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“100% legal! No one has been sued for using our software! 150% faster than Kazaa.” These are the types of false claims that are typically associated with P2P scam sites. Such websites prey on the unwitting or unknowing file-sharer who is lured in by such substantial claims of impunity.In order to achieve this supposed level of impunity in the face of monthly P2P lawsuits, the unwitting victim is convinced to spend a considerable amount of cash. This dollar amount can vary greatly from site to site; perhaps as low as $19.95 to an upward of $50.00. Enforcement against these types of sites has been slow to evolve, however recent activity suggests efforts are increasing.The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) recently settled with P2P scammer Chashier Myricks, administrator of Mp3DownloadCity.com. Prompted by consumer complaints, the FTC filed a civil lawsuit against the P2P scam site operator. Like most other P2P scam sites, Mr. Myricks charged $24.95 for his tutorial on how to avoid P2P lawsuits and other secret intricacies of the file-sharing trade. The FTC settled with Mr. Myricks by compelling him to return $15,000 to his duped customers, remove the false claims, and display the dangers of sharing files online.Yet Mr. Myricks got off easy – very easy. Today, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) filed 22 lawsuits against alleged P2P scammers offering similar services to Mp3DownloadCity.com - the exception of offering actual P2P clients rather than information. “The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA), on behalf of the major motion picture studios, today filed a lawsuit against the operators of 22 websites that encourage and facilitate movie piracy. These pirate scam websites, operated by at least twelve people located in New York, Delaware, Massachusetts, Florida and Texas, falsely claim or imply that by using their services consumers can download movies legally on the Internet. In fact, they merely connect users to peer-to-peer sites where they then illegally download movies. By doing so, the consumer is then committing copyright infringement which can have serious consequences.”Some of the P2P scam sites named in the lawsuit includes allmoviedownloads.com, Flixks.net, freedvddirect.com, mykazaa.com, and unlimiteddownloads.com. It’s unusual for the MPAA and file-sharing community to be in concert on a particular issue, especially when it relates to P2P issues; however these types of scammers have few friends in the online world.
