IrfanView Scam Sites

[Matimat]

Hello, this is normal that this site exist : http://www.irfanview-pro.com

this is the first site that appears on google when we search for irfanview !

[stefan]

Hi,

i would say it´s a kind of phishing site; and it could be illlegal make money with Software Bundles, because IrfanView is Freeware and you will have server as fast as on the irfanview-pro.com homepage.

Never download software from that kind of websites, use offical sources to download IrfanView (mirrors).

Thanks for reporting, i will contact the hoster of irfanview-pro.com to ban that site ...

steve

[stefan]

Hi,

i wrote a mail to their webhoster, go-daddy.com. In the web i found a lots of other suspicious sites from IBSOFTWARE CYPRUS.

steve

[Sam_Zen]

Thanks for the tip. I will warn the visitors of my website for this.

[stefan]

Hi,

they registered site like:

acrobat-ib.com or generally <well-know-product>-<string>.com

Another examples:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=IBSOFTWARE+CYPRUS&btnG=Google+Search

steve

[matera]

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Data acquired by one J. Off, with a mailinator.com e-mail address

Slimy SOB's have a slew of sites selling access to freeware and goodies like "gov-search.org" trying to milk suckers for fees to search for personal information.

Spread the word about this kind of rip-off any way you can. Drop a post in other forums, add something to your blog or website. We can fight back by making people aware, by giving Google some good advice for them to find along with the bad. Filthy scams will keep popping up like any disease, but more information against them can help lessen their effectiveness.

[Sam_Zen]

I will drop posts indeed. But I don't understand why this isn't seen as unlawful behaviour. If I copy an audio album and sell it so asking money for it, so making profit, without Approval of the author, I'm in jail.
Whether the original has a price, or is for free, doesn't matter.

[rkurhajetz]

found this ad link via the XnView site

http://www.irfanview2008.com/?gclid=CIHkjuSTuo4CFSMOgQodYj-P4A

it refers to IrfanView2007 and IrfanView2008

sounds like bad people are afoot

[Sam_Zen]

Thanks for the tip.
I think admins running the XnView site should be taking measures against this, but well..
I'm afraid this is the price for the growing popularity of Irfan View.
Especially when it's free. Then there are alway sad nitwits trying to make a pathetic buck.
(If a gov could sell it to the public with some twisted talk, they would raise a tax for breathing air or enjoy sunlight)
The only thing we can do is warn people.

[Den2007]

Hello, this is normal that this site exist : http://www.irfanview-pro.com

this is the first site that appears on google when we search for irfanview !

McAfee SiteAdvisor
is an extension of Firefox, giving warning about such sites.
Once you have installed the extension, if you do a Google search, you see small icons which display the information for many of the results. It says something like OK, or doubtful, or dangerous.

Here it says "be careful, negative behavior reported", and you can have more details by following a link.

[radiojohn]

&quot;Irfanview 2008&quot;

Just was DLing the latest version of Irfanview to my office PC and saw the TuCows shows a GOOGLE AD for ""Irfanview 2008." Somebody is trying something fishy. I teach a class on digital photography AND one on finding freeware. I always suggest the REAL Irfanview site. John

[matera]

Somebody should bletch very loudly at Google too, for taking money to promote slime.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

Opera Security Warning

Opera warns that one should not submit any sensitive information to this site.

[matera]

Contact Google!

I did:

Sites that sell a "membership" privilege to download otherwise freely available software are nothing but a filthy scam. Google is just as guilty of the ripoffs as the actual perpetrators. You are aiding and abetting criminals.

[NOP]

Found some other sites which want to make money from IrfanView:

http://irfanview.sicherer-download.net/

http://irfanview.mega-downloads.net/anmelden/79

Owner of both those sites is:
Blue Byte FZE
Postfach 62 53,
49095 Osnabrück
Deutschland
E-Mail: support@mega-downloads.net
Faxnummer: 0049180 501 215 24

Maybe you can do something about that...