Subject: Criminal Activity by an Affiliate
This email is being sent to you as an affiliate program representative to let you know about the widespread criminal activity of a rogue gaming affiliate. The affiliate operates a number of websites including verifiedcasinos.com, and the extent and nature of the criminal activity of this affiliate has served to enrage online gaming affiliates worldwide.
Succinctly, the affiliate operating verifiedcasinos.com has hacked an extremely large number of websites by systematically exploiting a vulnerability in the Akismet WordPress plugin to insert iframes promoting online gaming sites under his affiliate codes, thereby illegally diverting both traffic and revenue from the webmasters whose sites have been hacked.
There is currently a concerted effort by the affiliate community to do everything possible to put a stop to this situation. In addition to making contact with individual webmasters whose sites have been hacked, the affiliate community is working to stop the problem at its root by making sure the affiliate cannot profit from his illegal activity.
From the perspective of the GPWA, the ethics of the situation for an affiliate program are quite simple. Our affiliate program code of conduct states that an affiliate program “will not use unethical methods of promotion either directly or indirectly through others.” Working with this affiliate violates the code of conduct since it constitutes indirectly supporting and directly benefiting from very deliberate criminal hacking activity, which is an unethical method of promotion. Additionally, depending on you licensing jurisdiction, engaging with this affiliate may not be permitted under the terms of your operating license.
We know that successful affiliate program managers understand their business success depends upon the affiliate community viewing that they and their affiliate program are trustworthy and ethical. And they also know that prompt action to resolve issues is rewarded, and that inaction or delays can cause serious reputation issues.
On this basis, the response of almost every program we have spoken with who was working with this criminal has been to take prompt action to sever the relationship. But we have not yet reached every affiliate program who is unwittingly working with this affiliate, and the affiliate is adding new programs as existing relationships are severed. The affiliate is also using geotargeting, making the task of identifying all of the affiliate relationships more difficult.
We request that you verify that your program does not have a relationship with this affiliate, and if you do have a relationship we request that it be terminated for cause and that any unpaid affiliate earnings be forfeited. And we also ask that you be diligent in avoiding working with this affiliate in the future. If you have any questions, please let us know.
Finally, if you should know an affiliate manager at any site still listed on the verifiedcasinos.com website, we urge you to forward a copy of this email to them, and to let us know so we can follow up with them as well and answer any questions they might have.
In addition to supporting the affiliate community in this effort, our goal is to work with the affiliate program community to stop this criminal, and for those affiliate programs that help to be recognized for their support in this effort. And we also want to do whatever we can to help programs act promptly so they can avoid the criticism that is predictably associated with being indecisive.
Further information can be found in the GPWA forum in the thread where we announced sending this email:
www.gpwa.org/forum/affiliate-program-notice-criminal-activity-verifiedcasinos-com-219772.html
Yours truly,
Michael Corfman
GPWA Executive Director