.

Roze
http://www.10ch.org

8 Jan 27, 2009 at 22:26 by Geoserv

Wow, thanks for the heads up, it's amazing what they will think of next.

9 Jan 27, 2009 at 22:36 by Heyvey

I can' believe that people still fall for that. No wonder that Madoff got so rich!

10 Jan 27, 2009 at 22:37 by TorrentFreak

These guys (and others) advertise heavily on adsense as well. We try to block all their urls, if you happen to see one that we haven't blocked yet feel free to get in contact. We obviously don't want to advertise their scams.

11 Jan 27, 2009 at 23:18 by MenthiX

Good to see something happening. Being active a lot in the Messenger Plus! forums I've seen these type of sites increase too and been trying to find some way to shut them down. Unfortunately a lot of people fall for it, and now they're advertising heavily on Adsense it's only getting worse.

Too bad this only helping UK users. Perhaps more can be done when the authors of the freeware applications get together.

12 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:47 by Anonymous

We need to put an end to this injustice. Although I can't see myself falling for this crap, I know my gullible family would probably do it. Please spread the word about this, people like them can't get away with this.

13 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:52 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>Roze
http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>“” target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/

14 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:52 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>Roze

15 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:53 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze

16 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:53 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>Roze

17 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:53 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/

18 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:54 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/

19 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:54 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
http://www.10ch.org/&quot;target="_blank"&gt;href=”http://http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/

20 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:54 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
http://www.10ch.org/%22%3C/a%3Etarget=%22_blank%22&amp...target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/&quot;target="_blank"&gt;<a>href="http://href=”http://http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/&quot;target="_blank"&gt;href=”http://http://www.10ch.org/“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/

21 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:56 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
http://www.10ch.org/%22%3C/a%3Etarget=%22_blank%22&amp...target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/&quot;target="_blank"&gt;http://<a>href="http://href=”http://http://www.10ch.org/%3C/a%3E“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/"target="_blank"&gt;href=”http://http://www.10ch.org/%3C/a%3E“target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/

22 Jan 28, 2009 at 00:57 by Roze

Although most probably would not fall for it, I suppose that it would successfully scam a few individuals who are unfamiliar with BitTorrent but want to do so. I think that one problem may be the lack of plentiful information regarding BitTorrent, although I am not quite sure.

Roze
target="_blank"&gt;http://<a"" target="_blank">http://www.10ch.org/"target="_blank"&...href=”http://http://www.10ch.org/%22%3C/a%3Etarget=%22_blank%22&amp...target=”_blank”>http://www.10ch.org/&quot;target="_blank"&gt;http://&lt;a&gt;href="http://<a>

23 Jan 28, 2009 at 01:53 by zarathustra

Let these tools know what you think of them. Fill in their feedback form here:
http://support.sorpresor.com/Soletto/Nueva.aspx

;)

24 Jan 28, 2009 at 04:31 by NWO

If people are retarded enough to pay for any p2p software, they deserve to get scammed…

25 Jan 28, 2009 at 04:57 by CCC

those that fell for such scam deserve it. can't they just google a around

26 Jan 28, 2009 at 05:51 by FuncoLand

people still pay for bits of data?

010100010101010010101001001110001

that'll be $4.

27 Jan 28, 2009 at 13:11 by pink panther

Scammers and their victims deserve each other.

28 Jan 28, 2009 at 08:35 by enigmax

I know a surgeon who couldn't install a graphics card driver. We can't all be good at everything

29 Jan 28, 2009 at 08:36 by enigmax

yes Roze, we don't want ppl going there ;)

30 Jan 28, 2009 at 10:10 by JAY

HOW CAN U REPORT THIS WHEN U HAD THEM ADVERTISING ON THIS SITE YOURSELF, I POSTED A COMMENT ABOUT IT OVER A WEEK AGO BUT IT WENT UN NOTICED. POT CALLING THE KETTLE OR WHAT!

31 Jan 28, 2009 at 10:12 by JAY

TO FOLLOW UP. U HAD http://WWW.UTORRENT.CCADVERTISING ON HERE. READ THERE T&C'S. MAYBE U SHOULD BE CHECKING YOUR OWN PAGE BEFORE COMMENTING ABOUT OTHERS

32 Jan 28, 2009 at 10:34 by Bas

Those advertisements are not even pre-screened by the administrator of this site, and are linked to terms such as 'torrent', which will make them appear on this site too. Also, typing in caps is really annoying. ;)

33 Jan 28, 2009 at 10:36 by Torrent Maid

These companies are preying upon the same fear used for centuries by con artists. A certain undertone of guilt is ingrained in the consumer at the onset, so that when they eventually see the charges they are too ashamed to file a complaint and explain themselves. Girls Gone Wild has gotten in trouble for using this technique to overcharge customers small amounts of money that they might be too embarrassed to contest.

