BOTS Galore and Justice Served. ArrowOutlet and the FL Attorney General

I am SO thankful for the Florida State Attorney General’s Office, as well as the Washington State Attorney General for all of their interest and work they have done to bring justice to penny auction scammers and provide restitution to bidders who were shamelessly robbed. This is actually the BEST penny auction news I have to report in a very long time.

Were you ripped off by penny auction site ArrowOutlet.com?

Back in early 2012 PHD students from UCSD confirmed what I had already suspected to be true… bots on the penny auction site ArrowOutlet.com.  Penny Auctijustice-servedon ArrowOutlet.com Robots Exposed By UCSD Mathematics PhD  

“We have decided to make this data public and anyone who would like to use this information can. In November and December 2011, the majority of bids at ArrowOutlet.com were placed by robots and the majority of auctions were won by robots. As a result, 95% of all humans who participated at ArrowOutlet.com in November or December 2011 lost money overall. In these 2 months, human net loss totaled over $260,000.00.”

November and December 2011 statistics at ArrowOutlet.com[separate months]
Total Robots Humans Links to data
Users 4,802 3,034 1,768 [How we detected Robots]
Bids Placed 7,694,632 6,007,039 1,687,593 [All Bid Histograms]
Auctions Won 33,978 23,595 10,383 [All Completed Auctions]
Money Lost $262,071.30 [Individual Net Earnings]
[Who are these robots?]

Did you see that? These students allege that human net loss to the penny auction site has totaled over two hundred sixty thousand dollars!!

After two years justice was served  when the Attorney General of Florida, under Pam Bondi settled with ArrowOutlet to obtain $425k in consumer restitution.

“TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Office obtained $425,000 for consumer restitution through a settlement with Arrow Outlet, LLC, a penny auction website, resolving allegations that Arrow used programming code to deceive consumers throughout the country, and eligible consumers have until Aug. 16 to file a claim. ArrowOutlet.com allowed users to purchase and place bids on various consumer goods. The complaint filed in Leon County alleged that Arrow engineered an “auto-bid script” that artificially inflated the number of bids required to win a given auction. Allegedly, the auto-bid script was designed to place bids at certain intervals, thereby prolonging the auction, increasing the number of bids purchased and used, and preventing actual users from winning the items.

“I encourage all Floridians who may be eligible for restitution to submit their claims before the August 16 deadline,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “We will continue our efforts to protect consumers.” 

The settlement agreement prohibits the defendant from, among other things, creating, administering, running, purchasing or in any way using a penny auction website to generate income. The lawsuit was dismissed upon execution of the settlement agreement.

The claims administration instructions and form can be found here:

http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KCAN-9KWSDL/$file/Arrow.pdf “

Scammers who want to try and rip off consumers like ArrowOutlet did, don’t even think about it.

 

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6 comments… add one
  • Cheryl Williams July 15, 2014, 5:10 am

    This story is strange to me, considering I won the most with Arrow Outlet! In 2010, I won computers, $100 gift cards and much more. I bet a lot and won a lot.

    I have since tried and have not been able to find another site where I can win like I did on Arrow. In fact, the popular site Deal Dash has been the worst for me. I have lost far too much with them. And I find their television ads to be misleading, “I only paid $100 for this television”…

    Reply
  • Trina July 20, 2014, 5:07 pm

    Reply
    • Amanda Lee July 24, 2014, 10:06 am

      Trina it says the video is private may we see it?

      Reply
  • Brian A July 29, 2014, 9:05 am

    While I’m thrilled that this sort of issue is finally getting some attention from prosecutors (because it is a serious offense), I’m rather confused about the course of action that was taken against the company. Why bother settling? If there’s more than sufficient evidence to prosecute then shouldn’t the process just go through to its conclusion and allow full justice to be delivered? Sure, the settlement prohibits them from running another auction site and supposedly all the customers will have a chance for restitution. But at its core this was widespread theft and false business practices. I’d think that should at least call for some moderate prison time as well. Otherwise there isn’t any real punishment to deter them from coming up with another scheme that they will work harder to not get caught with.

    Reply
  • William September 23, 2014, 10:21 pm

    Bidserious is next on the prosecutions list.. There is an open investigation into BidSerious and it’s website. The license’s board , which provide’s business license to operate a business , is in the process of starting there own investigation .. In some cases , the business will be required to shut down while investigation is on-going into the business practices of the Business …. When you are risking money at a chance to do something , yes … You spend money to win a chance to spend more money , that is considered gambling .. And if you are competing against a computer , guess who is going to win … Who ever is running this site in Houstan backyard , must not know us Texan . Hiding behind charity , and a cute cartoon character will not change the decision of us texan’s … The same winners are winning at this site … User who are active partisapants in the business , will be held to the same justice that the owners will be held to … It’s accountability accross the board ….

    Reply
    • William September 29, 2014, 7:41 am

      Comment is waiting for moderation ?

      Reply

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