Got a call from Qwest

[rockman]

Alright... so i get home from school and my mom tells me that she got this odd call on the answering machine from qwest. So i go down to listen, and it says something like:

"Hello. This is Qwest IT services. We have found copyrighted software being hosted on your computer. This is against the law. Please give us a call ASAP to resolve the issue. This message is highly Important. Call customer service at XXX-XXXX and tell them Case Number XXXXXX. Thank you."

So, now i'm kind of scared i might get in a lawsuit or something. I don't know of anything I have hosted on my comps. I mean I have downloaded some music and Torrents, but nothing too badly, I guess.

What do you think I should do?

[Runescapian321]

This is what I would do.

1) Gather all your pirated stuff together
2) Put them on a FlashDrive/External HD/CD/DVD
3) Either hide them or tell a friend to hold on to them
4) Uninstall all programs that are used to pirate (Torrent programs and such)
5) Clear all browser private data
6) Do what the Qwest thign told you to do

And tell them that you never share files and stuff like that, and in case they decide to go to your house, let them look, no trace of anything ;)

Yeah I know, kind of a not so good way, but its just a suggestion.


Offtopic: Do you use proxies or anything (just wondering cause if you do and might end up gettin in trouble for pirating, I won't pirate even if I do use proxies :p)?

EDIT: Also make sure it was really Qwest :p After reading that message again it seems kinda phishy (pun intended)

[Trollvete]

Might be just some phishing attempt, calling to that number would cost you like 10$ or so. Na, I'd just let it be for now.

[red eyes 20]

whoa! got cought using limewire and bittorrent? first i'd delet/move ALL files from eithe of the two, then call qwest.

EDIT ok runescapian madea better post then me =p

[rockman]

Nope, never used proxies, lol. But, yeah I was thinking of doing the Flash Drive thing at least for awhile.


BTW, my mom called them, and they had absolutely nothing to say, all it was was a guy from India talking a hundred miles an hour.

[Runescapian321]

Nope, never used proxies, lol. But, yeah I was thinking of doing the Flash Drive thing at least for awhile.


BTW, my mom called them, and they had absolutely nothing to say, all it was was a guy from India talking a hundred miles an hour.

Well if you did call and they didn't tell you anything, then do what I said (store all the files somewhere), put them all in one place, and if you hear a knock on the door in the next few weeks, run to your computer and click Delete. And don't call again :)

[rockman]

Well if you did call and they didn't tell you anything, then do what I said (store all the files somewhere), put them all in one place, and if you hear a knock on the door in the next few weeks, run to your computer and click Delete. And don't call again :)

Yeah, re-listening to the message I think it might be a phishing hoax. The man on the message seemed a little shady. The guy from customer support said that everything looked all clear and that they would have shut down the connection by now if it had been that bad. I think I will backup everything anyways, to be safe.

[infested999]

I am very experienced with these things!!!

First, read what professional pirates have to say.
http://www.suprbay.org/showthread.php?t=13049
http://www.suprbay.org/showthread.php?t=10731&highlight=jail


Ok so, first your ISP has to send you C&D letters. Then when they send out 4 and you do not respond they take further action. They will say this is your last warning and stuff for a while but they will NOT do anything!!!!

If you want you can send a letter to them saying what i download is non of your business and when you continue to find out what i'm download, that is considered stalking. And stalking is much worse than downloading!




OR



Buy a WiFi router and turn it on. When anything happens tell them someone else used your WiFi and thats why they had your I.P.

Hoped this helps :)

[Harry]

You should have called the official number for your ISP and asked them if that call was legit.

[rockman]

Hmm, thanks infested. I think I will be alright as long as no one crashes my door down. I thought that they would at least send a letter first, as a sort on non-urgent thing.

Here is the exact message:


Hi, this is Howard Nim from Qwest internet solutions, member of the IT security team. The reason I'm giving you a call is that Qwest revieved a complaint that copyrighted material is being hosted by your computer through Qwest. Please give us a call at XXXXXXXX and refer to case number XXXXXX. Again, case number XXXXXX for more information. We need to get this matter corrected as quickly as possible, so we would appreciate a call back on this. Thanks and have a great day.



You should have called the official number for your ISP and asked them if that call was legit.

Yeah. I told my mom not to call until i figured this out, but she did anyway......

