Hi,

After formating my hard drive, i've searched for Messenger plus! live in google to install it again, and the first link i found is this one : http://www.mesengerplus.info/fr/

After downloading a light file, it asks to send 2 sms (for 6€), to be able to download a premium download version :
http://www.mesengerplus.info/fr/check_code.php

Is this site an illegal exploitation of Patchou work or is that a way for the author to earn some money ?
It seems that we're in the first case, since Patchou has always distributed it for free (only asking for contributions and installing a sponsor as an option).

Can anyone confirm ?


(if it's an illegal exploitation of the free soft of Patchou i hope for him it will be possible to stop it, even if i guess there are many sites like this one)

I'm sure it will be passed on to Patchou's lawyers... Thanks for reporting it here though

There have been sites popping up like this recently.

This is NOT by Patchou.

The only true url is http://msgpluslive.net (http://msgplus.net)

I'm sure Patchou will thank you for this. I'll report the website to the fraud department of their hosting site

Thanks!

edit: sent email to abuse@godaddy.com

Did the change the link? Download points directly to http://mirror2.msgpluslive.net/MsgPlusLive-450.exe now.

actually there are a lot of official messenger plus URLS now (but they do all redirect to msgpluslive.net)

msgpluslive.com, .co.uk, and many many more localized versions were bought for the release of msgplus live

Not another one. If there getting alot of buys patchou must have a tracking code on the site to tell there coming from there?

quote:

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Originally posted by john-t
Not another one. If there getting alot of buys patchou must have a tracking code on the site to tell there coming from there?

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What these guys do is collect money for a short time and then  close down the shop, replacing their url with a legitimate one.

I can confirm this web site is not affiliated with me so nothing should be downloaded there, ever.

GoDaddy.com is not the host. I have emailed them previously regarding another website. It turned out to be theplanet.com that provided hosting and GoDaddy.com was the domain name registrar. However, GoDaddy were very co-operative and provided me with enough infomration about the actual host and I sent another email to them

It's time to pick up the debugger again..
Edit: Oh dammit, it's webbased.

quote:

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Originally posted by vikke
It's time to pick up the debugger again..
Edit: Oh dammit, it's webbased.

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Considering some elements, this site seems to come from spain :

- the url page name : http://www.mesengerplus.info/fr/terminos.htm
- the last part of the terms of use : "Le présent contrat est régi par la loi espagnole. "
- many mistakes in the text correspond to a bad translation from spanish to french : for exemple "su" (which can mean "your" or "his/her") is often translated in "son" (his) instead of "votre" in french.
ex. : http://www.mesengerplus.info/fr/contact.php

And it pretends to be an english company : "Abingerdale Limited, fiscal number 5833265, 94 Wigmore Street, London W1U 3RF, United Kingdom."

Some fun parts :
- the article 3.4 who refers to the copyright...
- the end of the terms of use who say that the contract depends on spanish law, and will be ruled by the London court of justice.

It would be interesting to find the french operator who provide the sms service, to discover who is his client.
And it would be tempting to hack spam & co this kind of sites, since their activity is illegal

(sorry for my english ^^)

quote:

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Originally posted by icks99
would be tempting to hack spam & co this kind of sites

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No i won't, obviously
but sometimes it would be tempting to make them think about their own methods.

But you may also make them more hungry. You should be careful on the Internet. I think Patchou should send the case to the electronic crime services.