Found a Pirate Continuing to Sell Counterfeit Software

[drawgram]

I wanted to inform Adobe and the community of a very elaborate Adobe software counterfeiting I continue seeing on eBay.

While the items being sold may appear to be legit to unknowing buyers, upon further inspection you can see that the software being sold are merely copies. In short, every Adobe item being sold by eBay user sturbridge-lakes is counterfeit.

Here is a current list of active listings by the user:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/sturbridge-lakes/m.html?item=194171348816

This user is selling multiple counterfeit copies of Adobe products, mainly focusing on Adobe Photoshop 6.0, Adobe Photoshop 7.0, Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Photoshop CS5, and Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard.

The first tell-tale sign is the fact that the user does not provide the original packaging for the software. Even though the item listing will sometimes show a product box in the photo, the listing description will say it is for disc and serial number only, such as this current listing for Adobe Photoshop 6.0 at https://www.ebay.com/itm/194220923712

Now the user does have a good amount of positive feedback, which makes me believe that perhaps they bought the eBay account off someone else? Or perhaps not everyone knows what counterfeit software looks like. Or the seller is doing a good job of making his items look legit.

Combing through the users feedback I do see reference to an item being counterfeit, but the seller plays it off as an accident as seen in this screenshot:
https://i.imgur.com/wX45BGs.png

The users seems to sell an endless supply of the Adobe products listed above, all without original packaging.

Curious to find more proof of the seller selling counterfeit items, I emailed the seller to provide a picture of the back of the disc for one of their more popular items, the Adobe Photoshop CS4 as currently seen here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194220346258

I asked the user through eBay messaging to provide a picture of the disc front and back which I will attach here that clearly shows the user is copying these CDs: the back of the disc is a blue/purple tint typical of a burnt CD, not the silver color of a genuine product.

Here is picture of back of disc that sturbridge-lakes is selling:
https://i.imgur.com/HQWBAmE.jpg

Here is front: https://i.imgur.com/ZC2t8Ip.jpg

Here is original message: https://i.imgur.com/cNyYLIP.png

Here is image of recent Adobe sales showing user is selling multiple copies:
https://i.imgur.com/mCZKsHV.png

Now perhaps the seller does not know the items are counterfeit? Doubtful, as the user is actively buying the Adobe software books to go with his copied software which is disc only to make them look more legitimate.

Combing through the users feedback there are multiple examples of buying books on eBay to pair with the counterfeit software. Example: The seller has feedback from modsnap and treasurevalleybooksandthings from the following listings:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/124543526751
https://www.ebay.com/itm/224434677339

Those are listings for a Adobe Photoshop 7.0 book that the seller would then pair with the "Disc Only" software that is currently seen here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194160598138

Here you can see the multiple sales of Adobe Photoshop 7.0 by the seller:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?item=194160598138&_ssn=sturbridge-lakes&_osacat=0&LH_Complete=1&_odk...

Other current fraudulent listings include

Adobe Photoshop CS5
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194212367053

Adobe Acrobat 9 currently seen here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194207800892
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194218915659

Previous sales:
https://i.imgur.com/fDyvhp4.png

It is safe to say that user sturbridge-lakes is selling counterfeit software on eBay. I have tried reporting the user but as of now the listings remain up.

[John T Smith · Accepted solution]

1 - report to ebay... nobody here in a public forum can do anything about fraud

2 - report Fraud or Piracy to Adobe https://adobe.allegiancetech.com/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.dll?idx=AGSBBD

[JJLAPIN · Accepted solution]

https://prodesigntools.com/dont-buy-adobe-software-on-ebay-craigslist-or-amazon-marketplace.html/com...

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

@drawgram,

Sadly, this is nothing new. We've all seen these shenanigans play out for years on FB, eBay, etc...  The grift won't end until people get smarter & stop supporting it.  P.T. Barnum was right.