“Illegitimate” SEO Sentenced To 37 Months In Federal Prison For Extortion

[Harold Mansfield]

A MUST read:


US Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas announced (http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/search-engine-optimizer-sentenced-more-three-years-federal-prison-extorting-money-local) an SEO named William Stanley has been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $174,888 in restitution to a dozen identified victims for attempting to extort money from a business in Dallas.


The good thing is that the document does say not all SEOs are bad: [it] explains, “[A]n illegitimate SEO business engages in deceptive tactics to affect search engine rankings and the volume of results. Such deceptive tactics include creating fraudulent reviews (good or bad), creating fictitious websites, or hiding text on websites.”

Read the full story:"Illegitimate" SEO Sentenced To 37 Months In Federal Prison For Extortion (http://searchengineland.com/seo-sentenced-to-37-months-in-federal-prison-for-extortion-239706)

[vangogh]

The guy deserves some jail time based on what he did. I don't think the story is knock against seo as much as it is against this particular guy, though the seo industry does seem to attract more than its share of dishonest people.

[Harold Mansfield]

I just think it's great that the courts are finally catching up to technology and all of the ways that people can scam others online and through web "services".
I agree what this guy was doing was just extortion, the oldest grift in the book. He was just using the web and SEO to do it, instead of burning down their store.

[vangogh]

It would be nice to think the courts are catching up to technology. I hope they are. It seems like too many parts of the government have no understanding at all of how technology works. I'll take this as a good sign.

[KristineS]

I like the fact that they pointed out that all SEO is not a scam. Yes, what this particular guy did was definitely fraudulent, and I'm glad he's going to jail because of it. I think it's nice, however, to see an article that doesn't tar all SEO practitioners with the same brush. There will be a certain percentage of scammers, just as their would in any profession, but that doesn't mean SEO itself is necessarily a scam.

[Harold Mansfield]

I like the fact that they pointed out that all SEO is not a scam. Yes, what this particular guy did was definitely fraudulent, and I'm glad he's going to jail because of it. I think it's nice, however, to see an article that doesn't tar all SEO practitioners with the same brush. There will be a certain percentage of scammers, just as their would in any profession, but that doesn't mean SEO itself is necessarily a scam.

Yep. I think the publishers of the article should have put quotes around "SEO" instead of Illegitimate.

[krymson]

I feel bad for the up to 40 other clients of his that went through the same thing...

I read this yesterday when my boss sent it to me, I'm like, why in the world would you try to go against a worldwide enterprise and do this... you're not going to win. My fiance said he just got too cocky because of how much he had been getting away with it.

[Owen]

The Wolf of Search Engine Optimization

[SteveS]

This is blackmail, not SEO. SEO is the practice of taking steps to improve search rankings of websites, not posting negative comments to blackmail people. Seems fair to me that he went to jail for fraud.

[congun87]

I have fallen victim to these type of people - hiding text, and using beautifully crafted words to sort of legalize things for themselves. Unfortunately, its only that this guy probably gone too far. I wish more will get it.

[Skydog]

Unfortunately, that's a problem with the seo industry. People wan't quick results with seo, but many times it just dosnt work that way. Its a slower process that can take months, and depending on your competition, even years to be successful. But that's not what people want to hear when they hire an seo. Everyone want's really fast results.

In this case the guy was doing more than just black hat seo, he was much worse. Good thing he got time for it!

[dewalds86]

I doubt if any one will ever go to prison for black hat SEO, however black mail of any form is a felony.

[jeffscott]

This proves that using SEO for selfish deeds will resulted to excessive abuse of power then violation of related laws in the region.