[ADMIN]

The following PM was sent to several members who were part of the group that hacked/used the "zanzan" account and many others. They also had several duplicate accounts and participated or had full knowledge of the vicious attacks on our members and the cyber-crime of stealing people's accounts/identities. We have multiple sources of incontrovertible proof.

Here is the PM that was sent to these members (with address/phone/full name removed). If you read the PM you can see the members involved -- primarily ThisIsMe and Cavalier (DressageGirl and Barefoot with full knowledge and/or participation as accomplices). They had several hacked/duplicate accounts, but some you may have specifically read very rude posts (and in some cases disgusting and highly harassing) messages from such accounts as "zanzan," "BentGirl" "harrington." and "butta" to name a few. Many of these posts were deleted (but saved as a record).

We have reversed many other hacked accounts and alerted members. Again, please make sure your passwords are secure.

---------------------------------
(Member Name Here),

Your account and those of your co-conspirators have been permanently banned from the HGS forum. A legal cease-and-desist demand letter should arrive within 7-10 business days and has been dispatched to your address of

(member full real name and address here)

We have additional contact information should this be rejected.

Our attorneys have had extensive contact with a well-known and well connected solicitor in New South Wales.

We are ready to proceed with having our Australian solicitor contact the New South Wales Police commissioner, AHTCC (Australian High Tech Crime Center), NSW DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) as well as the AFP (Australian Federal Police). We are also ready to contact the FBI as they have assured us the full cooperation of the aforementioned Australian authorities.

In addition, we are ready to proceed with a civil lawsuit for punitive damages and actual damages due to the additional work incurred to our employees.

We have been tracking your actions all along and have known from day one who was involved, which computers were used, which proxies, as well as the conspiracy specifics and the posts made under false and illegally hacked accounts. It is extremely vital that you fully understand that you have been involved in a serious international organized crime conspiracy, and one that the American and Australian authorities take very seriously (we checked). We have not yet given them your names. We are prepared NOT to press charges and NOT to pursue monetary and punitive damages on the following conditions (which are NOT up for negotiation). Those conditions are that you AND your conspirators (ThisIsMe, Cavalier, DressageGirl, and BareFoot along with other hacked/duplicate accounts) NEVER AGAIN attempt unauthorized access to any of our forums (Truck, Horse, Dog, etc), never access a duplicate account, never register a new account, never access any hacked accounts, and cease and desist the personal attacks against our members. You need to speak with your “friends” and make sure they all agree to this -- as an attack by any one of you will force our hand against all of you. If you have knowledge that anyone will ignore this final offer, the only way to possibly limit damage to yourself will be to come forward completely and fully. Your authorization to use our server as a member has been permanently revoked. Any attempt to gain access again will result in us pursuing you to the fullest extent of the law.

Contacting us is not necessary. We will know if your group has complied with our request or are continuing to access our forum without authorization. If you feel the need to contact us for some reason please use the contact us link at the bottom of every forum page or the link below.
http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com...ad.php?do=form

Sincerely,
Forum Administrator
Horse Grooming Supplies

[ADMIN]

(copied from my post in another thread)

First: I want to thank the members for allowing us the time to investigate this fully. We did know early on, but we also needed time to gather 100% rock-solid proof and to track down which accounts were hacked. The mods helped tremendously, and as Tim said, this has been an ongoing investigation that took up a lot of my time. Hopefully the mods and members can go back to posting questions, helping each other, debating, and enjoying themselves here.

As others have mentioned, I would not have posted the user ids if I wasn't 100% absolutely sure. If you read my announcement carefully, it doesn't accuse all of them of actually hacking -- but does state quite clearly that they all knew about it, knew who was doing it, and/or participated in the nastiness and cover-up -- and are all essentially accomplices and co-conspirators. I can say that ThisIsMe and Cavalier, in particular, had the most knowledge and participation and the others did participate to some extent and cover it up and revel in it (had a big laugh). It was also going to be done again – which was another reason for waiting to gather more intel (sort of like preventing a terrorist attack). Even after the warnings posted in every forum, accounts were continuing to be hacked (brazen disregard for the law – almost asking to be caught). They seemed to be supremely confident in their ability to “hide themselves” and in my opinion they must have serious issues.

For those that did not see the particularly vile post that was made (90% didn't), it was very long and attacked almost all of our top members individually in a way that I have never seen (in the 5 years of running 3 forums). They were trying to be as absolutely hurtful as they could with all the knowledge they gained from their "friendships." They aimed for maximum damage to the forum and its members. Perhaps they have their good sides/times, but they all did participate in, or cover up this horrendous act. They also refused to come forward after REPEATED warnings to do so (and at that point I already knew who they were). The hacking of accounts made it an absolute priority for me as that could damage the integrity of the site and business. We will never tolerate that and if it happens again I will go after it even more vociferously.

Finally, I want to say that I truly believe that 99.9% of the active members here at HGS are a very high-quality bunch. I honestly do think that you HGS members represent a much higher standard/selection of people than you would find out there in the “real” world. There are deceptive people and bad elements everywhere, not just on the Internet. There are good people that do terrible things (and must be held accountable). Justice is hugely important to me. Here in the US, there are over 2 million people in jail -- many for white collar crimes, crimes against family/friends, etc. Some people in the real world are fake as well and do shameful things. We are all human, but there are some lines that can’t be crossed. HGS will not be a place for that type of person. It will be a safe-haven. At HGS, we are actively policing this site to make sure people like these 4 don't remain part of our community -- so that it maintains its welcoming/family atmosphere. We are also very forgiving of most actions (especially when admitted). Most importantly, the mods are here to help and not just with the bad apples. They want to enjoy the forum as well and now that this episode is over, I know they will.

-Victor/Admin