Sonic'

Anyone heard of this

Guy at work recieved a solicitors letter, stating that he had downloaded a new game (from a German Software House) illegally on a specific date in October last year, and that they have written proof from Telewest (his ISP) including his IP Address, and detailed logs that he downloaded this software, it was done through a court order, and a £49 fee paid to Telewest for the retrieval of the said logs & ip address etc

The letter goes on to some 5 or 6 pages, the last being a disclaimer & payment form, whereby they want you to sign to say that you illegally downloaded their software, and by signing the form, and enclosing a cheque or making a switch payment to the solicitors for £349 for lossess incurred by the Software House, and upon reciept of payment & forms, they will not pursue the matter any further

If they do not recieve the form or payment with so many days they will seek further legal action

Now the Software house is legitimate, and do in fact have a new game due out shortly, and also the Solicitors who are based in London, are also a genuine solicitors with many clients

BUT we have been informed that it is a scam, and very professionally done, and quite possibly the Solicitors are only acting on behalf of their clients

The guy who got the letter, and perhaps Pimmo can confirm this, phoned Telewest told them about it, and they told him there is no form for £49 that can request that kind of information, and also Telewest also stated that they cannot provide IP addressess from that length of time ago

And would also certainly not give personal details out of a customer to anyone except maybe the Police with official court order papers

Steve

Abdabz

The last bit is almost certainly correct Steve. When I was a manager at a mobile phone airtime provider, only the police could gain access to others records and companies dont charge the police to do so... I think this will be the same against any company of this ilk.
The rest of it sounds convinving though... How do they know he has downloaded the game? Did he download the game? Does he play the game on-line?
You definately need some kind of mediation to confirm it is genuine; i.e. not from the "solicitor" or from the game company. Maybe worth trying the likes of Digital Spy and other such forums to look into it further?
Keep us informed...

bobsabuilder

Just tell him to bin it.

If it goes any further, which is unlikely, then:

He has an unsecured wireless network at home so someone nearby must have downloaded it using his connection without permission.

End of.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Did he actually download the game ?

Chris L

Must admit - sounds like a scam to me. A good one too - I could see a lot of people bing caught out by this.

Sonic'

He definately didnt download the game, the letter states it was a beta, and the game isnt due out until april this year, and as a result of him downloading it he has impacted on potential sales of the game

Telewest stated it was a scam, and to ignore it, and they CANNOT provide IP address details from that long ago, he has been told NOT to contact the solicitors or the game company at all, and bin it and ignore it

He is more concerned that this company have managed to get his home address, and know that he uses Telewest, and he is on a dynamic ip too, not a static one

fitzscoob

Chris you download a lot of german things dont you? Not normally games though eh?