Home | Community | Message Board

Magic Mushrooms Zamnesia
This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.


Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: Bridgetown Botanicals Bridgetown Botanicals   Original Sensible Seeds Autoflowering Cannabis Seeds   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   North Spore Cultivation Supplies   PhytoExtractum Kratom Powder for Sale   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order

Jump to first unread post Pages: < Back | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Next >  [ show all ]
Offlinesimtap
Stranger
Registered: 12/27/05
Posts: 52
Last seen: 16 years, 9 months
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: _SE]
    #5290330 - 02/11/06 10:48 PM (17 years, 11 months ago)

wouldn't stress it, even if they did pull names and ip's off his comp. its not like they are going to send out search warrants for literaly thousands of people.


Wouldn't they just pick the people who ordered the most seeds or posted the biggest grow logs?


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineDave_the_stoner
Stoner
Male User Gallery

Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 159
Loc: North
Last seen: 7 years, 1 month
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: simtap]
    #5292278 - 02/12/06 06:26 PM (17 years, 11 months ago)

It's not fiar damn it!! it's just not fair!!!


--------------------
"He who makes a beast of himself, get's rid of the pain of being a man."-Dr. Johnson


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflinePr0_X
CultivationLifer
Male User Gallery

Registered: 01/18/06
Posts: 617
Loc: Igloo's and polar bears
Last seen: 16 years, 1 day
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Dave_the_stoner]
    #5293897 - 02/13/06 06:52 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

This is a damn shame!

I will love everything on god's green earth end of story, Im aware of stores that sell equipment/clones/seeds to the general public but nothing happens to them but the RCMP will go pick on websites?

They are trying to silence the freedom of information, shame on them.


--------------------
It's okay to hurt my feelings
cause you know, they're so numb anyway.
but I guess it's what I get
for being to fuckin stupid to stay away - Jake

- Support the FSR at www.fsrcanada.com and www.fsre.nl


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleKoala Koolio
TTAGGGTTAGGGTTAGGGTTAGGG

Registered: 01/07/04
Posts: 7,752
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Pr0_X]
    #5294114 - 02/13/06 09:21 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)



--------------------
You're not like the others. You like the same things I do. Wax paper, boiled football leather... dog breath. We're not hitch-hiking anymore, we're riding!


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisibleabrad84
Stranger
Male

Registered: 10/15/05
Posts: 1,128
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Koala Koolio]
    #5294146 - 02/13/06 09:38 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

^^Oh dear


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineAnnoA
Experimenter
 User Gallery

Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 06/17/99
Posts: 24,166
Loc: my room
Last seen: 20 days, 18 hours
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Koala Koolio]
    #5294173 - 02/13/06 09:51 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

http://www.thc-ministry.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=41101#41101

Posted from Mongoose @ >>>>>>>>>

RC is working with the Authorities. OG and CW IP's were logged.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:
About 48 hours ago I broke my 26 month long self-imposed exile from the internet to post the results of my converstations with RC. Nobody else seemed to the the will or ability to track down and talk to him, and my concerns for the industry and the people I love who participate in it out weighed the enjoyment of my recent relative obscurity. I was sure any calls were going to be monitored, but hey - it's not like my name has never been associated with cannabis seeds, eh. So I called RC. Twice.

The first call was to get his story of what happened to him, and the servers for Overgrow and Cannabis World, and to offer support, financial and otherwise. I had been in contact with a few friends and business acquaintances, and had passed the virtual hat around - to the tune of well over US$50,000 pledged to assist RC, with no strings attached. RC said he would have to talk to his lawyers first for instructions on handling such a large donation. OK, fine. RC has all my contact numbers (always had, btw) and I expected a call the next day with instructions from his lawyers.

