Andre Yoskowitz
4 Sep 2010 0:06
The French high authority HADOPI, which was put in place to oversee the country's recently passed "three strikes" anti-piracy laws has a new problem on its hands; phishers and scammers using the authority's name to trick people into giving up personal information.
The group is allowed to issue sanctions and fines to Internet users accused of piracy, with a "third strike" meaning disconnection from the Web, and a blacklisting.
E-mails, purportedly being sent from HADOPI, have been hitting thousands of inboxes this week, all claiming that the recipient has been accused of copyright violations.
The accused are then pushed to a website to pay off their fine, which leads to phishers stealing their personal info along with the money.
"As expected, this is classic Internet," says HADOPI's Secretary General Éric Walter (via Ars).
HADOPI says it will begin sending out the first real violation letters in the coming months.
(Article pic found here)