Complaint Review: www.mugshots.com

Some more public information about www.mugshots.com websites, blog page
Good questions are being raised.:
Originally Posted by Tombstone: 
Originally Posted by Tombstone:
Has PayPal assessed the risk of processing payments for www.mugshots.com? Are they in VIOLATION of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy?
Processing payments for organizations that are involved in questionable activity exposes companies like PayPal to serious legal problems, not to mention chargebacks.
   It is interesting listening to this interview with a mugshot removal owner that PayPal was no longer going to process payments for him. He is Adam Dicker. He has a company that processes payments to unpublish mugshots from Mugshots.com. Adam has a reputation of his own. Read about his experience while at GoDaddy (do a Google search).

http://www.unpublishmugshots.com/ - his removal site

Online Reputation Repair: Seizing a New Business Opportunity With Adam Dicker
http://www.domainsherpa.com/reputation-repair/

Why exactly is PayPal stopping payment processing for www.mugshots.com? Could it be that they are aware of the exposure? Listen to him talk about how much money moves through PayPal. And, PayPal does not want it?

Not surprisingly,  Very convenient for a mugshot removal company and Reputation Management company;the company can put it on their blog/webpage/site and then they can have it removed.  This entity, blog site webpage, business type creates the problem and then they solve it for you.
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What does this mean in regards to (www.mugshots.com)? Well,  this site/blog is in the same business as Blabbermouthkc.com and PayPal would not refuse an easy fee if they felt their was exposure much greater than the money. In my opinion, they (Paypal, Amazon, Google) know exactly what the blog/website/page is doing. Even the other "Authorized" Mugshots.com removal Affiliate is no longer using PayPal.

 www.mugshots.com does not directly use paypal 
Below: PayPal Acceptable Use Policy
https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?c...ptableUse_full

4. "involve the sales of products or services identified by government agencies to have a high likelihood of being fraudulent."

This is just one. It does not say already deemed fraudulent, it says "a high likelihood of being fraudulent."

What government agencies say they have a strong likely of being fraudulent? Fraudulent or criminal, they both expose PayPal to the same liability. Well, here are three:

W.Va. jail officials restrict mug shot downloads
http://www.policeone.com/corrections...hot-downloads/

Ada County sheriff says website is extorting those arrested
http://www.ktvb.com/home/Ada-County-...140792833.html

Pueblo Sheriff Putting A Stop To Extorting Website
http://www.kktv.com/news/headlines/P...138680159.html
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On top of the above examples, the likelihood of fraudulent or illegal activity is discussed in the various links on PAGE 1, and comprehensively on this KCSR thread.
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There is a link to REPORT A WEBSITE TO PAYPAL Google, Amazon with "a high likelihood of being fraudulent" at the bottom of the page.
https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?c...ptableUse_full

 Remind  Amazon, Google, Yahoo,  Bing that their processing, supports a site to publish on  the internet blog to remove mugshots, just like those that they are already familiar with.
NOTICE THAT NIETHER OF THE MUGSHOTS.COM REMOVAL AFFILIATES ARE USING PAYPAL.COM TO PROCES ANYMORE.
 So how are they processing fee's? to take down? Opt/OUT, Remove booking linking to search engines and their website?
Report it to FTC, Attorney General's Office, Department of justice. Request Your copies of reports and complaints under FOIA.
You may also contact the DA's Office - Consumer Protection Unit
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http://mugshotsextortion.blogspot.com/
 There is much more in our possession that I cannot divulge right now. This includes undesirable facts about owner/operators family as well as himself, and the extortion racket known as MUGSHOTS.COM. The promise is that the public will bel supplied with more information on the racket and  Booking publishing on privately owned business, entity blogging/internet websites as we get it. After all, as www.mugshots.com would be the first  to tell you, IT IS PUBLIC RECORD!