[[S]paz]

lol i checked them out (google) and they seem to be an internet provider, but are u with them? if not then chances are this is a hoax to try to get u to switch to them, by saying that ur current isp is not secure and u can be attacked by evil pirates. just my 16 cents :p

~Spaz

[rockman]

paz;361998']lol i checked them out (google) and they seem to be an internet provider, but are u with them? if not then chances are this is a hoax to try to get u to switch to them, by saying that ur current isp is not secure and u can be attacked by evil pirates. just my 16 cents :p

~Spaz

Lol, yeah, they are a large internet and phone provider in the us. And I am using their services.

[ub3r 1337]

I honestly thought you were talking about that TV dating service, especially when I saw all of the X's in your post. Lol. :D

But seriously, this whole thing happened to me a while back. I just put everything on a USB Drive (not that much stuff anwyay :p) and hoped to hell that they didn't come a-knocking. Nothing happened. :)

Like the other people said, it was probably a hoax. :rolleyes: But, you never know...

[rockman]

I honestly thought you were talking about that TV dating service, especially when I saw all of the X's in your post. Lol. :D

But seriously, this whole thing happened to me a while back. I just put everything on a USB Drive (not that much stuff anwyay :p) and hoped to hell that they didn't come a-knocking. Nothing happened. :)

Like the other people said, it was probably a hoax. :rolleyes: But, you never know...

Oh, yeah, lol. It sounds funny now, "Got a call from Qwest" as the title.

[Hobbit]

and in case they decide to go to your house, let them look, no trace of anything ;)

They don't have jurisdiction to do that. They would have to get the police involved and they would have to provide the police with enough evidence to obtain a warrant then then police would come and take it away and get THEIR ITs to look at it. If that happens all you hiding will be useless because they can dig it up even if you think you "deleted" it. And no formatting doesn't help, formatting leaves more files behind then deleting the files one by one. If you do have to format to hide stuff get a Linux live cd and boot from that and use the disk shredder when you do that (it overrides the left over data so it can't be recovered)

Or if you want the easy, more expensive way... take out your hard drive and microwave it ;)

[rockman]

Or if you want the easy, more expensive way... take out your hard drive and microwave it

Hmm.... i guess its a possibility, but I'm not sure I will do it just yet:D

[Runescapian321]

They don't have jurisdiction to do that. They would have to get the police involved and they would have to provide the police with enough evidence to obtain a warrant then then police would come and take it away and get THEIR ITs to look at it. If that happens all you hiding will be useless because they can dig it up even if you think you "deleted" it. And no formatting doesn't help, formatting leaves more files behind then deleting the files one by one. If you do have to format to hide stuff get a Linux live cd and boot from that and use the disk scrambler when you do that (it overrides the left over data so it can't be recovered)

Or if you want the easy, more expensive way... take out your hard drive and microwave it ;)

Oh noes! my plan has failed...

Well, I doubt they would go through the trouble unless you were giving away like millions of dollars of free stuff :p

Come to think of it, a simple system restore (to a restore point) would give you away (unless you never set Restore points or you remember to delete them).

Btw, when dling torrents, use PeerGaurdian (I think that's what it's called). It blocks them from seeing your IP or something like that.

[Hobbit]

Btw, when dling torrents, use PeerGaurdian (I think that's what it's called). It blocks them from seeing your IP or something like that.

or Azuerus(sp?)
It's encrypted so your ISP only knows that your are downloading, not what ;)

[Harry]

PeerGuardian2 := For the win;. :) Still doesn;t prevent your own ISP from seeing, but stops other companies.

[rockman]

Cool, thanks everyone. I gotta be more careful...


What about like LimeWire, what can i use to protect that?

[osmm]

If I were you I'd:

1. Backup everything important and hide it EXTREEMLY well, or tell a friend to hold it.
2. Then I'd do as Hy said, call them and ask if it was the right number or w/e.
3. Delete absolutly everything possibly illegal. All internet files, and cookies. All temporary downloaded files, everything.
4. Lay low for a few months then start doing w/e again.

[senrath]

As other people have said, just deleting isn't enough. You have to completely wipe out any traces of the files. That said, there are a number of free tools that you can find via google that will do just that. They pretty much just write empty data over the file you want gone, over and over again, so that recovery is nigh, if not totally, impossible.

[richk1693]

So was this legit or not, and what happened when your mom called?

[Just Kidding]

I think it was a phising attempt as well. I have been phished from india by phone about 3 times in the last few years. On 2 occasions they said I had qualified for a government grant for 2000$ I never applied for and asked for my bank account number to send it. I reported them online on some website. Just google report phising. But first tell them you have to go for now and ask them for a return number and check it out by searching for it online. If they are fakes report the number so the feds can track them down.

