Counterfeit Windows 7 Ultimate on eBay

[rougebev]

Hi.
Mick from Anna Bay Computers here. Just wanted to let the community know about all the counterfeit software for sale lately.
We decided to make a purchase to get some of this counterfeit software, so we can expose them as fakes. We bought Windows 7 Ultimate and Office 2007 Professional for $192.00. First Windows 7 Ultimate, in what looked like genuine packaging at a glance. Alarm bells started ringing as we removed the plastic to get a clearer look at the COA, the print is sub-standard on the package and COA, the metal strip is not interwoven into the paper and is silver not red and says Genuine not Our Passion. Then we opened the container and compared the Product Key Sticker against a Genuine Sticker and it is at least 50% different. To the disc's, as you can see in my video, very poor construction. The hologram is not built in to the plastic and is glued on and can be peeled away. We sent images of the products and COA's to Microsoft and they aggreed it was counterfeit software.
To top off our experiment we contacted the seller with the video in this article and got a refund no questions asked!!
So it's a case of buyer be aware, hope this helps make your Windows 7 purchase easier.

Links to videos me made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y55qQES64Ps
Windows 7 Ultimatehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlEsZdwuGcM
Office 2007 Pro
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300425460082&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
Pictures of fake COA's on my advert for Windows 7 here

Cheers
Mick

[abstractitems]

Hi - the idea is to send both the suspect software and the seller ID to Microsoft....
If it is a high level pirated copy , then MS has been known to issue a genuine item to the hapless Buyer
As for the fate of the Seller....

What is also the rage at this time is the online distribution of unsupportrd Software from other regions such as US/Canada, UK etc
equally illegal for supported use in Asia-Pacific region

[expressm3]

Hi - the idea is to send both the suspect software and the seller ID to Microsoft....
If it is a high level pirated copy , then MS has been known to issue a genuine item to the hapless Buyer
As for the fate of the Seller....

What is also the rage at this time is the online distribution of unsupportrd Software from other regions such as US/Canada, UK etc
equally illegal for supported use in Asia-Pacific region

[expressm3]

Hello,

I've been through this process and i thiink more action needs to be taken, why is ebay allowing these items to be sold?... and also why is Microsoft not taking more action.
When we hire DVD movies we are forced to watch about pirated copys and you can be put in jail or fined large amount money by both FBI or Australian government.
I've sent copy's and photo's to Microsoft and also rang Microsoft also informed the police because it is an criminal offence in most states to sell fake products.
At the end of the day ebay should not be letting these so called ebay stores to keep on selling fake stuff.i've informed them got an refund but in the process the store kept on trading why's the justice ??

[moonlyte]

A mate of mine bought fake Windows 7, he sent it to Microsoft, and they gave him a genuine copy, and investigated the seller.

It took months, but the seller eventually completely stopped selling Windows(and eventually all Microsoft software), but continued to sell hardware in his store.

Microsoft is not interested in shutting the seller down completely, they are only interested in stopping the seller from selling fake Windows. I think behind the scenes the seller got taken to court by Microsoft and fined a large sum of $$$, as is normally the case.

[creasedpage]

to be honest your an idiot if you buy any windows
from here
go to a retail shop and buy it
is my best suggestion to
dont be a noob and think your getting a bargain i
if it look to good to be true then it is
cheap chinese rubbish

[9792alston]

Cant see what all the fuss is about.And do you really think that buying a pirated disk and being mortified at the quality of the hologram, and then dobbing the seller in to MS, that the world trade in pirated software is going to fold up its collective tents and go away? Helooooo!

[the3coopers]

I've been through this process and i thiink more action needs to be taken, why is ebay allowing these items to be sold
...
At the end of the day ebay should not be letting these so called ebay stores to keep on selling fake stuff.i've informed them got an refund but in the process the store kept on trading why's the justice ??

Are you saying that ebay should personally check and verify the authenticity of each of the 7 to 10 million items that are listed each day?

It's not practical. Ebay states quite clearly in the User Agreement:

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT EBAY IS NOT INVOLVED IN THE ACTUAL TRANSACTION BETWEEN BUYERS AND SELLERS.

AS A RESULT, EBAY HAS NO CONTROL OVER THE QUALITY, SAFETY OR LEGALITY OF ITEMS OR CONTENT POSTED BY MEMBERS ON OUR SITE, THE TRUTH OR ACCURACY OF LISTINGS, THE ABILITY OF SELLERS TO SELL ITEMS OR THE ABILITY OF BUYERS TO BUY ITEMS.

WE CANNOT ENSURE AND DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT A MEMBER OR BROWSER OF OUR SITE WILL ACTUALLY COMPLETE A TRANSACTION OR ACT LAWFULLY IN USING OUR SITE.

.

[expressm3]

For your information when you report an fake seller to ebay and the police, it is there duty of care to inform everyone involved and close down the fake sellers and thus take the necessary legal action, thus the fake sellers i've dealt with have landed large fines and also prison, as i say please report anything suspicious or unusual activity on ebay, stolen goods or fake goods imported to crimestoppers 1800333000 or Australian Customs 1800 06 1800
i hope this helps those you get ripped off the more we report the better the outcome.

[9792alston]

What do you mean by a "fake seller" If you mean someone who sells copies of Microsoft software, please explain who, except microsoft, suffers in any way. And why the hysterics over pirated software anyway.? And I would like to ask you and the other software vigilantes one question: Have you, even once, copied and burnt a software cd or dvd? Or have you, even once, downloaded a song from a P2P programme? Because if you have, you are as much a so called criminal as those "fake sellers you all get so sniffy about.
Think about it.