Google-cide: The Full Story Progenex leaders Adam Zuckerman, Ryan Page, attempted to commercialize technique for reputation management enterprise. The technology in question offered consumers negative report removal from the RipOff Report, Blogspot, but Fox News has since labeled the technique hacking, and cited experts saying it’s illegal. By Glenn Puit News Analysis and Opinion I read with interest the recent Fox News story about allegations of a computer hacking of the national website Ripoff Report. The story appeared on Fox’s website Friday and reported that an “online reputation manager hacked websites to 'inject' illegal code” into Ripoff Report’s website . This alleged hack, the story said, would make consumer reports disappear. I’ve been looking into ancillary matters related to this story for nearly a year now, and I can say without question that there is far more to this than what appeared in Fox’s news account. Namely, what the Fox story didn’t include were these critical facts: That the owner, founder and operator of Ripoff Report, Ed Magedson, said in addition to being hacked, his company received an email from an Internet expert who asked for $105,000 euros in exchange for making the technology of the hack disappear. Magedson identified the person who asked for the money as Michael Roberts, owner of the online reputation management company Rexxfield. Mr. Magedson said he feels like he was the subject of an extortion attempt. Roberts flatly denies any wrongdoing and granted me an interview (see his
Transcript
Google-cide: The Full Story
Progenex leaders Adam Zuckerman, Ryan Page, attempted to commercialize technique for reputation management
enterprise. The technology in question offered consumers negative report removal from the RipOff Report, Blogspot, but Fox News has since labeled the technique hacking, and cited
experts saying it’s illegal.
By Glenn PuitNews Analysis and Opinion
I read with interest the recent Fox News story about allegations of a computer hacking of the national website Ripoff Report.
The story appeared on Fox’s website Friday and reported that an “online reputation manager hacked websites to 'inject' illegal code” into Ripoff Report’s website. This alleged hack, the story said, would make consumer reports disappear.
I’ve been looking into ancillary matters related to this story for nearly a year now, and I can say without question that there is far more to this than what appeared in Fox’s news account.
Namely, what the Fox story didn’t include were these critical facts:
That the owner, founder and operator of Ripoff Report, Ed Magedson, said in addition to being hacked, his company received an email from an Internet expert who asked for $105,000 euros in exchange for making the technology of the hack disappear. Magedson identified the person who asked for the money as Michael Roberts, owner of the online reputation management company Rexxfield. Mr. Magedson said he feels like he was the subject of an extortion attempt. Roberts flatly denies any wrongdoing and granted me an interview (see his comments below.) His company, Rexxfield, has also issued a statement on the matter and questions the merits of the Fox report. Mr. Roberts said he was offering assistance to Ripoff Report, protecting them from a convicted felon who was now in possession of the code used against the website. Almost a month before Roberts contacted Ripoff Report’s attorneys, Magedson said they had already plugged the hole where the hack had been illegally injected. Removal of the hack was costly and took weeks, he said.
Another critical fact not reported by Fox News is that a business associate of a white-collar criminal out of Southern California -- Adam Zuckerman – once attempted to obtain a potential ownership interest in Roberts’ company. Mr. Roberts and another individual, Darren Meade, both said in separate interviews that Zuckerman was seeking to make money off the business of getting Ripoff Reports removed from the Internet. Both said the “cool” technique had also been
floated to prominent search engine optimization companies, or SEOS, which claim to be able to clean up a person’s online reputation, although the industry is starting to come under increasing scrutiny as to whether it can deliver the results it often promises.
So here’s the full story as I see it:
Ripoff Report was founded and managed by Ed Magedson. A pioneer of online consumer advocacy, Ripoff Report is the most popular, longest running website of its kind since its launch in 1997. The website allows consumers to post freely about business transactions in which they feel they got ripped off. The business, Mr. Magedson said, has a very clear policy of not removing reports from the website.
Several months before Michael Roberts’s contacted Magedson’s attorneys, Mr. Magedson was contacted by different authors of reports on his website. They questioned why their posts had inexplicably been taken down. Once Magedson’s technical staff examined those specific reports, they discovered that the offending source code had been “injected” onto the company’s servers illegally.
“Consumers had complained that they couldn’t find their report (that they’d posted,) and then somebody sent the link showing that, in many instances, these pages displayed “this report has been retracted,” Mr. Magedson said in a recent interview.
The following is a screen save of what would appear when someone would call up a hacked report.
The company determined its website had been hacked, and Mr. Magedson said the company spent tens of thousands of dollars to decipher the hack and cure it, but not before learning that thousands of consumer complaint reports on the website were taken down.
Mr. Magedson relayed the following facts:
In or around March of 2011, an attorney that knew Ed Magedson received an email and phone call from Michael Roberts, owner of Rexxfield. In an email, the attorney explained: “Michael called me and explained that he became aware of some program or process that has the capability of pushing Ripoff Report reports far down search engine results and/or removing them altogether. I do not know the details of the process involved. Michael explained that he was approached as a potential investor in this technology, which was presented to him in "black box" form whereby he wasn't told specifically what it was used for, only that the concept sounded interesting.”
