Legit download site or scam?

General
1

This seems dodgy. Is it valid or should it be closed down?

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2

Definitely doesn’t look official. Bootstrap Studio has an online repository where you can download the software, but you still need a license key. If someone has put up a cracked version on github, or one with a malware load, that’s a serious issue.

I’m tagging @martin here, and also sending them an email.

3

Thank you for letting us know! This is as dodgy as they come - they aren’t even linking to a cracked version but to some type of malware. We filed a report with github.

3 Likes
4

The page seems to be down already. It smelled pretty whiffy to me.

You could take the scam as a backhanded compliment for BSS.

5

Good job finding that link!

6

Thanks. I was just looking for reviews of BSS to see if everyone else reckons it’s as good as I think it is. That site popped up high in the search results — not good.

I wish there were severe punishment for people who do this sort of thing.

7

I could kinda understand if they were sharing the actual program, but it was a link to MALWARE!

That’s unforgivable.

And to have the audacity to do it on Github! What idiots. Normally, those slimy scammers do this sort of stuff on torrent sites, or darkweb warez sites. Never seen it on Github before.

Re: reviews… I have done the same, and BSS is surprisingly pretty obscure. Very rarely do you see it show up in any mainstream reviews, whether blogs or YouTube. And it’s nowhere to be found in a Google search unless you specifically put “Bootstrap” in the search. Then it shows up on page one.

8

The github hosting is what partially threw me. It would be reasonable for people to assume that stuff posted there is legit. There are other BSS scam sites (eg) but they’re pretty obvious.

10

I removed the links above to not give these sites any more visibility. The problem is unsolvable, unfortunately. We file reports and DMCAs from time to time, but they pop up faster than one can police the web. Ultimately if someone is willing to risk it by downloading a cracked version, they won’t be willing to buy our app any way, so we don’t worry too much about it.

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