Metropipe, the internet privacy service, is a scam. I'm not sure if metropipe was ever NOT a scam, as some people (who are now wringing their hands over the idea that metropipe is a snoop) have actually gotten their "custom tunnel" key and used it. But metropipe is definitely a scam now. The only reason there isn't a shitstorm of
negative comments about metropipe is because most people are putting their privacy before justice.in my case, they are sadly mistaken.
Metropipe offers some fairly decent bait, the mailvault e-mail service. It is PGP-encrypted webmail with only one banner, the one for metropipe. The banner takes you to a speil about how privacy is under attack, especially in the US, and thank goodness there are champions of
the Bill of Rights such as the scammers who run metropipe. They prefer payment in e-gold, which is great for anonymous payments, but is irreversible. Because their site seemed fairly professional, e-gold is
what I used.
I immediately received an e-mail confirmation stating that my tunnel was being generated and I would receive a link to where I could download the tunneling software. Since I didn't have a privacy solution at the time by which I could check my e-mail everyday, I checked back
after a couple of weeks. No e-mail pointing me to any link. I e-mailed their support address asking what happened. About a week later I got a reply saying I could download my tunneler at some generic-sounding link like metropipe.net / tunnelers/. That's when my bullshit detector started to go off. But I thought well, maybe they'll just have me put in a code or something. Nope. The page is blank. The source of the page is just a tag for a horizontal line:. Whoop-de-doo, I just paid $90 to stare at a line.
So I emailed again and waited another two weeks for the response telling me to try the non-SSL link metropipe.net / tunnelers/. That too was just a blank page, so I pointed that out and again asked for a working link. No response for 3 weeks. I sent another e-mail
asking for a refund. After another two weeks I got an e-mail claiming to be from a different help-desk guy, apparently oblivious to my request for a refund. I reiterated my request to all help-desk personnel I had been in contact with, stating that (since there is
nothing left to say) I was finished logging onto mailvault and that I'd know their response by the balance of my e-gold account. A couple of weeks later, still no refund. They stole my e-gold outright.
So to recap, the metropipe scam is this:
1. Entice users with free encrypted e-mail service.
2. Put banner for metropipe scam on each web page within said service.
3. Have banner link to fairly professional-looking website that offers an encrypted proxy while playing up notions such as privacy, the bill of rights, and the virtues of paying with e-gold.
4. Wait for sucker to pay you by irrevocable method such as e-gold.
5. Once sucker pays you, expecting the promised link, ignore him until he asks what is going on.
6. Send sucker dead link, making him think there is some problem on his end.
7. Once sucker complains about dead link, say "oops, sorry" and send other dead link.
8. Wait for sucker to try both links several times from different computers and finally give up on this bullshit and ask for a refund.
9. Ignore sucker's request for a refund until he gets pissed enough to alert others to the SCAM that is METROPIPE.
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