After my first call to him, I noted that Marc Emery from Cannabis Culture had a front page story saying RC had split the country, etcetera. Fuck. So, after some introspection, I decided to take the plunge - I was returning to my long lost home, the internet. RC had told me he would be releasing a statement, drawn up with the assistance of his lawyers, within 24 hours. Now, I had taken RC at his word as to what had happened, and I thought his clients, suppliers and members of his sites should have at least an idea of what happened, so I called him back, and said so. He agreed I could post what I put in my first post on the internet in 26 months.

Some things RC said to me didn't sit well with me. I did wake the guy up, but still... my instincts were making my hackles rise. As time passed, I kept thinking - who the fuck doesn't leap on a US$50,000 gift? My instincts said I wouldn't hear from his lawyers about it. I was correct.

Now, I have known RC's real name - and much more information about him, from back in the day when I made a deal with ~Shabang~ to buy out his 1/2 of Overgrow. I started doing the phone call thing to newspapers, the Quebec Provincial Police, RCMP public affairs office, blah, blah, blah. No record of an arrest. No record of bail or release. No records for RC, period. I had a couple of phone calls with ~Shabang~ as well, as he is one of the few people in the world I felt comfortable brain-storming with some of the information I was working with. I trust ~S with my life.

I called everyone I knew - and I know a fuckload of folks - to try and pry out some facts. I got a ton of calls, PM's and emails, and the picture they were painting wasn't jiving with some 'facts' that RC gave me. In fact, the fucker lied to me - to you - to the industry.

Just after midnight last night, I got a call from Marc Emery. Some of you may have heard of him. If you want to Marc bash, stay the fuck outta this thread. I've been in this industry for quite some time, and I don't believe in tearing down anyone who has the guts and determination for a cause that he does. If you don't like doing business with him, then don't. I have managed to negotiate this industry for years without hurting and name calling of people who are, in my eyes, on the same side. (Just ask Dr. Chronic - shortly after his site launched on OG - and when Gypsy was, as usual acting like an asshole and treating the Doc like shit on the boards, his site went down - hardware failure. That day was the first time I talked to the Doc - I called him and offered to host his site until his hardware was repaired. He declined, but that was the basis of a solid business relationship with him, one of my competitors. I have since met the Doc, and he is one of those truly rare finds - an honest to goodness decent and nice man. I would like to think I can call Dr. Chronic my friend, and I won't put up with any Doc bashing here either End of rant)

Emery and I chatted for over 1/2 an hour. At the outset, I was clear that I couldn't give him any information, but we could discuss what we both had knowledge of. I can tell you now that Emery had RC's real name for quite some time, and had been checking high and low, much like I had been, and had found no trace. Emery gave me a who's who list of people who know RC - in some cases for decades - and who RC had shunned any form of contact with since this all started. He quite graciously offered me all they had found out, and didn't pressure me for information in return. His concern for anyone affected by the fallout from this is genuine. The industry is in an uproar, and I hadn't seen anyone else with people working the phones trying to unearth the truth. By approximately 12:53 AM (GMT) Mr. Marc Scott Emery had earned my respect. We ended our chat, but now I still had more questions.

Rumours, speculation and innuendo filled the forums everywhere, and my instincts were screaming by now. Several details RC had given me were blatantly false, but not a smoking gun. Not yet.

And then, this morning at 10:30 AM (GMT) my phone rang. It was an old acquaintance of mine - and he had brought me a smoking gun. He had done business with RC, and RC paid him by check. The check was made out to a business that has nothing to do with cannabis or cannabis seeds. It was the only time that business had ever negotiated a payment from anyone in the industry. And he had just been raided, with the warrant looking for cannabis, cannabis seeds, and financial records. Fortunately, the raid was, well - a bust. Nothing was found, cops were red-faced, and my friend was fine. And pissed off. There is only one person who could have pointed the police to his business. Mr. Richard Baghdadlian, known to you as RC.

