Piracy Phishing Scam Targets US ISPs and Subscribers (torrentfreak.com)

According to a report on TorrentFreak, an elaborate piracy phishing operating is tageting US ISPs and subscribers. Scammers are reportedly masquerading as anti-piracy company IP-Echelon and rightholders such as Lionsgate to send fake DMCA notices and settlement demands to ISPs. From the report:TorrentFreak was alerted to a takedown notice Lionsgate purportedly sent to a Cox subscriber, for allegedly downloading a pirated copy of the movie Allegiant. Under threat of a lawsuit, the subscriber was asked to pay a $150 settlement fee. This request is unique as neither Lionsgate nor its tracking company IP-Echelon is known to engage in this practice. When we contacted IP-Echelon about Lionsgate's supposed settlement offer, we heard to our surprise that these emails are part of a large phishing scam, which has at least one large ISPs fooled. "The notices are fake and not sent by us. It's a phishing scam," IP-Echelon informed TorrentFreak. For a phishing scam the fake DMCA notice does its job well. At first sight the email appears to be legit, and for Cox Communications it was real enough to forward it to their customers.U.S. law enforcement has been notified and is currently investigating the matter.

Comments

Re:scam masquerades as legal scam

[Anonymous Coward]

What I want to know is, is the phisher correct, claiming that that particular Cox customer accessed the movie illegally? If the claim is correct, then how id the phisher know? What if the phisher is operating a site offering illegal downloads?

Too funny

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

There's a certain delicious slipperiness to this whole thing. I was tempted to say "irony" (of which there is some present) but the idea of one scammer masquerading as another scammer is actually pretty damn funny.

It's like Bernard Madoff sending out letters pretending to be Frank Abagnale, lol.