Of Late I get a TON of "Spam" email offering Software at Discont Prices.
Most are 10 cents on the Retail List Price {like PS CS2 at 67.88}.
They are said to be full versions and "OEM" and of course no mention of Copies, Ripoffs, or Infections.
I suppose everyone else gets these SPAM Offers.

Has any one purchased such and what experience did you have ?
What did you buy and from whom ?

EL Mask

"OEM software" spam ?

Would you feel safe giving your credit card details to Russian mafias?

That's one question anybody should be asking himself who is seriously considering brand name software at a few percent of regular retail prices, such as Microsoft Office XP or Adobe Photoshop 7 for $60, from websites advertised via email spam.

Most likely, this stuff is not really OEM software, i.e. software licensed to hardware manufacturer at steeply discounted prices to be bundled with hardware, but simply pirated software, a.k.a. "warez". Even if it was software from genuine OEM deals, it would be illegal to sell without a piece of hardware under the agreements signed by the OEMs. Whichever way you twist it, buying, selling or using this stuff is illegal.

Commercial websites advertised under domain names that change daily are put up by spammers, who seem to be operating out of Russia, where they appear to be largely out of reach of US courts and law enforcement. Even the likes of Microsoft, which has billions of dollars in cash available for legal action, have not been able to put a halt to these criminal enterprises.

Some people don't have a moral problem giving money to spammers who pollute the intrays of millions of people every day. Enough people don't seem to care whether they violate copyright laws by ordering pirated software from these websites, as long as the prices are low enough. If they get found out, they may face criminal and civil proceeedings.

But that is not the only risk facing potential "OEM software" customers. When they pay 10 cents to the dollar for a pirated Microsoft or other major products, they are willingly revealing their credit card details to unscrupulous criminals who even steal from people who employ thousands of lawyers.

It's truely amazing how some people's brains just stop working when they see a deal that's too good to be true. They may be getting more than they bargained for. Next time a child pornography site (another speciality of Russian mafias) gets taken down by the police, who knows what credit card will have been used to pay for the domain registration?

Studio36

P.S. If you are going to steal software at least get a bit creative about it and steal it from somewhere free. Who knows it might even work.