A joint investigation between the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Software & Information Industry Association has led to the arrests of two men pushing pirated software on Craigslist.
According to the association, Duong Tran, 29, and Huy Nguyen, 27, were arrested May 25 after a nine-month investigation. The duo is accused of manufacturing and distributing thousands of pieces of counterfeit software, including pirated versions of software from Adobe Systems, Rosetta Stone and Autodesk.
“Craigslist is a haven for software piracy,” said Keith Kupferschmid, senior vice president for Intellectual Property Policy & Enforcement for the SIIA. “Unfortunately Craigslist is not the only place to get pirated software. We have significant piracy problems taking place on eBay, iOffer, Amazon and various Websites.”
It takes significantly more resources for the SIIA to track and combat piracy on Craigslist however, so the association recently began hiring investigators across the country to assist it with these investigations, he said. As a result, the public can expect the group to take a “much more proactive approach” to fighting piracy on Craigslist.
According to the SIIA, Tran and Nguyen downloaded thousands of software programs from Demonoid.com, a Website and BitTorrent tracker. They then created cracked serial keys and copied the software onto Memorex recordable CDs and distributed them through Craigslist along with the cracked key and detailed installation instructions.
As part of the arrest, the LAPD seized illegal software valued at more than $30,000 and hardware valued at more than $6,000, the SIIA said.
*Correction: A previous version of the story had the incorrect name for the SIIA.