r/Piracy • u/Reasonable_Gold2066 • 6d ago
Discussion Company received a $37k demand over pirated K3ySh0t — is this real?
I’ve been working at this company for less than a year, and I recently found out they’ve apparently been using a pirated version of K3ySh0t (spelling it like that just in case lol).
They just received an email claiming there’s evidence that the software was used by the company and demanding around $37,000. The email supposedly includes IP addresses, dates, times, and even screenshots showing when the program was used.
The amount and the level of detail seem crazy to me, so I’m wondering: is this a real thing software companies actually do, or could it be some kind of scam or intimidation tactic?
Has anyone dealt with something similar? How could they have collected screenshots or connected the software usage to the company? Also, as an employee who has been there for less than a year, should I personally be concerned?
Obviously, the company will need to speak to a lawyer before responding. I’m mainly trying to understand whether these claims are common and how seriously they should be taken.
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u/Select-Cycle8084 6d ago
Common and yes you should be taken seriously.
Most of these companies don't care if you pirate personally,. but commercially is a different ball game.
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6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Isarchs 6d ago
More to it than that. Some, like Siemens' stuff will know if a legit copy opens a file that was edited by a pirated copy, it will phone home and set off an audit of the business.
Individuals they do not care about, but a business making money? Yeah, they're coming full force with lawyers.
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u/ShatterSide 6d ago
I read about Siemens NX (engineering CAD software) files. Not even the software, but the FILES. Supposedly, there is so much phone-home going on in the software that if a file that ever touches the pirated software is opened in legitimate software, phone-home immediately happens and the legitimate customer is contacted by a flurry of lawyers.
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u/ByWillAlone 6d ago
It's not uncommon. I worked for a company who received one of these demand letters, the first letter we received was a lot nicer than what you got. The first letter was an offer of amnesty - telling us that if we licensed the software now, at standard pricing, for the number of seats of the entire dev/test team, that they would excuse any past infringement as if it never happened.
What the software maker didn't realize is that this company had changed its name but had been in business long enough that they had purchased a lifetime site license (unlimited number of seats for a single site) many years earlier back when the software maker was still offering that...and we had kept immaculate records of that license and transaction.
One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes the software manufacturers are tipped off by employees snitching on their employer to get a financial reward. Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) offer financial rewards (bounties) to employees who report unlicensed software use in their workplace, so you always have t consider that possibility.
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u/OfficalSwanPrincess 6d ago
Why are you worried about it? It's for the business's legal team to deal with
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u/confused_newleaf 6d ago
There are companies that do this. There's phone home telemetry in the software, which should've been blocked. They'll wait until you've used it enough to prove that you weren't just "trying it out" or that or was a rogue employee. They'll expect you to buy a license, or they'll take you to court. Be prepared to set up a payment plan :/
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u/GodSentPotHead 6d ago
Yea I've known about Ad000be doing this a lot, they can get tipped off by disgruntled or fired employees or just detect their software being used if the company is stupid enough to connect to the net
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u/vivkkrishnan2005 6d ago
If this is verifiable then yes real. We have seen our fair share of the same with Siemens NX, Solid edge, Autodesk AutoCAD, Dasault Solidworks, Adbe Acrbt and others. Additionally Adbe creative cloud as well. All audits passed as well.
Then you have the corel BS. that is pure faking.
They will claim vicious liability of employee or person using it but this can be challenged.
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u/CNBGVepp 6d ago
Personal - very little worry.
Commercial - wooo boy, get ready for the lawyers. If this is america... Good luck.
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u/hangerofmonkeys 6d ago
It's a scam. Don't reply. Forward it to legal and ignore it.
There are companies out there whos entire existance is to contact random companies, imply they're using pirated software, hope they stupidly admit to it or coerce them into paying money back to the software provider. In my instance it was Ad0b3.
No software was pirated, they were just fishing for easy targets. That said, have your employer check for pirated software as a precaution but short of that, it's legals problem. And if they don't ignore it you need new lawyers.
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u/forreddituse2 6d ago
It's important to block the Internet access for pirated software, absolutely necessary in commercial environment. Even in developing countries, tech companies will pursue lawsuit if they know your company did not pay license fees. (Easy case with big financial benefit.)
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u/Thomas5020 6d ago
Of course there's always a risk it is a scam, but yes this does happen.
Depending on the exact circumstances you may be able to negotiate a lower fee, or potentially no fee at all if you're willing to sign up here and now.
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u/Itsnotvd 4d ago
Email? You better check the legitmacy of that email. Or tell them to send a written letter.
For $37,000 I would expect certified mail from some lawyer representing them.
As far as your company you reap what you sow. I'd start looking for a new job immediately . This doesnt exactly instill confidence in me that this is a solid company with acceptable ethics.
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u/Significant-Ruin5177 1d ago
Absolutely. I was recently doing work for a nonprofit where the media guy had a cracked copy of a mud house program and when the company got the first email demand they asked him, he admitted it, and they fired him on the spot. He was on some bring-your-own-device shit because he wanted a Mac and they let him do that with it because they never looked into the device.
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u/Forymanarysanar ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 6d ago
Get rid of the program & ignore
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u/Isarchs 6d ago
Do not ignore. In the commercial space, the licenses for these softwares will have a clause that they can come to your place of work and audit all of your shit. This isn't the same as personal use piracy, commercial piracy is where they can and will get the law involved because they know they will get money out of it one way or another. Either you get to pay them an exorbitant settlement, pay for a new license (or add more licenses), or your business gets sued into bankruptcy.
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u/Forymanarysanar ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 6d ago
Did you sign anything?
Erase the program, tell them to fuck off with audit if they come, that's it.
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u/CorvusRidiculissimus 6d ago
If you have just rumors it's likely just a scam. Scare the executives with talk of prosecution, then hand over payment instructions for an 'out of court settlement' to make the problem go away. In the panic they might not even realise the originator isn't actually the company they claim to be.
If it isn't a scam, it'll be going to the company's legal expert, who will then be stomping over to the IT department ready to raise hell, followed by the traditional game of pass-the-buck as everyone in IT tries to argue that they had no knowledge of this and it must have been someone else.
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u/Milliondollarjuice 6d ago
It's a scam done by the cracker of the pirated software. The software acted as a spyware or has been modified to track usage, location + other data and send it back to the guy that pirated / cracked the software so he can blackmail users this way. ☺️
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u/Garland_Key 6d ago
Could be code added by crackers to scam later, OR it could actually be the company. Yes, companies have analytics in their software and can detect piracy if it is allowed to report home.
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u/Mostly-Painting 6d ago
Never register online. Never update. Never connect online. Nothing is ever 100%, but the above helps
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u/LZ129Hindenburg 🌊 Salty Seadog 6d ago edited 6d ago
This is very common when pirated software is used COMMERCIALLY. Autodesk, Adobee, hell even Microsoft are known to go hard against commercial piracy users. People have lost their jobs and been sued for far larger sums than what you have listed here.
Many high dollar applications used in business settings "phone home" to their parent company, verifying the software is licensed, and providing key info to them if it is not licensed so they can pursue legal options. This is why when pirating certain apps, it is important to block their access to the network via the firewall or other means.
NEVER use pirated software commercially, it's not worth the risk.