Roberts, according to Magedson, sent an email to Ripoff Report representatives asking for $105,000 euros to make the technology go away. The email (copied below) reads:
I am not sure if Chris told you, but I only have a very short window to effect this deal.
Please see attached, feel free to word-smith it as I am half asleep. I am going to bed soon so respond quickly if you want to wrap this up. If acceptable, sign and fax to me at 314-237-4976 and if Chris doesn't mind, scan and email to both of us also. Once Larry confirms receipt of funds we'll get this hole plugged before sunup tomorrow if your team wants to stay up.
CBS & Fox are both spooling up for a story on the "exploiters", I'll intro you to the producers if you desire. If you move quick you can probably have all their "customers" dispute their PayPal and credit cards, I think their contract has a 90 guarantee.
I have cc'd RipOff's law firm for expedience as my moretorium to do this deal has all but expired. Let me make it simple:
(1) The Russian's have offered €105,000 for the tech
(2) I hate russians
(3) I personally don't want Russians knowing who I am or that I could potentially double deal.
(a) My associate doesn't care about what I am worried about
(4) If I burn the tech, then I have nothing to worry about, Russians move on.
(5) Once again, my associate doesn't care.
Terms:
There is no Demo; the only security they have is that the funds would be held in your trust account until demonstrated. If they turn it down they will NEVER find it unless the people who are making close to $100K a week voluntarily give the info. One client supposedly paid $32K last week alone.
If they will not NOINDEX, then I will accept €105,000 for the tech an be done with it. But we must move now so I can show my associate your trust account balance and the signed agreement including mutual NDA (this deal never happened ;)
D
Attached to the email were the (2) documents copied below, according to Mr. Magedson:
Agreement between Michael Roberts and Xcentric Ventures LLC.
1. Michael Roberts ("SELLER") possesses certain knowledge about a system or method
including source code and documentation (collectively "solution") to cause web
pages on the website www.ripoffreport.com ("ROR") to be pushed down or reduced
in ranking ("buried" or "bury") to position 256 or lower in Google search engine
results.
2. SELLER also possesses knowledge, as to how to render the solution 100%
ineffective against ROR in as little as 24 business hours.
3. SELLER has knowledge as to the CREATORS of the solution ("CREATORS").
4. SELLER has knowledge as to certain individuals who are exploiting ("EXPLOITERS")
the solution in order to charge individuals and businesses money to have their
respective ROR complaints buried below position 256 in Google search engine
results.
5. Whereas, Excentric Ventures, LLC. ("BUYER") desires to purchase the above
information and knowledge about the solution from SELLER.
Conditions of agreement:
6. BUYER will in good faith hold the CREATORS harmless for their involvement in
developing the solution as long as CREATORS cooperate as reasonably requested by
BUYER in any legal action BUYER may take against the EXPLOITERS; and if
applicable any criminal investigations that may be instigated by authorities against
EXPLOITERS.
7. BUYER will hold harmless and indemnify SELLER and his agents against any legal
action related to the solution or this agreement.
8. BUYER will not disclose the details of this agreement or SELLER'S involvement
under any circumstances and acknowledges that a breach of this condition would
cause the SELLER irreparable financial, and reputational harm.
9. SELLER will cooperate with BUYER as reasonably required to assist in any legal
action against EXPLOITERS.
10. BUYER will transfer the full purchase price of €105,000.00 converted to US Dollars
per the published rate on www.xe.com at the time of execution to:
Lawrence J. Semenza, Ltd Trust AccountNevada State Bank4170 S. Maryland ParkwayLas Vegas, NV 89119United States of America
1. Immediately upon receipt of cleared funds to the above trust account, SELLER will
then electronically deliver to BUYER the following:
a. The source code for the exploit and all documentation.
b. The information and technique required for positively identifying most, if
not all ROR pages that have been buried by the solution in the last four (4)
years and to remedy the effects.
c. The method required to render the solution ineffective.
d. The identity of the primary CREATOR and all information on hand for
his/her co-CREATOR.
e. The identity of the EXPLOITERS.
f. The identity of at least two other victims of the EXPLOITERS who may and
their sole discretion assist BUYER in pursuing civil and criminal actions
against EXPLOITERS.
2. Upon delivery and proof of the existence and efficacy of the solution, Mr. Semenza is
authorized to disburse the purchase fees to SELLER without delay.
The request did not sit well with Mr. Magdeson, especially after he had his website hacked in an act that eventually ended up costing him tens of thousands of dollars to restore the missing reports. In addition to these costs the company sustained significant losses in advertising and other revenue.
“I’m going to be seeking both restitution and prosecution,” Mr. Magedson said of those eventually deemed responsible for the disappearance of reports from his site.