I don't doubt that RC was raided, and I don't doubt that his home and business were searched. In fact, I have confirmation they were. He was not arrested. He was at home when I called him, and has since shut off all contact with anyone. I called his lawyers (that little deal a few years ago with ~S, me, RC and OG had left me with all kinda interesting contacts) and they informed me they were not able to contact RC.

So, I'm gonna say it - and lemme tell you, this ain't easy, but now it's time to face some hard facts.

Richard Baghdadlian is co-operating with the authorities to save his own ass, at the expense of breeders, clients, and tens of thousands of members on his sites.

Anyone who had any financial transactions with RC in any way is at risk.

Anyone who posted on OG or CW is at risk. Those forums are gone, and will never be back - the security of every member has been comprimised.

I don't believe IP's were not logged on OG and CW. ~Shabang~ and I discussed this, and how ~S had originally set up the null logs, and db records. Since then, however, RC had instituted many 'anti-troll' features on the boards. Lemme 'splain...

Ask any troll here - if they posted from, say Proxy A one day, and then 3 days later from Proxy B, using the same handle, and admin got tired of them. So, they IP ban Proxy B, while the troll is still signed in. That's how RC would like you to believe it was done. However, if they then tried using a different handle, and Proxy A - well, damned if that one wasn't blocked as well. I can guarantee you that RC had gone back to some default settings to log IP's for everyone, all the time. There is no doubt.

RC is a rat.

OG and CW logged IP's.

The servers weren't seized - they didn't need to seize them - RC has given them complete access to the database records.

People are getting busted based on contact with RC.

I have given oldpink the heads-up a couple of hours ago that I was going to write this up and post it here. Kindly don't tear him up - he is working hard with little information, and is doing the best he can.

As many OG and CW refugees are also hanging at www.hg420.com, I've just got off the phone with Doc Chronic as well, so word of this will get out. (That's important, as that snivelling cunt-rag Gypsy likes to delete any quotes from me over at ICMag. Fuck off Gypsy, and stay outta my thread.)

If I have more information to offer later, I'll post it up in this thread.

If you have some information to give me, email is plural_of_encrypted@hushmail.com, or give me a call - from a safe phone, of course, at 07766 871 905 in the UK, 0044 7766 871 905 in Europe, and from N. America use 01144 7766 871 905.

Take care everyone, I hope you're all safe.

Love,

Plural of Mongoose

PS - if yer gonna quote this post over at other sites, kindly quote the entire post, thank you very much. Mongoose

PPS - Fuck you Richard Baghdadlian - FUCK YOU... Fuck you... fuck you...


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinelonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.
 User Gallery

Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 8,978
Loc: South Texas
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Anno]
    #5295064 - 02/13/06 02:30 PM (17 years, 11 months ago)

That was a sad story.

I hope it settles down soon. I love BC Bud compared to the Mexican Shwag down here in South Texas.


--------------------
America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure"

We have "reckless fiscal policies"

America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.

Americans deserve better

Barack Obama


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OnlinegeokillsA
∙∙∙∙☼ º¿° ☼∙∙∙∙
Male User Gallery

Registered: 05/08/01
Posts: 23,418
Loc: city of angels Flag
Last seen: 5 minutes, 10 seconds
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Anno]
    #5295976 - 02/13/06 05:37 PM (17 years, 11 months ago)

Quite terrible.. wild stories flyin' around -- I can only wonder which ones hold more truth in them :confused:
I went ahead and edited the header post in this thread to reflect the new information.


--------------------

--------------------
··∙   long live the shroomery  ∙··
...π╥ ╥π...


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineTheLightIsOn
In the worst ofall your fears

Registered: 08/10/05
Posts: 358
Last seen: 12 years, 2 months
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: geokills]
    #5297865 - 02/14/06 01:43 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

guess it's time to start printing out all the useful information off here...


