Digital Point Owners Indicted – Out on 100k Bail
UPDATE 8/2/10: Looks like Shawn Hogan has posted a rather lengthy and fun-packed blog-post on digital point about what he says is the real story behind all this. Read Here
Nearly 2 years ago, you may remember an post by Nickycakes detailing the Digital Point cookie stuffing scandal [allegedly] perpetrated by Shawn Hogan, owner of Digital Point forums and his partner. You can view the post here (from Sept 2008). Nickycakes details exactly how they were [allegedly] doing it etc.
Well, fast forward to this year and Shawn Hogan and his buddy Brian Dunning have both been Indicted after a lengthy FBI investigation. They’ve been charged with over 15 counts of wire fraud and criminal forfeiture. They’ve been released on $100,000 bonds and had to give up their passports, which is sad for them because they have made literally millions of rich success guy webmaster in India who would be glad to offer them safe haven if they were able to flee the country.
The charges for each of them carry max sentences of 20 years and and $250,000 or twice the gross gain/loss. How much was the gross gain? Uhh… over $20,000,000 according to the court docs. So, yeah, maximum fine of $40,000,000, just for the criminal case. This is in addition to the civil suit Ebay has going with them, and as we all learned from the OJ trial, even if they don’t stick you with the criminal trial, the civil suit will get you for millions anyway.
Some specifics taken from revenews.com:
- Between 2006 and June 2007, Shawn Hogan (Digital Point Solutions) earned approximately $15.5 million in commissions from eBay. Hogan was eBay’s number one affiliate.
- Between 2006 and June 2007, Dunning (Kessler’s Flying Circus) earned approximately $5.3 million in commissions from eBay. Dunning was eBay’s number two affiliate.
- Hogan and Dunning are accused of generating hidden forced clicks on both their own web sites as well as sites not connected with the defendants in order to increase the number of computers storing the eBay affiliate tracking cookie.
- The legal criteria for wire fraud was established not on money (commissions) being transferred over the wires, but because of transmission of the tracking cookie between states and internationally.
- The affiliates attempted to hide the activity from eBay and CJ by not engaging in the cookie stuffing on computers located in San Jose (eBay headquarters) or Santa Barbara (CJ’s headquarters). This is geo-targeting and is readily known to be used by affiliates engaging in questionable activity. Of course, not all geo-targeting activity in nefarious.
- Both Hogan (2005) and Dunning (2006) denied any cookie stuffing behavior when questioned by CJ.
- Each individual wire fraud account is related to a particular incident on an IP address outside California (location of eBay servers) where an affiliate cookie for the defendants was set.
That’s over 20mil in fraud cookie stuffing commissions, kids.
Anndddd we have court docs:
Does this spell the end for Digital Point, the worst internet marketing forum to ever have existed? We can all only hope….well…maybe not all of us:
Keep it real.
Lol someone should by dp off shawn
Just saw all of the tweets about this. If this doesn't make you think twice about being shady then I don't know what will.
Nice touch with the logo in the soap.
I was thinking about that tattoo guy when I read about it earlier.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Haha damn they are SCREWED!
It’s insane how people can get into the wrong dirt online… I’ve done some dirty things in my day but once I found an opportunity to get out of it I never looked back. Running a legitimate, honest business is the way to go.
You are still doing it to copeac? no?
“as well as sites not connected with the defendants”
Read: DP Coop link exchange “tracking pixel”.
Remember that shit?
When the dp coop LE first came out they touted the “this LE has no footprint” Then they added a tracking pixel…
I was banking w/ ebay back then, and I’ll tell ya to do $15mil+ they had to be setting tens of millions of cookies.
I know what we had to do to get $50-80K a month.
I may be off base here, but that’s my guess
I remember one dude bought $100k of popups and did $1mill in one month off ebay. After that, the party was over.
That means WF is going to be the new breeding ground for digital pointers. “Hello friends at wickedfire, i new here cause digitalpoint no work. can you teach me affiliate marketing? thank you”
good luck bros.
Is this the first time that a “tracking cookie” is treated as a “wire” in court? It looks like some lawyers were hard at work to get that one to pass.
umm…forcing tracking cookies on every visitors computer in order to defraud ebay’s affiliate program is pretty obvious wire fraud. you should read up on what wire fraud is… it has nothing to do with bank wire transfers, and everything to do with interstate communication lines. originally i believe the wire crime laws were put in to stop people from placing bets with bookies out of state over the phone but i could be remembering wrong.
You’re right. Wire fraud involves any kind of electronic communication. Pretty serious stuff. Interesting. I wonder why it took so long for the criminal charges to be brought up? Proof?