Mr. Roberts’ Response
Michael Roberts, proprietor of Rexxfield, was put at the center of the hacking allegations
in the Fox News report. In an interview with me, he did not deny knowing about the technology that made Ripoff Reports disappear from search engine results. He also did not deny contacting Ripoff Report and asking for money. He said, however, that he is not convinced that the technology in question is hacking; that he never used it himself personally; that he only saw it remove reports from search engines and not the Ripoff Report website; and that his request for money from Ripoff Report was not extortion.
Instead, he said he was trying to help Ripoff Report deter the technology impacting its website because, he said, it had fallen into the hands of criminals.
Mr. Roberts, who has worked as a consultant for Ripoff Report previously, said he’d originally invested in what has been described as the “cool” technique – the process of making Ripoff Reports disappear from search engine results – after meeting with a Matthew Cooke, whom he described as the onetime owner of the technique.
I reached out to Mr. Cooke repeatedly to talk to him about these matters.
He never responded.
“When I was first made aware of the ability to make the stuff get removed from search engine results, I was very excited,” Mr. Roberts said in a tape recorded interview, adding he went back and forth as to whether it was actually hacking. Roberts insists that he never saw reports disappear from Ripoff Report during demonstrations of the “cool” technique. Instead, they disappeared from search engine results.
Rebuttal
Ripoff Report, meanwhile, said the reports actually did disappear from their website due to the hacking source code. The Fox News story cited legal experts who declared that if someone did have reports removed from Ripoff Report, that the practice was, in fact, illegal.
In addition to these facts, Magedson countered that Mr. Roberts never worked for Ripoff Report in so far as a long-standing relationship between the parties never existed. Magedson added in his interview statement that it was his opinion that Roberts must have had a falling out with the company that owns the website complaintsboard.com, as Roberts had supplied Ripoff Report with information to assist Ripoff Report’s effort to collect a judgment the company had secured against complaintsboard.com, a website that is located in Latvia. Ripoff Report was awarded this judgment after prevailing in litigation which found complaintsboard.com guilty of stealing an abundance of Ripoff Reports published content over a period of many years. Magedson also said complaintsboard.com removes complaints for money, something Ripoff Report has never done. There are also other websites that are also currently scraping Ripoff Reports as of the date of this article, and those websites also remove the complaints for money. As a
result of these actions Ripoff Report won a large judgment, and again is suing complaintsboard.com in a lawsuit filed this week. Mr. Roberts said around the time he was investing in the “cool technique” and then pondering its legality, he entered into separate business negotiations with an individual named Ryan Page. Page is a president of the company Progenex, and also an associate of a white-collar criminal named Adam Stuart Zuckerman. Zuckerman is currently pending sentencing in the theft of more than $20 million from financial institutions. Mr. Roberts entered into business negotiations with Zuckerman’s associate, Ryan Page, over Rexxfield, and Roberts said he eventually came to deal with Mr. Zuckerman on a regular basis and that Zuckerman was interested in the search engine optimization industry.
Mr. Roberts said he believes Zuckerman likely came into possession of the “cool technique,” and that this is why he contacted Ripoff Report and asked for money to help deter a criminal in possession of the technology. The euros, he said, were for litigation support, expert fees and witness fees if Ripoff Report pursued civil litigation against anyone using the cool technique.
“They would get whatever is needed from me in litigation support, experts witness fees and map out the network,” Mr. Roberts said.
A prominent Internet blogger who once interviewed Zuckerman, Anthony Roberts, tells me Zuckerman told him he was pursuing technology that would remove reports like Ripoff Report from the Internet and that Zuckerman actually tried to hire him to write defamatory content about individuals and post it online so that Zuckerman’s company could then solicit these individuals to offer their services to remove the reports. Anthony Roberts has posted a story of his own concerning the Fox News report.
Mr. Zuckerman, through his attorney in court documents, has denied engaging in any criminal behavior while pending sentencing in his criminal case.
“You want to know how I feel? I’m pissed off,” he said. The authorities knew who and what they were dealing with, in my opinion, a career criminal. One who they are relying today to be a witness for them to prosecute other people on other crimes, (that’s reliable) while allowing Zuckerman to remain free with absolutely NO supervision is unconscionable.”
“Look at what he did,” Mr. Magdeson said. “There’s a wealth of evidence that Darren Meade warned them over and over again, and gave the authorities hard evidence and they just ignored him. Darren Meade, also, the day after resigning from their company, he went to the authorities. Mead also testified in open court, and they ignored him. Meade was then paid back for his hard work by Zuckerman and the others as they went all over the Internet to destroy Meade’s reputation. Zuckerman is only one part of this ripoff to many consumers and businesses who have been bilked maybe out of millions of dollars, maybe more than we will ever know, when you take into consideration all the others who are involved in their plot to destroy Ripoff Report and Google, and to chill the free