--------------------
AFOAF's current multi-grow log

"In the privince of the mind, what is believed to be true is true or becomes true, within limits to be found experientially and experimentally.  These limits are further beliefs to be transcended.  In the province of the mind, there are no limits." -John C. Lilly


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlineelaspeinreason
psychonaut
Male

Registered: 07/31/05
Posts: 1,029
Loc: fairfax virginia
Last seen: 11 years, 1 month
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: TheLightIsOn]
    #5301354 - 02/14/06 11:01 PM (17 years, 11 months ago)

i loved OG , it will be missed.


--------------------
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one

Diploid said:
What's with proclaiming freedom by abridging freedom? That makes no sense.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineDave_the_stoner
Stoner
Male User Gallery

Registered: 11/10/05
Posts: 159
Loc: North
Last seen: 7 years, 1 month
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: elaspeinreason]
    #5302048 - 02/15/06 02:56 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

good thing i stoped growin' and smoked all my pot before all this happened.


--------------------
"He who makes a beast of himself, get's rid of the pain of being a man."-Dr. Johnson


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisibleabrad84
Stranger
Male

Registered: 10/15/05
Posts: 1,128
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Dave_the_stoner]
    #5302089 - 02/15/06 04:06 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

Have a look at icmag and planetganja, there is a very nasty little flame war developing.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinetactik
Too stoned forthis.
Male User Gallery
Registered: 10/19/05
Posts: 437
Last seen: 14 years, 2 months
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Koala Koolio]
    #5306250 - 02/16/06 10:29 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

Quote:

elgr said:
http://www.thc-ministry.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=41101#41101




Oh.. fucking.. wow..

Good thing i never got my grow set up.. HOLY SHIT, thats some scary stuff.

Not only the grows, but all the people there who openly discussed dealing decent sized quantities of pot..

Once again, thankfully I dont sell anymore, but now i'm very concerned for a few friends i've made on OG. Better make sure they've seen this. Thank you x 10000 elgr


--------------------
Terrapin!


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineMicrocosmatrix
Spiral staircasetechnician
Male

Registered: 10/20/05
Posts: 11,293
Loc: Ythan's house
Last seen: 17 years, 1 month
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic *DELETED* [Re: tactik]
    #5307717 - 02/16/06 04:38 PM (17 years, 11 months ago)

Post deleted by Microcosmatrix

Reason for deletion: Already posted



--------------------
:orly:



Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineMrMolotov
Ganja Patrol
Male

Registered: 06/12/05
Posts: 640
Loc: SoCal
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Microcosmatrix]
    #5312451 - 02/18/06 12:23 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

Fuck.... thats all i say

good thing i didnt have any pics of things growing besides i dont have anything growing now anyways.

their not gonna try to hunt down users simply cus they have some weed are they?


--------------------


OI OI OI


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinehawksapprentice
Yearns to Snowboard
 User Gallery

Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 3,195
Loc: Oregon
Last seen: 8 months, 6 days
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: MrMolotov]
    #5312722 - 02/18/06 04:23 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

No way, they cant go after every single user who has ever posted on there. It's not feasible, they dont have the money or the man power for something that size. They would focus on Mods and the really big names.


--------------------
"I celebrate the Earth, my home, my mother, my grave, and as long as men are Man they must, if they would preserve the integrated being, do the same---[and preserve]--this rank casual hungry smelly sweaty lusting transitory body, my oozy pulpy liquid-bag-swollen body, bones, blood, hair glands, my bejeweled sex; I love and celebrate it all.  never to let men forget that they are animals as much as gods---that is one thing I shall say."

  Edward Abbey


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineMrMolotov
Ganja Patrol
Male

Registered: 06/12/05
Posts: 640
Loc: SoCal
Last seen: 14 years, 1 month
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: hawksapprentice]
    #5313160 - 02/18/06 11:45 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

i kinda thought they wouldnt go after joe and schmoe users
but that sucks forsome of the big growers onthere!