Other Articles
:
http://www.devreviews.com/clean-search-com-l33507

http://www.(((REDACTED)))/scams/3213/Robert_Wiggin__Florida.arrests.org

http://www.quatloos.com/Q-Forum/viewtopic.php?t=8367

http://www.ripoffreport.com/organized-crime/mugshot-com/mugshot-com-authorized-vendor-7e0e0.htm

http://www.(((REDACTED)))com/report/view/16484/Robert-Wiggens--florida.arrests.org--False-Advertising-for-300.00-on-08-01-2011

http://www.ripoffreport.com/unusual-rip-off/organized-crime/search.aspx
Florida Bar Complaint link

http://www.floridabar.org/tfb/TFBConsum.nsf/0a92a6dc28e76ae58525700a005d0d53/c5b7d247a0c9c45a85256b2f006c6186?OpenDocument
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 http://www.seochatboard.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=385
  
"UnpublishArrest.com is one of only two exclusive agents authorized to submit applications to The Mugshots.com Database for mugshot removal. Our sole mission is to liaison with The Mugshots.com Database to unpublish/remove mugshots and arrest records quickly and efficiently in as little as 24 hours. This process normally is completed in the same day, however multiple applications for unpublishment or removal can extend the process. Our established working relationship with The Mugshots.com Database facilitates the removal of mugshots quickly, accurately and correctly the first time."
"Part of our strategy works to have Google exclude the dead links connecting a search page with Mugshots.com. This means when the links are excluded and a name is searched, it will no longer appear prominently on the first few pages.** However the actual mugshot removal will usually come down within 24 hours. Call us today or fill out the form below to get started! 1-855-NO-ARREST (1-855-662-7737)"

"OK. So what we have here is a clear case of extortion. There is no doubt in my mind that by "exclude" the page from google is by having access to mugshots.com and adding the noindex directive for search engines to specific pages on mugshots.com which instructs google bot to not index them any longer and include them in search results. and sure enough it seems that is the case, as proven by our second culprit arrests.org in this nicely detailed investigation of them: (scribd.com/doc/58921958/An-Investigation-Of-arrests-org)"

Have fun reading through that humongous pieced together investigation! They even took note of all the disallow robot directives on the pages as well. These are the lowest of low right here and they deserved to be shamed. What is disturbing about these websites is they do not even offer up any information behind who they really are. These sites/blogs are so arrogant enough to ask for all sorts of proof of identity documents!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!

and look at the outrageous prices they are scamming people for Which service would you like to purchase? *
unpublish 1 mugshot - $399.00 unpublish 2 mugshots - $779.00 unpublish 3 mugshots - $1149.00 unpublish 4 mugshots - $1479.00

To top all ctivity off, many, if not all of them are using google services and others to monetize with the websites - and as expected google and the others have no problem with this at all. I would also like to note (some) with the use of paypal for their extortion services. I'm sure we can realize how long this has been going on undisturbed since there is an article about it in wired.com on August 2, 2011 (wired.com/threatlevel/2011/08/mugshots/)
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 http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-759631
 Emergence of a new racketeering industry
By oleksiysvit  |  Posted March 9, 2012  
CNN PRODUCER NOTE 
mugshots.com -> florida.arrests.org -> removeitnow.com , etc.
Pretending of being independent, in fact these companies represent a single gang of racketeers. They search for compromising material about various people, use Google to advertise it on the internet, and demand people to pay them money for material removal. However, even if someone pays them money, the compromising material does not disappear. Instead, they just move it from one site to another, and demand people to pay even more. Among the victims of the racket there are also totally innocent people who were arrested by mistake, but the racketeers still demand money from them! By my estimates, their database contains information on at least 5 millions of people. The problem extends far beyond my personal interests, and it can develop into a threat to the National Security. I dont believe that this kind of business one can run legally. Note, the websites with compromising material do not show neither their ownership, nor address, nor telephone numbers. I think, this is a sure sign that they have something to hide. I suspect, all the websites both, with compromising material and those that collect money, have hidden relations to each other. I suspect, they are controlled from one center, perhaps from outside the US. I also doubt that they pay taxes for the money they take from victims. I believe this is a very serious and well-organized gang of criminals.

There are several nice articles describing how this new racket industry works:
http://www.citmedialaw.org/blog/2011/mugshot-racket-paying-keep-public-records-less-public
http://www.fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5150:an-ugly-business&catid=76:metropolis&Itemid=377
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58921958/An-Investigation-Of-arrests-org
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by Ty Brennan
KTVB.COM
Posted on February 28, 2012 at 5:49 PM
Updated Tuesday, Feb 28 at 10:55 PM

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 Sheriffs 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 Countys 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.
KTVB contacted someone at Boisemugshots.com via email. The person, who referred to himself as Mugshot Barry, responded saying they take down any mugshot when asked.  Barry says it may take up to 24 hours for the mugshot to be taken down and that money doesnt necessarily need to be paid to have the information removed. 

Why has this been able to continue? This isn't Freedom of Information or Freedom of Speech.
  CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.