<p>My daughter got sucked into working for a less-than-ethical company. She worked there for a year after graduating, basically until she figured out exactly how things worked; then she quit. The company tried to fine her $3,000 (unfortunately she signed a contract allowing this; she had borrowed money to run her “business” and her contract stated she must pay it back - this co is notorious for brainwashing its victims, btw) and she was upset; as a lifelong activist she created a Website with evidence of the company’s shenanigans, to hinder their recruiting efforts.</p>
<p>Her direct manager had given her his password and username to the server and she needed a screenshot from the server for her Website, so, not realizing it’s a federal felony, she logged in and took that screenshot, and put it on her Website after editing out all personally identifying details. </p>
<p>Well, the company found the Website and is now threatening to charge her with a federal felony (for “hacking”) if she doesn’t take down all of her complaints about the company. Unfortunately one of the Websites on which she complained is Rip Off Reports, which doesn’t allow users to delete their complaints - ever, for any reason.</p>
<p>She’s planning to go to college; she’s already sent in applications all over; so their threats are really working on her. She’s even replaced the content of her Website with POSITIVE information, to appease them.</p>
<p>I should also add that she has a PERFECTLY clean record. She’s never even been pulled over. Kids in High School made fun of her for being a goody two-shoes, for crying out loud.</p>
<p>We’re not sure yet if they’re going to go forward with charges because she can’t take down the Rip Off Report complaint - basically they’re playing good cop/bad cop with her and she can only talk to the “good cop.”</p>
<p>Thanks for reading all the way through - now my questions -
If she gets accepted to a college before the prospective warrant for her arrest goes through, will she be able to attend without informing them? I know this is dirty, but so is what’s being done to us.
She’s submitted all her apps, and all of them have the “have you ever committed a crime” box checked no. IF charges are brought against her, will we have to update those applications to reflect it? Will the colleges find out regardless?
If there’s anyone with any legal experience - is it even LEGAL for them to harrass her like this? It doesn’t seem right to me. It’s almost out of a movie.</p>
<p>You need an attorney to deal with the sleezeball company. I guarantee you she’s not the first one who’s done something like this to them. So I guarantee you they’ve been through this before, but you and your daughter haven’t.</p>
<p>I would advise consulting an attorney versed in internet law.</p>
<p>I may have missed her age in your post… is she a minor, or over 18? This will have an impact insofar as how much you will be part of daughter/lawyer conversations. </p>
<p>As a layman’s thought only, if she has valid evidence of the company’s “less than ethical operations” she should broach this with her attorney. Perhaps with enough substance the material could be turned over to state/federal investigators. It may prove a bargaining chip.</p>
<p>If she was under 18 on the day she logged into the account, I believe that will be helpful. Get a lawyer who is good at internet law, and stay positive. Please get a lawyer involved soon, soon, soon. This is not something to delay.</p>
<p>She’s 19, and was 19 when she logged in. =(</p>
<p>The only thing she can prove is “fraudulent inducement” sadly. She’s fairly astute with this sort of thing - wants to become a trial lawyer, actually - and has already cast this bargaining chip into the ring; it seemed to make them nervous but she’d technically only be charging one individual with fraudulent inducement, not the company, so they’re not too concerned about it…yet. It did cause them to cancel her debt, but that’s it. She also casually mentioned going to the media (she’s a pretty 19-year-old female with military ties who actually spent several weeks homeless because of the company and its false promises - again, they’re fantastic at brainwashing so I had no idea, and was 100 miles away besides).</p>
<p>We haven’t contacted an attorney yet because we can’t afford one (this company’s antics have put her $5,000 in the hole, without considering the $3k debt, and her father and I are living paycheck to paycheck - he lost his job due to the economy).</p>
<p>Our major concern is that the college that has already accepted her will rescind its offer, and that those who have not considered her application will consider her less competitive. We’re fairly confident that she wouldn’t wind up in jail; it’s a minor offense compared to most hacking charges.</p>
<p>I could just scream. This is ridiculous.</p>
<p>What’s more, I imagine they’ll continue to threaten her with this for as long as they darn well please! They know they have her in the palm of their hand.</p>
<p>I third the recommendation for an attorney in your juristiction. They are playing hardball and using scare tactics-- and you cant easily judge how far they will take it or how serious they are. Can she take down her website rather than put positive info about this sleaseball company? It would be a shame if others make the wrong decision to work for them based on your daughters positive statements.</p>
<p>Also, is it possible that a couple of letters, and a couple of phone calls by an attorney will not only stop the threats, but perhaps he can negotiate down what they claim that she owes them? Does she have a copy of the contract she signed?</p>
<p>Also, how does a company “charge an individual” with anything? </p>
<p>Perhaps you can even dial around and get a free consultation with an attorney, although they are not in business to work for nothing. They could give you an idea if they can help you, and how they can help. I think it would be worth inquiring.</p>
<p>Northeastmom - I’m not sure if having an attorney get involved would actually escalate it. They have a corporate attorney (whose modus operandi is to settle out of court to avoid publicity) so I doubt it would scare them very much.</p>
<p>They removed her debt to the company after she mentioned the media and her fraudulent inducement theory, so that’s a non-issue. I just want them to stop harassing her! She’s terrified; she actually cried last night and I don’t think I’ve seen her cry in about 2 years (and her boyfriend’s in Iraq, so that’s really saying something).</p>
