Playster Affiliate Partner Aurelia Lauritson, Colin Stratchan, Philip Keezer Misleading advertising, DMCA Abuse, Participation in Playster Bait and Switch scam, Prolific DMCA abuses, Spammy websites, Content Scraping, Questionable Affiliate Activities Aalborg Denmark
Aurelia Lauritsen is the registered owner of various self-hosted wordpress websites which are designed to mislead consumers into signing up for a classic bait and switch scam which is the work of Playster.
Playster Affiliates are used, and paid, to create vast numbers of self-hosted wordpress sites that are heavily SEO Optimized and are designed to attract Playster subscribers.
The scam is that the PDF is not available, but the affiliates claim they are, and create endless numbers of DMCA infringing websites, putting fresj ones up days after a DMCA report is filed.
Colin Stratchan the publishing manager of Playster received 185 DMCA complaints about the matter (some relating to other affiliates as well). He admitted it was a problem and some time ago said that the behaviour would cease in a few weeks, but the behaviour continues unabated.
It is questionable activity, as the content is scraped and reworded to make it appear to consumers the PDF can be downloaded, but the fact it cannot, only becomes apparent after Playster have ones credit card details, for which they are often charged for cancelling a free trial (hence the bait and switch).
Most of the affiliates ignore DMCA requests, as do Playster beyond a certain number.
The problem is bad in that pretty much any authors book on Amazon can be found falsely advertised on a Playster Affiliate website. Sometimes the affiliates have contact details and one can search the web to find the person responsible. Proof is attached.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Report Author
Alabama,USA
I withdraw this complaint - some information in the report is incorrect - no reliance should be placed on it (Report Author)
#2Consumer Comment
Tue, March 07, 2017
I was incorrect that the individuals and companies named were responsible for hosting the complained of material save for Aurelia Lauritsen.
Aurelia Lauritsen was the registered owner of the infringing websites complained of and did make the infringements (and the allegations about that individual are upheld), but Aurelia Lauritsen is a third party that Playster, its directors or employees have no control over.
They had nothing to do with creating or publishing the infringements and any statement they were is withdrawn.
Thus the report should be deemed to be based on incorrect information and no reliance should be placed on it.
Report Author (do not have email login)