India is the center for phising attempts now days and most likely these people will accuse you of something and ask you to pay or ask for a bank account number etc.

[rockman]

So was this legit or not, and what happened when your mom called?

Not sure yet, but I think it probably is, when i called back they said everything was all clear, and that there were no reports on the account. Idk, my mom doesn't know what she is talking about, I'll have to call em.

But at the least, it was a wake up call to the dangers and what could happen if you pirate...

[infested999]

Look ppl don't worry about it. You can _______ rob paypal online and think of a million excuses to show you didn't _______ do it!

THEY DO NOT GIVE A ______!

[massive630]

ok so i read this, nd im glad it wasnt anything serious, but seein all these posts hurts.

ok so first off (1) Quest would have to violate their privacy policy/ terms of agreement to look onto you hard drive to find the pirated material in the first place. (2) if it was serious, they wouldnt call you and leave you a message, giving you time to clear the evidence. They would contact athorities nd then the cops(or w/e) would get in contact w/ u. ok so thats just how u know its fake in the first place.

lets talk about what you should do.

if you accualy were trying to delete ur files, they are still totaly there. ur gunna wanna "shred" those files, using a program that deletes t he file, then writes over it, making it virualy un retrivable. try Webroot Window Washer (http://dw.com.com/redir?edId=3&siteId=4&oId=7839-2144_4-10746362&ontId=2144_4&lop=linktitle&tag=lst-2&ltype=dl_elite_gen&pid=10746362&mfgId=57427&merId=57427&destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.download.com%2FWebroot-Window-Washer%2F3000-2144_4-10746362.html).

if its a heavy duty situation, forget about all that, nd just reinstall ur os (make sure to delete ur partition) and after ur os is loaded, wipe ur entire HD with Webroot Window Washer (http://dw.com.com/redir?edId=3&siteId=4&oId=7839-2144_4-10746362&ontId=2144_4&lop=linktitle&tag=lst-2&ltype=dl_elite_gen&pid=10746362&mfgId=57427&merId=57427&destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.download.com%2FWebroot-Window-Washer%2F3000-2144_4-10746362.html). but thats like, if u got serious heat on you.

a sugestion, to keep urself a little private, mabey use CCleaner (http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10812778.html?tag=lst-1) (stands for crap cleaner). It clears all ur browser data, os logs, and alot of other trackable info in 1 quick click of a button. good for everyday use.

so yeah if any1 accualy reads all of this, congrats :P

[rockman]

ok so i read this, nd im glad it wasnt anything serious, but seein all these posts hurts.

ok so first off (1) Quest would have to violate their privacy policy/ terms of agreement to look onto you hard drive to find the pirated material in the first place. (2) if it was serious, they wouldnt call you and leave you a message, giving you time to clear the evidence. They would contact athorities nd then the cops(or w/e) would get in contact w/ u. ok so thats just how u know its fake in the first place.

lets talk about what you should do.

if you accualy were trying to delete ur files, they are still totaly there. ur gunna wanna "shred" those files, using a program that deletes t he file, then writes over it, making it virualy un retrivable. try Webroot Window Washer (http://dw.com.com/redir?edId=3&siteId=4&oId=7839-2144_4-10746362&ontId=2144_4&lop=linktitle&tag=lst-2&ltype=dl_elite_gen&pid=10746362&mfgId=57427&merId=57427&destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.download.com%2FWebroot-Window-Washer%2F3000-2144_4-10746362.html).

if its a heavy duty situation, forget about all that, nd just reinstall ur os (make sure to delete ur partition) and after ur os is loaded, wipe ur entire HD with Webroot Window Washer (http://dw.com.com/redir?edId=3&siteId=4&oId=7839-2144_4-10746362&ontId=2144_4&lop=linktitle&tag=lst-2&ltype=dl_elite_gen&pid=10746362&mfgId=57427&merId=57427&destUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.download.com%2FWebroot-Window-Washer%2F3000-2144_4-10746362.html). but thats like, if u got serious heat on you.

a sugestion, to keep urself a little private, mabey use CCleaner (http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10812778.html?tag=lst-1) (stands for crap cleaner). It clears all ur browser data, os logs, and alot of other trackable info in 1 quick click of a button. good for everyday use.

so yeah if any1 accualy reads all of this, congrats :P

Alright, thanks. That CCleaner works great btw.

I think it was a fraud, too. But, just to be sure, I want to make my pirating as un-traceable as possible.

