Internet Hitman-Eyeglasses seller 'threatened customers with rape and murder
An online eyeglasses seller threatened customers with rape and murder so his business name would appear more often on search engines, a court heard.
Vitaly Borker, 34, operated DecorMyEyes.com from his home in Brooklyn, New York, and terrified customers when they complained about products bought from him.
He emailed one client with an image of their home, told another’s workplace their staff member was a gay drug dealer and sent warnings such as ‘I know where you live’.
In court: Vitaly Borker, 34, who operated DecorMyEyes.com in
New York, terrified customers when they complained about products bought from him
Borker said dozens of complaints by frightened customers helped elevate his website’s position on Google searches, reported the New York Times.
This prompted Google to look at the issue and change its search algorithm so no company could positively use negative feedback.
‘We can say with reasonable confidence that being bad to customers is bad for business on Google,’ a spokesman said at the time.
Borker, who was arrested last December by postal inspectors, used aliases to threaten death or sexual assault on customers.
‘I was answering personally about 100 e-mails a day and lost control of what I was saying at times,’ he told Judge Richard J. Sullivan in Manhattan Federal District Court.
‘I want to apologise to everyone I hurt in connection with my actions, especially those people I threatened,’ claiming business pressures explained his actions.
Website: Borker told Manhattan Federal District Court dozens of complaints by frightened customers helped elevate his site's position on Google searches
‘I never had an intention to harm anyone and I never did anything to carry out these threats.
'I wrote these emails to scare these customers away. At the time I did this I did not realise how bad it was.’
‘I never had an intention to harm anyone and I never did anything to carry out these threats. I wrote these emails to scare these customers away. At the time I did this I did not realise how bad it was'
Vitaly Borker, DecorMyEyes.com
Borker pleaded guilty on Thursday to two counts of sending threatening communications, one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud.
‘Vitaly Borker was a cyberbully who subjected his victims to abusive, profanity-laced tirades, and threats of physical violence,’ Preet Bharara, prosecuting, said.
‘He used fraud and intimidation as a business model, selling customers inferior goods and then repeatedly harassing them when they complained.’
The judge described his threats at an earlier hearing as ‘chilling’.
Borker pleaded guilty to the mail and wire fraud counts after being accused of selling counterfeit merchandise - such as knock-offs of eyewear brands.
He is facing more than six years in jail and sentencing is set for September. But Dominic Amorosa, defending, said he expected a top sentence of 18 months.
Borker sold 100,000 pairs of eyeglasses between 2006 and 2010, the court heard.
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