Shaun Hogan, Owner of Digital Point Forum, Sued by eBay for Fraud

Shaun Hogan, the owner of the Digital Point Forum, one of the most popular webmaster forums, is being by eBay along with two other men for defrauding eBay in a cookie stuffing scheme.

I don't get this guy. He owns one of the most popular webmaster forums on the internet and has plenty of opportunities to earn money in legitimate ways. Unfortunately, it looks like greed got the better of him and he tried to take shortcuts to milk eBay.

You can find more about the lawsuit against Shaun Hogan at: eBay Inc. v. Digital Point Solutions, Inc. et al.

There are plenty of ex-members of Digital Point who got banned from the forum and are plenty angry at Digital Point. I guess this sounds like music to their ears now.

Below is the story from Courthouse News
eBay Sues Alleged "Cookie Stuffers"

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Three men defrauded eBay in a "cookie stuffing" scheme that made it appear the men’s companies should be paid commissions, eBay claims in Federal Court. It sued Shawn Hogan and Digital Point Solutions, Todd Dunning and Kessler’s Flying Circus, and Brian Dunning and Thunderwood Holdings.

eBay says the men devised software programs that, "unbeknownst to the [computer] user, redirected the user’s computer to the eBay Web site without the user actually clicking on an eBay advertisement link, or even becoming aware that they had left the page they were previously viewing. As a result, the eBay site would be prompted to drop an eBay cookie on the user’s computer even though the user never clicked on an eBay advertisement or even realized that their computer had ever visited the eBay site."

The complaint continues: "once the cookie was stuffed on the user’s computer by one or more of the defendant’s any future revenue actions initiated by that user when the user later visited eBay intentionally, and not as a result of any advertisement places by defendants, appeared to be eligible for commissions payable to one of the defendants".

eBay claims the defendants also used deceptive means to prevent it from discovering the fraud, and to conceal it. eBay demands compensatory, treble and punitive damages. It is represented by David Eberhart with O’Melveny & Myers.