Clean Search mugshots scam and online extortion and fraud.

[wserra]

I think it's time for another word about what constitutes "personal information" for the purposes of this board.

Quatloos doesn't have hard-and-fast rules (other than NO ADVERTISING), and we like it that way. Still, if I look at a post and see all sorts of personal information (dates of birth, home addresses and telephone numbers, car plates and VINs) which bear no relationship to exposing a scam, I will conclude that the poster only has harassment in mind (or facilitating identity theft). I don't care if the information is "public record" in the sense that hours of digging will find it online. "Public record" to me is information that the subject of the post has willingly revealed, preferably in the course of running the scam, or any type of court/LE/commercial records. Moreover, if possible, the post should contain a link to the source of the information.

I saw no point to the personal information in the above post other than to harass. I'm sure the poster believes Epstein deserves harassment. If the poster can prove that - in other words, if the poster can tie Epstein to the smarmy, quasi-extortionate mugshot/removal business - then that is the information the poster should be sharing.

If other Q regulars disagree, please feel free to chime in.

[notorial dissent]

I, personally, am reaching the point where either locking or deleting this topic altogether is beginning to sound appropriate.

I agree that mugshots appears to be a scam, and if it is as reported, and I see no reason to not believe it is such, then it is despicable.

However, most of the recent posts have been on, what could only charitably called, the tetchy side, and while I can and do sympathize with the posters, the posts themselves have ceased to be of any real value, and have devolved in to rant and venom, and I am not sure but what they are not now moving in to the realm of harassment. I can see ABSOLUTELY NO reason to have posted any of the personal information in the last post, and very little purpose in the last posting at all once that is removed, and quite frankly marked it as pure rant and was going to report it.

There is really nothing that can be done from this end at this remove, other than to point out to the people involved that they need to contact their state AG and file an extortion complaint against the parties involved.

To put not too fine a point on it, this IS NOT a vendetta board, it is a board to report and explore scams. This one has been reported, and about as explored as it is gonna get at this point. The next step is on the part of the people affected, and they are the only ones who really can do it, and they need to do it.

[wserra]

I don't think the thread should be either deleted or locked. There is more to say, as there is about any ongoing scam. I, for one, had a couple of things I wanted to pursue, but haven't had the time.

That said, I agree with nd that the post I redacted has little if any value. However, I don't want to be in the business of judging "value". That's for readers.

[notorial dissent]

WES, I thoroughly agree with you on all points. My main concern is that this not turn in to a vendetta board, and unfortunately that is where the current run of postings is now headed. I too would like to see more of value on this subject, and would be interested in whatever it is you were thinking about as far as pursuing it. My earlier remark was made only half seriously more than anything else, but I really don't want this to turn in to an unending rant either, as that is pointless and counterproductive, but there comes a point. I know the two posters feel they have a valid complaint, and it would help their cause a great deal more to post material that is to the issue, rather than pointless fulminations.

[glennpenne]

Michael J Robertson owns Mugshots.com
Michael Robertson owns Mugshots.com
Mike Robertson owns Mugshots.com

Who owns mugshots.com? Michael Robertson owns mugshots.com -

Processing payments for organizations that are involved in questionable activity exposes companies like PayPal to serious legal problems, not to mention chargebacks.

Who owns mugshots.com? Michael Robertson owns mugshots.com - Criminal infringes name and likeness copyright for purposes of commercial advantage and private financial gain, 18 USC § 2319 & 17 USC § 506.

BOISE – The Ada County sheriff says its own website is being used to extort money from people who have been arrested. Since 2003, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office has been posting daily mugshots of those arrested on their website. But, Sheriff Gary Raney says recently third party websites have been "scraping" the mugshot and names of those on their website and then placing the information on their own website. Scraping websites, like Boisemugshots.com, has thousands of mugshots of those arrested since early 2011. The photos on Ada County’s website are deleted after five days. Boisemugshots.com provides a link to another site that removes the information from the Internet for $99. “It's really a form of extortion,” said Raney. “This is something that really goes against the fundamentals of what I sense we should be putting that mugshot out there for.” Raney says he is now considering taking down the website to protect those who have been arrested. “There's really an injustice that happens to people,” said Raney. Raney is also looking into increasing the security on the site to prevent other sites from taking information.