Federal investigations are notorious for taking a long time. They often don’t press charges until right before the statute of limitations runs out (4 years i think)
Just think about the federal cases against athletes and how long they have been outstanding, such as Clemens, Bonds, Joyner, etc.
My local friend I see that others have talked about the Google tracking pixel and is good to say that now you can opt out of it, but for my recommendations I say leave it.
-Cyrus The Great
I Cloned DNA Before InterNetCloning.com
what the hell are you even talking about… or just trying to spam your seo site
I'm agreeing with Ryan on this one. We've all had a little dirt in the past. I've done my dirt, but honest money is the best money. May seem harder to make honest money as opposed to dirty money but a lot of risks are eliminated with honest earnings.
Just my .02 cents.
I agree with you and most of us just made that money until we could do it the right way. Some people just don’t know when to stop, to the tune of $15 million+.
Pretty much, and when they have enough to do it the right way, they’re not willing to wait, they want it the fast easy and quick way so they stay doing it the wrong way.
Both mail fraud and wire fraud were enacted to give federal jurisdiction over interstate fraud.
And yes, one of the original uses of mail fraud was to allow the Federal government to move against the bookies in Florida, who had effectively corrupted the state.
I blame them for QCP.
Ban in the morning. Ban in the evening. There ain't no other ban-hammer like mine's that's existing.
Sung to the tune of: Freaks ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTZjWNvOxgk 1:45 )
“That means WF is going to be the new breeding ground for digital pointers. “Hello friends at wickedfire, i new here cause digitalpoint no work. can you teach me affiliate marketing? thank you”
I’ve been trying to find a good reason for the shit that has been invading lately…I think you might be on to something. We should cookie stuff on Digital Point then redirect them back there if WF detects it. Fight fire with fire
Now all we need is for warrior forum to close and then wickedfire will have even more shit on its hands.
Wow insane story! I remember reading about the allegations a few years ago. They could have probably flown under the radar if they both didn’t happen to be the top affiliates.
I’d be interested to see how many millions they end up losing…
Or how many dicks they’ll be taking in jail over 20 years?
Leave them alone, so what they made $20mil, I say leave them alone…….
Shit. As funny as this situation is, that’s really going to suck.
Wow!! That is some tat!
Guess he had too much of the kool-aid they were making over there at D.P. . . .
They definitely were’t the only ones to do this I’ve heard too. All this talk of wires I can just picture McNulty and Lester working over the system to get a tap on Hogan and Dunning. With a picture board of their mugs at the top.
(If you don’t get the reference watch the show “The Wire” and thank me later)
sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit
if DP closes, where am I going to find another endless pool of n00bs and suckers to sell overpriced autoblogs to? this is bad!
You are wrong i have bought over priced autoblog on BHW which was $50 and crap quality (bought from enso).
Why did ya buy it then?
It was a pool of crap anyway. from newbs to up. And the onlyone to benefit from the site was shawn.
I hope he gets what he deserves
all i can say is wow! i mean i never thought anyone would've had any intention of putting dp as a tatoo.. lols
That is a picture of me. Only a real man can dedicate himself to something and wear it on his sleeve. Man up buddy.
I feel bad for saying this because you have no choice but to live with that tattoo forever now, but…seriously who the fuck would tattoo the shittiest forum in the world on their arm. And I love shoemoney but jesus you gotta be some kinda fanboi to do that….
Don't get your hopes up. The website would most likely be liquidated. It will go to the highest bidder, which will keep things pretty much the same.
Yea! Dedicated to something that stole millions of dollars in commissions from others.
DP is a great forum
maybe the owners are crooks but not the majority of ppl on the forum like me
uh. no. digital point is terrible.
I liked your observation on DP whether Hogan’s lawyers knew about his post!
Holy crap, what a series of admissions. Is he trying to get eBay indicted too? Or is he just plain stupid?
He is obviously a smart and successful guy, but clearly doesn’t understand how court cases, especially criminal court cases work. Any lawyer in their right mind would have advised him when this all started to just shut his mouth until it’s all over. If he has evidence of any of the stuff he said, then you use that to drop bombs on the plaintiff/prosecution during the trial, not post it all on your blog so they can read it and prepare.
Nicky, these are admissions of fraud.
Some of it might speak to sentencing – oh, I thought what I was doing was ok… So please, please don’t whack me Judge.
Hogan is living in a bubble. Unless he is planning for his post sentence rehab in the public eye?
yeah i’m hearing from a private source that his lawyer was far from amused.
I’ll choose “Stupid is as it does” for $2000 Alex.
I don’t think he’s ever read a strategy book in his life.