<p>As far as how an individual can owe something to a company - I’ll try not to make this too lengthy. lol. Basically, it was a well-disguised MLM “company.” She wound up “advancing” through the ranks and running her own franchise of the company. To do that she had saved up $5,000 for business expenses; the company “gave” her $6,000, never mentioning that it was a LOAN. So, she wound up having to pay back the “loan.” She paid half of it back - with the end result that she missed a month’s rent and got evicted.</p>
<p>Definitely worth a try! I’m going to reverse-telemarket the local attorneys tomorrow. :D</p>
<p>This is terrible. This co preys on college students too, so I wish I could tell you their name, but I’m afraid they’ll find it and use it against her, since we use the same IP address.</p>
Companies don’t “charge” anyone with anything. The US attorney does. And the US attorney has a great deal of discretion in determining who to charge with what. The US attorney may not even be interested.</p>
<p>Legal Aid is one way to go. franticmom, what state are you in? Google “Legal Aid” for the local legal aid office in your jurisdiction. They will have at least a consultation with your daughter free of charge, and they generally charge on a sliding scale.</p>
<p>Another office to talk to is the American Civil Liberties Union. My guess is that they would love this case! And they will often take cases for free.</p>
<p>Don’t let the company intimidate your daughter.</p>
<p>In addition to the advice you’ve already been given, I would suggest calling your State’s Attorney. If the company is acting illegally, the State’s Attorney’s office would likely like to hear about it.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about the law but the first question that crossed my mind is ‘is it hacking if you have been given the password to a site’. If someone somehow gets into my email account without me giving them information it may be hacking - but if i give them the password I would think it would not be. </p>
<p>^^ concur with swimmom. The Company’s Manager is also responsible – he gave a 19 year-old his pw and security code. She may have taken a screenshot without permission, but she in fact had permission to log into the site from a Company Manager; thus, he also has culpability for any damages. While legal can be expensive, a few hundred bucks now could make them go away faster.</p>
<p>Theresa, is a good lawyer really that expensive? Holy cow.</p>
<p>I’ve done as a lot of you have suggested and found the legal aid office for our area; it’s about 30 miles away but DD is going tomorrow before she has to go to work. They sounded quite interested on the phone, according to her.</p>
<p>There’s also a chance that things will calm down on their own: She’s been dealing with a Region Manager and just got an e-mail from a Division Manager apologizing for any harm he’s caused her.</p>
<p>Blue and Swim - that’s what we were thinking, too. Unfortunately that’s usually in a Website’s Terms of Service and we can’t see those for the Website in question (I’m very proud of myself, I’ve been researching :D).</p>
<p>Also, I had no idea that the US Attorney has to decide to prosecute a case before it can go forward. (I’m probably butchering the legal jargon.)</p>
<p>All right, I think my blood pressure is finally starting to get back to healthy levels. Whewwww. Thank you all so very much - from BOTH of us. I’ll keep posting updates as things progress.</p>
<p>Glad your daughter has an appointment with your local Legal Aid office, and Chedva’s idea of the ACLU is a good one too. As they say, don’t let the Bas*ards get you down!</p>
<p>I created a website a few years back on a timesharing company. Their model unit was a lot nicer than their regular unit we bought. I asked for my money back and they refused. While I was on vacation I bribed an employee to let me into their model unit. I took pictures of the model then I compared to the unit I was actually staying at. </p>
<p>On my website I had an animation of a little guy, walked over to their logo, pulled his pants down and peed all over their logo. I then had pictures of their model unit vs their regular unit as comparison. They were so upset, they wanted to take me to court for defamation. My lawyer sister told them that I was just expressing my point of view and I had the right to do that. I told them that I would take the site down if they would refund all my money (cost of timeshare and closing costs). I got my money back. </p>
<p>I am wondering if your daughter had told them how she got those screen shots? If the legal aid doesn’t think it’s an issue, I would try to see if you could get the company to make your daughter whole by agreeing to stop writing anything negative about the company. Or, at minimum, I would threaten to create more websites to bad mouth the company (with or without the screen shots).</p>
<p>All right, update time. There have been several developments.</p>
<p>1 - As I mentioned she tried to rescind her rip-off report. For some reason it didn’t post. >:-( No idea how the company’s legal department is going to handle it as they’re not very communicative right now.</p>
<p>2 - DD got an e-mail from the Divisional Manager stating that he accepts full responsibility for the homelessness, etc., and that he “deserved” the treatment she gave him and his company.</p>
<p>3 - As expected, the fraudulent inducement charge is going to be real hard to prove, especially since she no longer has access to any information proving her side of the case. We’d have to subpeona access to manager-level material on the company’s website.</p>
<p>4 - We’ve made the decision that if the company chooses to press charges, all bets are off: she will immediately re-post all of her information, sans the screenshot (literally 5 hours before all this happened she copy and pasted the entire contents into a Word document “on a feeling” - gotta love that female intuition), and mobilize her small team of anti-{company name here} volunteers (she has about 5 sympathetic folks willing to help her) to begin placing posters about the company on their campuses.</p>
<p>5 - She received a vague email from the Regional Manager stating, “You need not worry at this point.” (She literally just called me and told me this as I was typing; that’s why it’s way at the bottom here. I think I’m gonna cry - from relief.)</p>