Internet hoaxes, trade offers and the first "Headline of the Day"

On Monday I got to do some reporter-style digging, and it reminded me why I got into this whole journalism thing so many years ago.

The idiots who run pokerbandits.ca announced that the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the Canadian government had taken down their site on Sunday.

The site claimed they were shut down because of a message board post that detailed how American Internet gamblers could get around obstacles that several sites have set up to block U.S. players by obtaining a Canadian postal address and masking their I.P. address.

But in the end, it turns out the “shutdown” was all part of a not-so-elaborate hoax.

The operators just changed their home page and removed content from their site. And did I forget to mention that several Internet gambling message boards were miraculously seeded with the news, but added that you could still access the information by checking Google's cache of the page.

Anyway, after a "WHOIS" search revealed that the site's administrative information had changed, I made some phone calls and found out that it had been altered to portray false information. Soon after I made those inquiries, several things happened.

1. The page announcing that pokerbandits.ca had been seized was taken down
2. I received an e-mail from "Mikey Tran," a pokerbandits.ca administrator who admitted that the story was a hoax
3. Pokerbandits.ca's home page now redirects to this page, which admits the hoax but claims it was a "necessary evil" and that the group believes that the UIGEA needs "a much needed scrutiny."

I'm not sure how this hoax does anything to provide "much needed scrutiny" to the UIGEA. All it actually did was create unnecessary panic from some people who continue to believe the sky is falling.

In other news, since I announced I was renewing my search for trade offers for the GoldenPalace.com chip set, I've been getting some AMAZING offers and am in the process of finalizing a few details for one that looks very promising. I'm not going to give any more details or timetables, but I have a very good feeling about the direction this project is heading.

Finally, just for fun, the first winner of my headline of the day contest …