--------------------


OI OI OI


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleSourceLimit
Above TheirInfluence
Registered: 12/23/04
Posts: 596
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: tactik]
    #5313802 - 02/18/06 04:03 PM (17 years, 11 months ago)

Richard Baghdadlian is RC I gather from that post


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineHrethic
A Human, Being

Registered: 01/05/04
Posts: 2,397
Loc: Passing through the bulk Flag
Last seen: 2 years, 9 months
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: SourceLimit]
    #5322053 - 02/20/06 10:04 PM (17 years, 11 months ago)

So wow.... what the FUCK is going on? So many stories, no one knows the TRUTH.

So he's working with the authorities now? Or he just fled?

The servers weren't confiscated? Or they were?


I need a giant 8 ball with all the answers, that's never wrong. Cause i'm getting real sick of all this bullshit hearsay about one of the best sites on the net. Gotta smoke now.... smoke HEAVY.


--------------------
Will all the big boomers please unveil, please unveil, please unveil.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Invisibleabrad84
Stranger
Male

Registered: 10/15/05
Posts: 1,128
Re: Overgrow.com, Cannabisworld.com, Heaven's Stairway Seed Co, & Eurohemp.com Shut Down by CA Polic [Re: Hrethic]
    #5323007 - 02/21/06 05:46 AM (17 years, 11 months ago)

http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060217/LIFESTYLE/60216045

Potheads show you?re not anonymous online
By Leif M. Wright
Phoenix Staff Writer

GreenThum43215: Hey, are you the Phoenix guy?
LeifMWright: Yes. Who?s this?
GreenThum43215: You interested in an internet story?
LeifMWright: I?m all ears.
GreenThum43215: Have you ever heard of overgrow.com?

That Internet chat began the weirdest column I?ve ever undertaken, one full of international intrigue, secret marijuana gardens, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, a shady character with an Armenian name, a former movie actor turned marijuana seed dealer and tens of thousands of freaked-out potheads who started what I call the Marijuana Bean Field Wars.

Overgrow.com was the world?s largest marijuana cultivation Web site, and possibly the largest single marketplace of illegal ideas in the history of the world. The site taught growers the ins and outs of the plant and how to increase their yields and ostensibly increase the THC content. THC is the chemical believed to cause the ?high? of marijuana.

At its peak before Jan. 31, Overgrow.com had more than 100,000 active members ? a massive amount for all but the largest web sites, and certainly for one that exchanged information that is illegal in most places.

Jan. 31, the site disappeared. Poof. Up in smoke, you might say.
It had warned users a couple of days earlier that it would be undergoing server upgrades, so expect some outages. So no one panicked.

A day later, the site was still gone. Potheads, who are notoriously paranoid already, began to wig out.

What if the site had been busted? Would members be subject to prosecution based on the information they had shared on the site? Had authorities been watching the whole time, building up information so they could attack?
The war begins

ADVERTISEMENT

GreenThum43215: A lot of people around here are freaking out.

Probably an understatement.

I started searching the Internet for information about Overgrow.com. I found a slew of forums and dozens of sites repeating the same news: Overgrow.com and its parent site, Heaven?s Stairway, had been shut down, their Canadian owner arrested, his house raided and his family jailed.

Heaven?s Stairway was a seed distribution company. Marijuana growers call the seeds ?beans.? Heaven?s Stairway, according to Canadian pot activist Marc Emery, had to be the largest seed merchant in North America, selling cannabis seeds all across Canada and the United States, and probably to other countries, too.

The stories on the Internet didn?t answer some key questions. Were the Web sites shut down by Canadian authorities, or were they, as Emery?s own bust nine months earlier, done in cooperation with the DEA?

Who was the mysterious owner of the sites, and what happened to him? Was he in jail? Was he out? Was he even alive?

What happened to the records of his seed business and the logs on his site that could possibly lead police to those who frequented the site?

Internet forums were atwitter with the details ? or lack of them.

