Cookie Stuffer Shawn Hogan of Digital Point Faces Federal Investigation For eBay Violations

Shawn Hogan, one of the richest and most successful affiliate marketers on the Internet could be facing prison time if the feds have their way.

Hogan has long been a principle at Digital Point Solutions and it’s forum, a once dependable forum that helped other affiliate marketers get started on the Internet earning commissions, but has long since degenerated into a forum more known for spam, scams, and black hat tactics by members. In fact, postings on that forum that speak against Shawn Hogan are removed and the poster is banned.

The revenue made by Shawn Hogan from his Digital Point Forum makes one wonder if his cookie stuffing of eBay links wasn’t just a matter of pure and simple greed.

The initial court filing claims that DigitalPoint Solutions had developed software that not only stuffed visitors browsers with eBay cookies but that they knew what they were doing was illegal because they coded the software never to stuff the same visitor’s browser more than one time to avoid detection. DPS accomplished their cookie stuffing by using a code generated image that did the dirty work before sending the image headers and displaying the 1×1 pixel image. The use of iFrames which is a traditional method for accomplishing cookie stuffing was avoided as to not arouse suspicion from eBay and Commission Junction, who once ran the eBay affiliate program.

Shawn Hogan’s defense is that he didn’t want to do it, but it was eBay’s fault. He wanted to quit making $1 Million in commissions each month using his cookie stuffing methods, but his personal eBay affiliate manager insisted on him continuing. It seems Shawn just wasn’t able to click the link that would have ended his relationship with eBay and stop his stuffing. Reading what Shawn Hogan has to say, eBay even wanted him to bring down the Google servers when they changed their algo that adversely affected eBay listings from ranking high in Google search returns.

For those wanting to read, in his own words, how Shawn Hogan blames eBay for his current problems, his blog entry can be found HERE.He doesn’t deny the accusations – only that he was somehow forced to continue stealing from others.

Personally, those of us who haven’t used black hat tactics and cookie stuffing to make millions by stealing others commissions don’t have much sympathy for Mr. Hogan. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but continued doing it and his claim that eBay made him do it isn’t going to fly in court.

It’s a good lesson for those of you who are tempted to follow Shawn Hogan’s methods for making money. You might be successful for awhile, but in the long run you will pay a price. Usually, it is being banned from affiliate programs and losing the money you earned during the last payout period. In Mr. Hogan’s case his freedom and all his wealth ever earned may be taken from him overnight.