Adobe Photoshop spam - what's the deal?

Factual Questions
1

I keep getting emails advertising Adobe Photoshop 7.0 for some ridiculously low price; I think it’s $49 or something. Adobe retails the software for over $600. What’s the deal with this, is it some kind of scam? If I follow the link in the email, it takes me to this site, which has an order form to fill out. They claim they will mail the software to you.

http://www.directdealsnow.com/index.cfm?aid=7&oid=77&pid=246

I am in no way promoting this web site. Please don’t give them any personal info; I’m not responsible if you do. I’m just posting the link for help in evaluating whether this is a scam. Anyone know anything about this one? Thanks.

2

Well, it says it’s the OEM version, which usually comes with hardware, but that still seems like an insanely low price if it’s the full featured product.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I would suspect that it’s either pirated, or it’s a ploy to get credit card numbers.

It’s too good to be true.

3

Pirate copies, has to be. Same goes for the spam you get for cut-price virus protection software.

It’s expensive pirate copies too.

Even if you did get what you ordered, which is certainly not guaranteed (and which, of course, you’d have no legal right to even if you did) is this really the kind of organisation you want to entrust with your credit card details?

Not to be gone within a hundred miles of.

(Also, you do realize that your link there has a unique ID and probably relates back to your email address in their spam database? Their web log now confirms you (and others) opened their link, making you ideal for further spam. You should have stripped everything off the URL after the ‘?’ )

4

Hmmm, DirectDealsNow.com just popped up June 16th.

It’s previous incarnations, “HotDealFactory.com”, “Great-Dealtime.com”, and “Digitalimagingdeals.com” had pretty short lifespans.

Someone in this usenet thread from April submitted a piracy report to Adobe about this ‘company’ and received this reply:

5

Its. Its. Dammit.

6

I saw a similiar story on TechTV the other night about Norton Security software. They showed legit software and counterfeit software side-by-side. you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference. The fake stuff was loaded with spyware, trojan horses, etc. I’m sure the Adobe stuff is the same.

7

No, I’m afraid I’m ignorant as to how those things work. Perhaps a moderator could edit my post?

Also, thanks for the info, Larry.

8

How could these pirates continue to stay in business?

If they indeed are: “HotDealFactory.com”, “Great-Dealtime.com”, and “Digitalimagingdeals.com”, then have they not been busted by the FBI or whoever long ago with severe fines and/or jailtime?

Unfortunately, I think law enforcement just doesn’t care about cyber crimes to put forth significant effort in stopping it.

9

Look, if it’s SPAM, even if it’s legit you are supporting the concept of SPAM and making it worthwhile if you buy it.

Regardless of whether it’s legit or not, please don’t become part of the problem.

10

SoulSearching, that’s why the “Hot Deals Corporation” has a Nevada address-- they’re probably taking advantage of Nevada’s “corporate veil.”

Note: link is a company offering to help people in other states and nations incorporate in Nevada for a fee, which is itself pretty shifty, and probably a scam in itself.

Also, they’ve used those various domain names just in the last few months, which isn’t a very long period of time in the grand scheme of things. It’s one thing to pull their hosting or dns-references out from underneath them, but it’s another to locate them in meatspace and properly collar 'em. No doubt they’ll get theirs eventually, though.