Who owns mugshots.com? Michael Robertson owns mugshots.com - 18 USC § 641 — Public money, property or records
Whoever embezzles, steals, purloins, or knowingly converts to his use or the use of another, or without authority, sells, conveys or disposes of any record, voucher, money, or thing of value of the United States or of any department or agency thereof, or any property made or being made under contract for the United States or any department or agency thereof;

Who owns mugshots.com? Michael Robertson owns mugshots.com - (1) In general.—Any person who willfully infringes a copyright shall be punished as provided under section 2319 of title 18, if the infringement was committed—

Who owns mugshots.com? Michael Robertson owns mugshots.com - 18 USC § 873 - Blackmail

Whoever, under a threat of informing, or as a consideration for not informing, against any violation of any law of the United States, demands or receives any money or other valuable thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Who owns mugshots.com? Michael Robertson owns mugshots.com - 18 USC § 880 - Receiving the proceeds of extortion

A person who receives, possesses, conceals, or disposes of any money or other property which was obtained from the commission of any offense under this chapter that is punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year, knowing the same to have been unlawfully obtained, shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years, fined under this title, or both.\

http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljrobertson

Michael Robertson Linkedin profile:

Michael Robertson Founder & CEO, Mugshots.com
Miami, Florida (Miami/Fort Lauderdale Area) Information Technology and Services
Current job: Founder & CEO at Mugshots.com / Mugshots.com CEO
July 2011 – Present (1 year 4 months)

"Within 18 months we were able to put together a team, buy a domain without a website, and turn it into a world's top 1,000 website destination.

To make contact visit Mugshots.com and contact via the website. For all Unpublishing inquiries contact UnpublishArrest.com or call 800-276-2540."

Michael Robertson's Skills & Expertise

TECHNICAL SKILLS:
OBJECT ORIENTED PERL
MICROSOFT SQL SERVER
SQL EMBEDDED SQL
DATABASES
DATA ANALYSIS
DATABASE DESIGN
DATA MINING

[wserra]

I moved the above post to the appropriate thread.

A recent news article incorporating Sheriff Raney's views is here. And I do find it revealing that Robertson's short LinkedIn bio contains contact info for a "mugshot removal service". Makes it clear where the money is.

[emmiM]

Hi, I think online reputation management firms like Removemugshots.com are doing a fantastic job, they are actually working to protect and save the reputation and image of victims of mugshots, my uncle contacted Removemugshots.com to help him to remove his many years old mugshot, even the charges against him were dismissed long time back but mugshots.com posted his mugshot on net with humiliating comments. Removemugshots.com removed his mugshot permanently and helped him to take a second start. Online mugshots publishing sites are doing unethical business by posting mugshots of everyone who got arrested in their lives, whether they are convicted or not, and are damaging their reputation, and firms like Removemugshots.com are working to rebuilt their reputation and helping them to get back their lives and privacy.

[webhick]

RemoveMugshots.com is fishy. No real contact information, no names, etc. So, I Googled the only piece of information I had: their phone number. It's also linked to "Legal Consulting Service LLC" owned by a Adam Dicker. I Googled him and while it was mostly "I'm not providing legal services, but I can help you get your record expunged" garbage, one article seemed oddly out of place: What Ever Happened To Domain Hall Of Fame Member Sahar Sarid? We Know & It’s All On SaharSarid.com. It says within that a guy named Sahar Sarid was some kind of domain hall of famer and sold mugshots.com in 2011. Later in the article, it mentions that Adam Dicker (another hall of famer) put up a fan site for Sahar.

I find it odd that a guy who is now being paid to remove content from mugshots.com has a man-crush on the guy who sold mugshots.com to the current folks. Wait, did I say "odd?" I meant scammy.

[notorial dissent]

Webhick. I have to agree, although I think "fishy" is far too mild a term for use here.

My first impression when I saw this post, which has in fact only intensified, is that this was plainly and simply just more advertising for a scam that I find utterly detestable.

I regrettably don't have anything more to go on than what you have at current, and my gut, but I feel that Scammy and scummy are good places to start with describing this.

[NormanHaga]

Long time no check in.

In response to the post by Smedlybutlerlives. It is my opinion that the site that material comes from was created by Kelly Joe Ellis during his separation as an affiliate of mugshots.com. The writing style is the same as is the same innuendo that he done with the cybersquatted websites of several individuals. I believe that it is possible that Smedlybutlerlives is Kelly Joe Ellis. I remind the readers just what he did to me in this same forum.

As of now, the only removal affiliate of Mugshots.com is Ari Epstein, Marc Epstein's son. I remind the readers that Marc Epstein is the attorney for Mugshots.com and F&F Global.