A little bit of fault lies in the fact that bittorrent is still underground technology, and we are conditioned since childhood to believe that anything that's not yet mainstream MUST be illegal or subversive. Once the stigma is removed from bittorrent and the status quo sees that its primary purpose is NOT in trading illicit material, fraud won't survive in this industry.

-Torrent Maid ( http://www.torrentmaid.com“target=”_blank”>http://http://www.torrentmaid.com)

34 Jan 28, 2009 at 10:53 by NubCakes

Oh come on fix the link. I need to buy a copy of utorrent and Limewire.

35 Jan 28, 2009 at 10:54 by JAY

maybe they are not pre screened but like i said i did highlight in a previous post about this site been advertised on here, if people come to this site because they trust it then surely they are going to use the links associated with it. i enjoy TF and its posts but i think maybe they should look at whats going on on there own pages now and again.

36 Jan 28, 2009 at 10:59 by NubCakes

Pretty pointless comments – as you don't seem to know the vast majority of websites sell advertising space to advertising companies who then provide ads for the the space. This is not under the conrol of the website.

How is it a case of the pot calling the kettle black – you could say that if TF were involved in distributing free software and charging for it an dthen wrote this article.

Posting in capitals is annoying and symbolises shouting. Your an idiot if your shouting because your comment got ignored, all you had to do was click the "contact" link at the top of the page and it would've been sorted.

37 Jan 28, 2009 at 11:02 by NubCakes

Waht I don't get is how these things even make money. If you type "utorrent" into google the official website is first result. Nowhere on the first page could I see a scam site (that I know of). It's just… odd. That people even reach these webpages.

38 Jan 28, 2009 at 11:03 by NubCakes

Sold!! When can you deliver it to me by? ;)

39 Jan 28, 2009 at 11:14 by TerribleTony

I'm sure TF are thankful for your heads-up.

40 Jan 28, 2009 at 11:16 by Ignorance is bliss

Idiocy will always find its way somehow.

41 Jan 28, 2009 at 17:17 by Alex

These scams are always ridiculously obvious, if you fall for one of them you get what you deserve.

42 Jan 28, 2009 at 17:19 by Alex

“A version of this software can be downloaded for free in the developer’s official website.”

On the first page…

43 Jan 28, 2009 at 11:58 by JAY

i don't see it as a pointless comment, yes, i understand about the advertising space and how it works, my point was that this article was about people been scammed by having to pay for free programmes. My point was that one of the ads on this site ( which i see is no longer on) was one which did charge for a free program, surely you can understand that if you are going to talk about something u wouldn't also be promoting it, and yes maybe the admin don't have time to check all there ads but i'm damn sure if it was me i would now and then be checking what is going on in my adverts, but thats just me, and i was not typing in capitals because i was shouting or i was ignored, you are right though, next time i will contact admin, now come here and give us a hug! ;-) lol

44 Jan 28, 2009 at 12:24 by Jobnn Wright

Wow, thats pretty crooked. Thieves like that need to be dealt with swiftly!

RT
http://www.total-privacy.us.tc

45 Jan 28, 2009 at 12:54 by Oldman

enigmax, it has been there for ages, so not sure why you decided to post this "breaking news" today :)

46 Jan 28, 2009 at 13:16 by mister_playboy

Indeed.

47 Jan 28, 2009 at 13:52 by ramriot

Surely the infringement of SMS marketing laws is not the real crime here. These people are profiting from copyrighted software, that should be given free, gratis or even libra. The real owners of which should sue them for copyright infringement. Or would that be a but to ironic?

48 Jan 28, 2009 at 15:33 by Jim Guardian

Damn fraudsters, the real way to stop them is to have Adsense and every other Ad platform ban their ads.

49 Jan 28, 2009 at 16:21 by hatetobe_you

The ones, I most depise, are ones such as netmoviedownloads [dot] com and all there damn sister sites, just with changed graphics

50 Jan 28, 2009 at 17:27 by Roze

Because the clear pricing regulations has recently come into effect, I surmise.

51 Jan 28, 2009 at 19:09 by

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe.
-Albert Einstein

52 Jan 28, 2009 at 19:38 by Roze

Then there is also another link to the website (to its "legal section") that you should probably also break.

53 Jan 28, 2009 at 20:09 by Shantih

Is human intelligence also infinite?

54 Jan 28, 2009 at 20:18 by Roze

Nobody deserves to fall for them, though.

55 Jan 28, 2009 at 20:18 by Roze

Nobody deserves to fall for them, though with a few exceptions.

56 Jan 28, 2009 at 20:19 by Roze

They aren't really profitting, it seems. It seems like they are requiring SMS, which costs some in order to send.

57 Jan 28, 2009 at 21:05 by Roze

It's through advertisement.

58 Jan 29, 2009 at 08:36 by human inelligence??

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.
-Albert Einstein

Most fools think they are only ignorant.
– Benjamin Franklin

Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped
– Elbert Hubbard

In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that he did not also limit his stupidity.
– Konrad Adenauer

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