panicking! HELP! copyright infringement?

someone has hacked into my internet and used my connection to make illegal downloads! it has now been traced back to my IP address, of course... i'm freaking out. every day, there's another one, so far dating back to last month! for every single count, they give me a settlement offer of $200... right now, it's up to $1200! i called the hotline number for the settlement offers and i'm frantically and almost hysterically trying to explain i have no idea what this is or who is doing it. the lady says that someone hacking someone else's internet connection to do this is a common occurrence and they can usually get it straightened out. i'm freaking out... i don't have $1200 and who knows how many more things are going to come up! if i don't pay this by a certain time, they are going to smurfing sue me! idk what to do... god i hope they can help me with this. please, SOMEONE out there tell me they have some kind of personal experience with this! PLEASE someone give me some peace of mind... i'm freaking out!

google the email you are getting there is a lot of info online... don't pay it, they never peruse it. Was it from sony or who?

Are you sure it's not a scam? Not that there aren't consequences for downloading stuff illegally, but I figured the cops would knock at the door or something lol

And OP its not from downloading if it is what I am thinking about. Its from the torrent program seeding it.

I just read a woman's post on facebook of something very very similar, except she said her screen went white and gave her some message from the "fbi" so she called the fbi and it was a scam..and she has to get her computer cleaned out immediately.

Don't pay it if you're not the one that did it. It could very well be a scam. If it goes to court, fight it there, in court. Never hand over money out of fear.

Quoting October2011:" I just read a woman's post on facebook of something very very similar, except she said her screen went ... [snip!] ... some message from the "fbi" so she called the fbi and it was a scam..and she has to get her computer cleaned out immediately."

I have heard of that virus... this is different though. But honestly OP it very rarely gets perused. I would change your network password.

Quoting Derpy Hooves:" Don't pay it if you're not the one that did it. It could very well be a scam. If it goes to court, fight it there, in court. Never hand over money out of fear."

 
they count on scaring you into paying

And OP I have gotten the same notice... nothing ever happened.

i have also gotten a notice from my internet provider saying there is a security breach (sp?) on my account. the company with the settlement offers i've been contacted by (they sent the message to my internet provider and my internet provider e-mailed me and sent me notices in the mail) is CEG TEK international. how in the world can i fight this in court if it DOES get that far? i'm so smurfing scared... i mean i am terrified right now.

Quoting Kimber's Mommy:" i have also gotten a notice from my internet provider saying there is a security breach (sp?) on my account. ... [snip!] ... how in the world can i fight this in court if it DOES get that far? i'm so smurfing scared... i mean i am terrified right now."

The same thing happened to me, ISP and all. The exact same thing. Nothing came from it. I know its scary but it will totally be ok   its just used to scare you into giving them money

Quoting TantricLemons:" The same thing happened to me, ISP and all. The exact same thing. Nothing came from it. I know its scary but it will totally be ok   its just used to scare you into giving them money"

what did you do?

i'm terrified... i need a smurfing hug right now. lmao.

Quoting Kimber's Mommy:" what did you do? i'm terrified... i need a smurfing hug right now. lmao."

nothing lol, oh I downloaded an album from the pirate bay. They are not mad about the dling they are mad about the fact the torrent program used to DL stuff sends it back out so others to be able to DL it. I did a bunch of research and realized that they never come after people further because they loose money doing it. Its pretty rare

Quoting TantricLemons:" nothing lol, oh I downloaded an album from the pirate bay. They are not mad about the dling they are ... [snip!] ... a bunch of research and realized that they never come after people further because they loose money doing it. Its pretty rare"

oh i didn't mean to ask if you had downloaded anything. lol. i meant like did you talk to these people? what did they say to you?  

Quoting Kimber's Mommy:" oh i didn't mean to ask if you had downloaded anything. lol. i meant like did you talk to these people? what did they say to you?  "

I never responded >.< I researched it and decided to ignore it.