Why in god’s name did they not go to a foreign country? Sounds like the only reasonable thing to do unless of course you think you can prove your innocence… lol
Hey Nicky,
I definitely don’t think Hogan talked to his lawyers first in his response. Public admission of guilt isn’t going to help him in this case. It’s not like he’s gonna turn state’s evidence, lol.
Kellie Stevens posted a follow up on ReveNews analyzing the validity of Shawn’s points. Worth checking out. See you in NY.
Angel
Why do I see dickrolling's stock approaching an all time high? LOL
No offense or pun is intended, but is anyone able to tell me the going rate for getting a permanent tat of DP or Shoemoney on your arm? Must be a pretty damn good price if this guy did it.
Yo, is your subscribe button working?
yeah..what’s wrong with it?
I think old boy full of shit. He just showed his hand. Does he honestly think people will believe this crap? E-Bay had deep pockets and will bury this guy alive.
Popcorn anyone?
yeah hes fucked but still fun drama
I see Shoemoney posted the story. I thought he had more sense than that. They suppose to be good friends, right? The case still open, fall back.
He like the boy in elementary school that smells major trouble and runs off at the mouth. You got caught with you pants down so man up.
In all, I wish dude well. This is a major issue that should be treated as such.
Wow, these guys are real bastards.
Hey cakey…
just stoppin’ in to say hello.
lol! Clyde you are such a clown!!!
DOUBLE PENETRATION BABY
OH YAH THEY JUST GOT DOUBLE PENETRATED
they obviously stole a good deal of commissions from honest hard working people and deserved to be punished…..
Oh wait are we talking about Ebay or Hogan/Dunning?
i see what you did there
Shaun from DP has done a few ugly things to others including outing a few of them in public which I've been on the receiving end of.
So to see this unfold is music to my ears, I actually couldn't believe the post on his blog it just blamed everyone else apart from himself.
The part where he mentioned buying the guy a car and a laptop even though 'he was working on an old wrecked laptop' is a bit of a joke, surely with $1m per month he could afford a new one?
$15M hope he loses the lot…
All the losses will make them winners in a way.. people who do not really know much about Digital Point (noobs) besides me- will look at that and get into affiliate marketing…
It's like celebritys with their urination- they will sale sale sale. Look for more media buys and paypal donation blocks lmao.
Feel for the guy with the tatoo- ( moment of silence).
I never cheat with a network and I don't even want to try it- even though I am not big earner, I would never jepordize my rep with some greedy tactics.
Anyone passing a collection plate around for these two bustas?? I can chip in some colon cleansers for them and some clickbank GI diet books for the round man above…. let me know
Peace
This isn’t the single ugly thing made by this guy…
Where do people come up with this stuff anyway? They should know that the feds always follow the money. They and the competition are usually only 1 step behind anybody making bank legally or otherwise. So sad.
LOL, You are really have posting this craps on your blog. :p
This is surprised news to me , I can;t believe actually this , Digital Points is top or no 1 webmaster forum , and i don’t think their owner can do this ..is it true ??
Wonder if DP is going to change hands – if so – when – and will they clean out the trash? I for one do like the site – its fun reading scammer posts and often good for a chuckle when noobs buy in – even with all the warning pages –
You have to admit; when a scammer gets busted its a good time – like on cops when a John and a hooker get busted only to find out the hooker is a dude – classic 8)
I for one think the site should be kept live just to sit back and people watch – so someone with (D)eep (P)ockets please buy DP
I liked your observation on DP whether Hogan’s lawyers knew about his post!
Anyone passing a collection plate around for these two bustas?? I can chip in some colon cleansers for them and some clickbank GI diet books for the round man above…. let me know
Hogan is living in a bubble. Unless he is planning for his post sentence rehab in the public eye?
Sucks to be them, but hey thats what you get if you push it to far
never cheat with a network and I don’t even want to try it- even though I am not big earner, I would never jepordize my rep with some greedy tactics.
Hope shawn hogan goes to jail!
THANK GOD!……..GOD IS GOOD….. I hope Shawn goes to jail and gets hit with thousands in fines.
I always knew Shawn was a filthy crooked human being for what he did to me years ago.
I also knew that a crook like Shawn would never change his colors and he will get it soon…and now he has….
THANK YOU EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I have more proof to show that Shawn is a filthy crooked human being.
MESSAGE TO SHAWN…. If you think I forgot what you did to me years ago, you are mistaken….I will soon be in California and I am coming after you too. Let's see how tough you are when I'm standing in your face you filthy sc.m b.ag.
I am going to also post everything against Shawn on the Internet to let everyone see how much of a crooked filthy human being Shawn is.
Wait for it Shawn…it;s coming.
Wow holy, that's a shitload of monies. Millions. That's the price of greed and not being able to keep it lower.
Well I guess they'll disappear without their passports through Mexico or sth, if they got brains.