[infested999]

Also if you delete files it wont make a difference! They don't care/know if you have the file on your hard drive. they just know that they found your IP in a swarm of downloaders. So the flash drive thing would make no difference at all!

[rockman]

Also if you delete files it wont make a difference! They don't care/know if you have the file on your hard drive. they just know that they found your IP in a swarm of downloaders. So the flash drive thing would make no difference at all!

So, basicly, if they have your IP on their list, for real of course, then you're screwed?

BTW first SRL member post!

[ChrisX]

I thought copyright is all civil anyways. All they could really do is sue.

[Hobbit]

Rockman don't listen to infested he's just blabering on. They do care, and they WILL sue you.

Lets give an example.
A mother of two somewhere in the states a few months ago was sued for $40,000 for downloading 12 songs of the Internet.

And they can't sue you purely off of IP. That isn't enough evidence, someone can easily spoof your ip and download it. Unless they can find physical evidence on his hard drive they don't have enough evidence for a lawsuit.

And if you do use a shredder, you'll have to shred multiple times, since you're in the states, I believe it is a Federal offense there and it will be the FBI who search your hard drive, and they CAN recover shredded files...so make it hard for them and do it quite a number of times.

[Daniel]

Rockman don't listen to infested he's just blabering on. They do care, and they WILL sue you.

Lets give an example.
A mother of two somewhere in the states a few months ago was sued for $40,000 for downloading 12 songs of the Internet.

And they can't sue you purely off of IP. That isn't enough evidence, someone can easily spoof your ip and download it. Unless they can find physical evidence on his hard drive they don't have enough evidence for a lawsuit.

And if you do use a shredder, you'll have to shred multiple times, since you're in the states, I believe it is a Federal offense there and it will be the FBI who search your hard drive, and they CAN recover shredded files...so make it hard for them and do it quite a number of times.
Actually, shredders are good, but still little traces are on your hard-drive. It is simple to not use a shredder and do it manually but that still doesn't get rid of the little traces.

But i strongly believe that they won't come to your house and sue you.

[infested999]

A mother of two somewhere in the states a few months ago was sued for $40,000 for downloading 12 songs of the Internet.


Yea.. and then thepiratebay and suprbay donated her $120,000 USD to pay off the lawsuit becaues they think its wrong she got sued.....

@Hobbit, ok ill stop posting

[rockman]

Yeah, pretty sure at this point that it is a hoax. I haven't heard anything for 3 days...

[Hobbit]

Actually, shredders are good

I never said they weren't, If you reread my post on page one i was the first to suggest a shredder. But I was just advising to do multiple times because shredded hard drives are still recoverable.

[Smartzkid]

Active@Killdisk Pro ($39.95 (http://www.killdisk.com/)) - only way to go when it comes to serious shredding. Depending what you've done and how worried you are, you can tell it to write random numbers onto your harddrive multiple times (repeatedly fill with random numbers). This does take quite a bit of time - I left one of my larger drives (500gb) going for two weeks once - and you may as well tell the court you're guilty if you're caught wiping a disk, so you have to be careful that they don't come and confiscate your computer before you've had a chance to CYA.

One precaution you can take before any of this ever happens is to use TrueCrypt (free (http://www.truecrypt.org/)) and make a large encrypted partition, then hide another encrypted partition within the larger one. If you're caught and brought to court, you can give them your password, and they'll get into the larger partition, but the hidden one will be completely invisible to them, so you'll look pretty clean.

[Killy]

Im pretty sure if they are going to prosecute for piracy they send you a letter, anyway it would probably cost them too much to bring a lawsuit against you.

Glad to hear you got it all sorted though

[n3ss3s]

You know... That's a nice post Runescapian, but, that way he is still in deep shit as he would be with the files on his computer, because they are somehow "revivable" from HD, don't know how, but my mother told be that the IT guy of their company had one day to somehow "revive" some images and so...

You should format instead of deleting... IMO...

Though best solution is not to pirate :rolleyes:

[oliver1205]

you said qwest was your isp? if they are then why would your isp hoax you?

[rockman]

you said qwest was your isp? if they are then why would your isp hoax you?

It wasn't qwest. It was some guy claiming to be qwest trying to get some info/money from me.

[oliver1205]

how do you no they weren't the real qwst

[rockman]

how do you no they weren't the real qwst

I don't know for sure, but i think they would have at least sent a letter/called me again, because I would say pirating is a pretty big thing to be dealing with and they would try to get ahold of me.