Lucy Kitten

Eros Call Center Raided

25 posts in this topic

https://www.xbiz.com/news/231580/report-eros-guides-call-center-is-raided

http://abc11.com/feds-raid-youngsville-business-for-possible-sex-cyber-crimes/2614696/

I don't really know what this means for Eros? Currently it's still up and running but I am hearing rumors of ads not being reposted and updated as usual and there is no one to answer customer calls in the US.

This sounds similar to what they did to Rent Boy but they were raided and immediately shut down. Can the legal experts chime in? Why Homeland Security? Does a business like Eros help itself by hiring a third party like Bolma Star Services? 

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Thanks for posting, Lucy.

One by one, the dominos seem to be falling.

Time to get your favorites found and you dance card filled out.  Soon, our own personal "little black books" will be all we have left.  

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Considering they raided a third party call center (no Eros employees were there) it's tougher to speculate on what went on.  It makes me think it's something other than a "lets shut down a site that enables prostitution!" bust.

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1 hour ago, FuriousWeasel said:

Considering they raided a third party call center (no Eros employees were there) it's tougher to speculate on what went on.  It makes me think it's something other than a "lets shut down a site that enables prostitution!" bust.

But what does third party mean in this instance? The local ABC article called it a data center. But if they are just hired by Eros are they really the target? I don't see any other reason to bust the call center for Eros if Eros isn't the target. How many clients does Bolma Star Services even have? 

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"Cross border illegal activity"....That says it all in why Homeland Security was involved. Homeland Security, the US version of the KGB or Gestapo, will continue to get stronger and more independently autonomous. It is just more "morality policing". I agree with the post suggesting everyone get their solid list of regulars while you can.

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3 hours ago, Lucy Kitten said:

But what does third party mean in this instance? The local ABC article called it a data center. But if they are just hired by Eros are they really the target? I don't see any other reason to bust the call center for Eros if Eros isn't the target. How many clients does Bolma Star Services even have? 

The call center will have their own data center, with call logs, payroll, all their own records.

The actual data center for Eros is supposedly overseas.  But a whois check of eros.com's IP address points to Redwood City, California.  Since there's no raid in California, it may be other customers of Bolma, or even something very specific, like "We suspect that one of the Bolma operators took a call from someone underage due to other evidence we've found" let's say.  It's really hard to know unfortunately.

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I posted with Eros a few months this last summer. I got NO calls from posting with them.  Interested in knowing if any of providers in Denver use them much? 

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34 minutes ago, FuriousWeasel said:

The call center will have their own data center, with call logs, payroll, all their own records.

The actual data center for Eros is supposedly overseas.  But a whois check of eros.com's IP address points to Redwood City, California.  Since there's no raid in California, it may be other customers of Bolma, or even something very specific, like "We suspect that one of the Bolma operators took a call from someone underage due to other evidence we've found" let's say.  It's really hard to know unfortunately.

Just sort of confused by what it means. They're being very tight lipped about it all. I am pretty sure Bolma is Eros and Eros is Bolma. Xbiz is obviously a industry related kind of site and it was them that said it was Eros' call center

It seems risky for a business like Bolma to work with Eros and not know about it. Does that not make all their employees complicit? If they are just a call center what information could they have that's useful? 

I personally am not concerned because I have never used them but I am of course curious about what happened and want to understand it

 

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3 minutes ago, Kali Sensual Reiki said:

I posted with Eros a few months this last summer. I got NO calls from posting with them.  Interested in knowing if any of providers in Denver use them much? 

They are not popular here at all. The more expensive it is to post with Eros the more popular it is. It was popular in the eastern half of the country. 

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Hazarding a guess, if homeland raided they probably think money to/from terror cell or group or the like. 

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2 hours ago, Lucy Kitten said:

They are not popular here at all. The more expensive it is to post with Eros the more popular it is. It was popular in the eastern half of the country. 

That is what I thought Lucy. I know they have been around. Just when I paid for ads I never got a response. Just people from other states. 

Sorry to hear about their problems. That really sucks!😒

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11 hours ago, Kali Sensual Reiki said:

I posted with Eros a few months this last summer. I got NO calls from posting with them.  Interested in knowing if any of providers in Denver use them much? 

In Denver EROS had a reputation for hosting scam artists (bait&switch, cash&dash, Denver Ladies, etc.).  This business model was quite profitable prior to the advent of Internet review boards like TOB.   I asked several reputable ladies why they advertised there. Their answer was that EROS had a good reputation in other major cities and brought in traveling businessmen. 

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11 hours ago, Quazar said:

Hazarding a guess, if homeland raided they probably think money to/from terror cell or group or the like. 

Not necessarily. DHS covers several organizations, including Customs, FEMA, Coast Guard, to name a few.

Who knows what the warrant is for, but, could be for something as simple as money laundering, wire fraud (credit card transactions and other EFTs fall under this since banks are in different states and the transaction now becomes across state lines [or countries when dealing with adult-friendly payment processors]). Or Mann Act.