It seems the sites were owned by a Richard Calrisian in Montreal.
But later, it seemed ?Calrisian? had been an alias. His real name was Richard Baghdadlian. And later, it seemed ?Richard? was an alias, too. His real name, they asserted, was Hratch Baghdadlian.

No one seemed to be able to find any official records of his arrest, or even of an investigation.

That, the growers seemed unified in believing, was even more ominous. If the cops had busted Baghdadlian but hadn?t arrested him, it could be that they were still investigating ? or worse, Baghdadlian was cooperating with them, singing like a canary, selling out seed customers, seed merchants and growers all over the continent.

I called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters in Ottawa.

?We don?t confirm or deny if there is an ongoing investigation,? said Sgt. Nathalie Dechenes, spokesman for the RCMP. ?So we wouldn?t tell you either way. I don?t know if we even have authority to shut down Web sites.?

So I called Emery, who was busted nine months ago and is facing extradition to the United States on charges of selling marijuana seeds in the U.S.

?I?m facing 31 years in a maximum security federal prison,? Emery said. ?It seems to me if Baghdadlian was facing the same thing, he might have started cooperating if they offered to drop the investigation in the U.S. and keep him in Canada.?

Emery had run a seed company in competition with Heaven?s Stairway. When he was busted, his computers were seized (?Nothing was on them,? he said), and his clients in the United States started receiving blue sheets of paper asking them to confirm orders they had placed with his company.

?It was essentially an effort to try to get them to incriminate themselves,? he said. ?But most were smart enough to hit my Web site and find out it was the DEA and not us sending those notices out.?

Meanwhile, several cannabis-related sites were breaking out into full civil war over the Overgrow debacle.

On one side was a fomer movie actor who had had a bit part in a Jean-Claude VanDamme flick and now was calling himself ?Gypsy Nirvana.? He claimed to have spoken with ?RC,? which was a pseudonym for Baghdadlian (growers seem to be big on initials and acronyms).

RC, Nirvana assured everyone, had been arrested, but he was out on bail and he had shut down the servers when he learned of the impending raid ? everyone?s information was safe.

Dissenters began to surface, however, saying Nirvana had a profit motive in mind; he wanted Heaven?s Stairway?s seed business.

On the other side was someone calling himself ?Plural of Mongoose,? who apparently commanded great respect in the growing community. He also claimed to have spoken with RC, who had told him several lies, some of which, combined with a friend being busted, led him to believe RC was cooperating with the authorities.

Caught in the middle was Emery, whose own case had generated a lot of publicity, and who is loved by about half the growing community and violently hated by the other half. Emery?s initial statement on the matter had been that Baghdadlian, tired of the seed business, had decided it was time to bail, so he shut up shop and took off to greener pastures, no pun intended.

The battle raged on in Internet boards with Nirvana accusing Emery of being a jerk for revealing Baghdadlian?s name and phone number on his own site.

Others said Baghdadlian was the jerk for leaving his business partners high and dry, wondering if they could be busted at any time based on information from his servers.
No bust, no investigation, mom says

I called a number given on one site for Baghdadlian. A woman answered and gave her name as ?Mrs. Baghdadlian.?

She confirmed that Hratch is her son and that he was the proprietor of Heaven?s Stairway and Overgrow.com.

?Nothing has happened, there is nothing right now,? she said in an Armenian accent. ?He has not been arrested. There is no investigation.?

I asked her if Baghdadlian had shut the servers down himself. She started stuttering.

?Um,? she said. ?I don?t think I can say anything more than this.?

I asked if she knew where I could reach him to talk to him. She said she did not.

?Wow,? Emery said when I told him about the conversation. ?That sure lends credence to the idea that he took the money and ran.?

It?s possible that Baghdadlian had noticed an increased amount of government servers hitting his sites, saw the writing on the wall and bailed. Emery agreed it was possible.

?Before I was raided, about six weeks before, there was a huge Department of Justice focus on our Web site,? he said. ?Our server logs revealed their IP addresses and we were able to do a whois on them and find out where the hits were coming from.?

