What a creep! ~ hopefully, his business will flame out while he cools his heels in jail ~ but he did achieve his goal of 'NEGATIVE advertisement' ~ Sooz
Tue Dec 7, 12:43 pm ET
Arrested online merchant left trail of terrorized customers By Liz Goodwin
An online merchant who allegedly terrorized his customers in an effort to boost his online search ranking was arrested and charged with mail fraud and wire fraud on Monday.
Vitaly Borker, 34, launched a "campaign of intimidation" on one customer, Clarabelle Rodriguez, who told her story to the New York Times' David Segal after authorities were not interested in helping her.
When Rodriguez tried to return a pair of glasses she bought at Borker's eyeglasses site, DecorMyEyes.com, Borker threatened to sexually assault her and sent her a photo of the front of her house. "I know your address. I'm one bridge over," he told her, according to Rodriguez.
The feds' complaint against Borker shows he terrified other customers in a series of outrageously horrific emails and phone calls since 2007. He's accused of sending an email to one dissatisfied customer's work colleagues claiming that the customer was gay and involved in selling drugs. He allegedly told another customer "I know where you live," called her a "cheap Jew" and threatened to rape her. He urged another customer to "Please drop dead" in an obscenity-laden email.
But when Rodriguez and many other traumatized customers complained online, Borker gloated that they were only making him more money. Borker told the Times that the customer complaints boosted his ranking on Google, since the site's search algorithm could not distinguish between positive and negative reviews.
According to the complaint against him, more than 200 of his customers have filed complaints with authorities. "I just wanted to let you guys know that the more replies you people post, the more business and the more hits and sales I get. My goal is NEGATIVE advertisement," Borker posted on one site where customers had complained, according to the Times.
The Times' original reporting on Borker prompted Google to change its algorithm so that negative postings no longer boost a site's search ranking. (Jared Newman at PCWorld argues this will not prevent unscrupulous businesses from gaming the system.)
Borker is also accused of selling counterfeit glasses, making interstate threats, and cyberstalking. He was denied bail.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookou ... -customers
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