I also believe the information on Micheal Robertson to be incorrect and possibly a red herring. Mugshots.com has spent too much time and effort to conceal the identity of the owners to make such a fundamental mistake as to post the name and affiliation of one of the owners on Likedin. The dates in the profile also do not match the dates of Mugshots.com operation. I have redacted documents containing the signature of Sahar Sarid concerning the sales of Mugshots.com in July of 2011. Those documents came from Sahar Sarids website.

Also, Removemugshots.com is a scam. They have spent a lot of time posting on every site that they can for the purpose of backlinks and to attempt to gain business. I have reported them to several anti spam projects and removed their posts from my blog more than once.

Hope this sheds a little light.

[NormanHaga]

I though I would let all know. I have found out that removemugshots.com is another name for clean-search.com. Or at minimum, that is where the server is being redirected due to ddos. Although it looks like the ddos is comming to an end.

Now if I can just tie in Adam Dicker, a former GoDaddy Exec., into the operation.

[wserra]

Hi, I think online reputation management firms like Removemugshots.com are doing a fantastic job

From long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away: a certain Donald Duck comic strip I read when I was ten or so. Uncle Scrooge had a factory which polluted everything for miles around. He had a brilliant idea - get govt money to build another factory which would clean up the pollution his first factory created. It worked - he was making even more money than before. This outraged Huey, Dewey and Louie. One night, when the polluting factory was dark, they plugged up the waste discharge. When it started in the morning, it blew up. Up the revolution.

That's exactly how I see this racket. The posting of the mugshots creates the demand for removal "services", which is how they make their money. Where are Huey, Dewey and Louie when you need them?

[Judge Roy Bean]

...
That's exactly how I see this racket. The posting of the mugshots creates the demand for removal "services", which is how they make their money. Where are Huey, Dewey and Louie when you need them?

They learned from the granddaddy of all such self-perpetuating schemes - the credit counseling services owned and promoted by the credit card issuers.

[NormanHaga]

While not brand new, another of these negative content schemes is popping up. They feature purloined naked pictures of people, post your home town and other personal information, and only charge $250 per incident to take it down.

This is a link to the Arstechnica article.

This jive is just plain sick and twisted. Just like mugshots, it is nothing but plain extortion.

[NormanHaga]

I just found out that mugsnots is branching out. Besides the usual extortion like take down service, they are now offering a background check service
and an alleged disposition and report service.

I guess $400 per image take down was not a high enough extortion fee.

Edit [added]: I removed the name from the above image four times. That is an SEO trick to make the associated image rank higher in Google and Google images. That trick does not work very well with the other search engines.

[Thule]

While not brand new, another of these negative content schemes is popping up. They feature purloined naked pictures of people, post your home town and other personal information, and only charge $250 per incident to take it down.

The rather amusing blog Popehat did a piece on the people behind that site. My list of "Most despicable people on the 'net" just gained a new top entry.

[JeffGus]

Hello to all! I'm a new member here. I found this site while doing some research into the whole mughsot-extortion racket. I, too, have a mugshot online despite all charges being dropped and my innocence maintained. For about a year I have been working on a solution to this massive problem, and am happy to announce a BRAND NEW first-of-its-kind solution for people who've been arrested! The web site just went LIVE!

If you or someone you know has ever been arrested, then this is for you.

This site is totally unlike the mug-shot removal sites. In fact, we won't have any mugshots on our site. We are not affiliated with any other mugshot-related site, period.

The site is engineered to help counter the multitude of mugshot-extortion sites on the web. This site allows you to tell YOUR side of the mugshot story, in your own words, and using only the photos that you submit to us. It is designed to help combat the negative online reputation inherent to the aftermath of an arrest.

Ckeck it out and let me know what you think:
I think it's a blatant advertisement for a for-fee service so I deleted the link. AndyK
Jeff Gus

[wserra]

The site is engineered to help counter the multitude of mugshot-extortion sites on the web. This site allows you to tell YOUR side of the mugshot story, in your own words

Y'know, Jeff "Gus" Ensminger, it seems as though you didn't bother to read the thread you posted to. Norman Haga, the original poster, has done quite well getting his story out by (among other things) posting to Quatloos. And it didn't cost him a dime - let alone the $80 that you want, just for the privilege of posting on your unknown site.

Oh, and we don't permit advertising, even for sites that - unlike yours - aren't ripoffs.