Rent Boy fell on these two charges,. And other ASP sites have been hit with similar charges. It's a playbook that works, even at local level: Denver Players/Sugar owner, in addition to tax evasion, also got the wire fraud charges (moving money electronically between banks, taking credit cards) thrown at them (with usual plea it all down, but still getting conviction and shut down).

Edited by NoCoGeezer
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7 minutes ago, NoCoGeezer said:

Not necessarily. DHS covers several organizations, including Customs, FEMA, Coast Guard, to name a few.

Who knows what the warrant is for, but, could be for something as simple as money laundering, wire fraud (credit card transactions and other EFTs fall under this since banks are in different states and the transaction now becomes across state lines [or countries when dealing with adult-friendly payment processors]). Or Mann Act.

...

All the more reason to run this as a CA$H business. 

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2 hours ago, Bit Banger said:

In Denver EROS had a reputation for hosting scam artists (bait&switch, cash&dash, Denver Ladies, etc.).  This business model was quite profitable prior to the advent of Internet review boards like TOB.   I asked several reputable ladies why they advertised there. Their answer was that EROS had a good reputation in other major cities and brought in traveling businessmen. 

I get a lot of traveling guys from the site. 

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15 hours ago, Bit Banger said:

In Denver EROS had a reputation for hosting scam artists (bait&switch, cash&dash, Denver Ladies, etc.).  This business model was quite profitable prior to the advent of Internet review boards like TOB.   I asked several reputable ladies why they advertised there. Their answer was that EROS had a good reputation in other major cities and brought in traveling businessmen. 

One of the advertising ladies hunted me down and called me up to ask me to advertise with them. Same thing with CityVibe. Wanting to give me a few weeks free.. The deal is for me is it was not worth it. Because i never got any calls from either of these sites.

Intresting that you claim they have trouble with a bad reputation in Denver. I thought that was only B.P. with the bad rep?!

 Sorry this is off topic Lucy, forgive me on that. Honestly, I left this world for 5 years and  returned gain, only to find that  nearly everything changed!

My friend last week sent me an old picture of me from back in 2004 and we both laughed about how much everything has changed. Just not the same world. 

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It would not surprise me, if the Feds or ATF are looking for evidence in a crime that is a active investigation. ATF take a main roll in credit card fraud. They did that with the companies selling time share. 

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If you notice, the boards that get paid a lot of money tend to be the ones getting taken down, raided, busted, etc. I think the ones that don't get a lot of money for their site will be pretty low on their list.

If it does have anything to do with trafficking, it is probably wise to start doing some kind of security check with providers signing up so you don't get caught in the crossfires.

xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

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Wouldn't count on just high revenue sites getting shut down. Locally, this guy was only getting up to $2400/month and wound up with 15-mos in federal lockup. Wire fraud and Mann act charges.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/proprieter-sowet-website-indicted-promoting-massage-parlors-offered-sexual-services

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/07/05/denver-massage-parlor-promoter-prison/

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14 minutes ago, SultryKitten said:

If you notice, the boards that get paid a lot of money tend to be the ones getting taken down, raided, busted, etc. I think the ones that don't get a lot of money for their site will be pretty low on their list.

If it does have anything to do with trafficking, it is probably wise to start doing some kind of security check with providers signing up so you don't get caught in the crossfires.

xoxo,

Samantha Sheppard

To be honest I haven't really noticed a rhyme or reason. Some were taken down by local authorities and some federal. Some made a lot of money and some didn't. I don't think SW Companions was really rolling in the dough or Sowet. I think the common denominator is money but the amount is kind of irrelevant. That and the whole bringing people across state lines and international borders thing. 

When the authorities or the media say trafficking they don't really mean trafficking. Eros in recent times had really tightened up the rules, ID was required for advertisers and ads had to be squeaky clean. They were still breaking some laws but they were definitely doing their part to cover their butts and ours by extension by verifying its users. 

To best of my knowledge and all the sites I have seen go down I have yet to see users of the site get wrapped up in it. It's always cause for concern when you've given a site your info but you can't undo what's been done.  I think what all providers need to do right now is take some serious control over their own business, create websites, join every site you feel comfortable with. Take advantage of the resources that are left and take care of your client base. 

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Hi everyone.  I've advertised with Eros since 1997.  I have information from a reliable source.  It's about tracking down  (human trafficking) from other countries Homeland Security will stop them.  If you are of legal age with ads, you have nothing to worry about.  All this sex slavery is what we have to deal with reliable providers. 

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I love Eros and have a lot of trust in their professional approach. Same rules for screening etc can and should be used for any site including here. I think everything will be just fine. :-D

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2 hours ago, Veronicaturbay said:

yup! its all about taxes and human trafficking. 

Heaven forbid the leeches don’t get their money. 

Taxation is theft. Mixed with extortion. No one polices the government though. 

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