Taking the money and running would explain Baghdadlian?s silence ? and the silence of law enforcement, which had thrown a big media party when they busted Emery, patting themselves very publicly on the back for such a large takedown.
What does it mean to you?

The bottom line is those who were doing business with Baghdadlian and Emery were breaking the law if they were doing it in the United States ? they took a tremendous risk to break the law, and they are likely wise to be worried.

Doing that business over the Internet may have given people a false sense of security, since the Internet allows people to feel ?anonymous.?

In the marijuana growing community, the disappearance of Overgrow has made them rudely aware that Internet anonymity is an illusion.

For law enforcement, if there was no bust, they may still benefit from Baghdadlian?s disappearance. Growers all over the Internet were proclaiming that they were done ? they were shutting their operations down for fear ?LEO? would come get them based on information obtained from Baghdadlian?s debacle.

The net gain for law enforcement is a new paranoia in the cannabis-growing world ? and fewer people growing, which means shorter supply and less headache for ?LEO.?

The average, law-abiding citizen can take a good message away from the mess, too, though. The message:

?You?re never anonymous,? Emery said. ?It?s impossible. Governments are investing huge amounts of money to monitor what?s going on on the Internet. If they?re interested in knowing something, they?ll get it.?

Protecting yourself over the Internet ? even in legitimate business ? should take top priority. You may never have thought about breaking a law yourself, but your information is scattered all over the Internet, and those with less scruples than you can easily gain access to it and use it to defraud you.

Be careful. The Internet is still a rough new frontier, much like Oklahoma was in the Land Run years. You may not be facing droughts and maurading bandits, but you face less-than-honest people who will take your information and use it to hurt you.

?Never do business with anyone who won?t give you a real name,? Emery said.

More importantly, never do online business with a company you haven?t thoroughly seen to be trustworthy. Even big companies suffer from ?phishing,? where people will pretend to be the big companies and request personal information from you, which is later used to defraud you.

For those doing illegal business over the Internet, my advice is this: Just don?t.

You can reach Leif M. Wright at 684-2906 or lmwright@muskogeephoenix.com. If you?re ?LEO,? you already know that.


Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: < Back | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Next >  [ show all ]

Shop: Bridgetown Botanicals Bridgetown Botanicals   Original Sensible Seeds Autoflowering Cannabis Seeds   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom   North Spore Cultivation Supplies   PhytoExtractum Kratom Powder for Sale   Unfolding Nature Unfolding Nature: Being in the Implicate Order


Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* Lack of mod enforcement of "absolutely no racism"
( 1 2 3 all )
Shins 2,761 53 10/04/12 12:41 PM
by TripKa0s
* Now that we're strictly enforcing the rule about 'The Psychedelic Experience'...
( 1 2 3 all )
s240779 3,614 45 05/20/14 03:32 AM
by Rose
* enforcing pub rules HeadTripVertigo 784 3 08/29/08 04:24 AM
by Dr. uarewotueat
* I think certain rules and regulations in OTD need to be applied and enforced.
( 1 2 3 all )
mushroomhunter10 2,870 57 09/14/09 01:23 PM
by mushroomhunter10
* One-sided enforcement of the new ratings policy
( 1 2 all )
Apostle 2,535 38 05/16/10 01:26 PM
by luvdemshrooms
* Law Enforcement Against Prohibition MikeOLogical 743 6 09/24/05 05:44 PM
by Asante
* Re: we realy need to enforce!!! Anonymous 662 3 03/05/99 11:07 PM
by Aphex
* The New Crobih Spellcheck Enforcement Policy World Spirit 1,294 3 11/08/01 01:48 PM
by World Spirit

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Ythan, Thor, Seuss, geokills
48,695 topic views. 0 members, 2 guests and 1 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2024 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.04 seconds spending 0.009 seconds on 15 queries.