Police Seize Assets of TestKiller.com
7/10/2002 -- On June 6 San Antonio police seized assets of TestKiller Ltd., the company that runs the practice exam Web site TestKiller.com.
According to a police report filed with the Bexar County, Texas District Court on June 20, the raid was prompted by Microsoft, who alleged that the site was selling Microsoft certification exam questions.
In his affidavit, seizing police officer Daniel Flaharty, a detective in the Special Crimes Unit of the San Antonio Police Department, wrote that he was contacted by a representative from the anti-piracy office of Microsoft. The unnamed representative alleged to Flaharty that TestKiller Ltd. was selling Microsoft "trade secrets" in the form of questions and answers to Microsoft exams.
According to the report, Flaharty began an investigation based on Microsoft's complaint, which led to the June 6 seizure of $408,566.84 in cash as well as several phones, printers, computer equipment, software and other items from at least one location.
No charges have been filed in this investigation. Calls made to the Bexar County district attorney's office to determine whether the investigation was ongoing were not returned as of press time.
Garry L. Neale, one of Testkiller Ltd.'s owners, politely declined CertCities.com's request for an interview, referring all questions to his attorney, who is out of the country this week.
A spokesperson for Microsoft confirmed that the company was aware of the investigation but said he could not comment on it due to the legal nature of the story.
The Testkiller.com Web site has been offline since early June.
Neale is the former owner of Troy Technologies (TroyTec.com), which in December settled a civil copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit brought by certification vendor CompTIA (see "CompTIA v. TroyTec Settled; Company Pulls CompTIA-Related Products from Site, Denies Wrongdoing").
CertCities.com will continue to follow this story and bring you further updates as they develop.  -B.N.
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There are 254  user Comments for “Police Seize Assets of TestKiller.com”
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| 8/31/02: Sick of the lazy folks from MD says: |
I think it is a shame for this company. I have used their study guides. I think that the first part (not including the Q&A) ARE EXCEPTIONAL!!!!!! No doubt about it, they go over the concepts and explain them. You could use them and either cross reference them with your MOC or a good book like Exam Cram and really learn the stuff and not just cheat through it. Who can memorize 300 question or cares to.You cheat yourself in the end. Seems to me there is a large following of people that feul this and Testkiller came to answer that call. They did have it coming for violating the law!!!! I for one don't like it becasue it put people in the feild with no experiance (no hands on work even at home) and have the certification (that they didn't work for). Then for all of use that did work for the certification sites like Test King and places (boot comps) that say you don't have the money for the course but for $6000.00 cheaper we will get you the certification, are killing the certification process. Go get Transcenders or Measureup and you will EARN what you want and will know what you are doing and prosper in this field. I know $100.00 is expensive for some but you are in the wrong field if you are looking for somthing to slide by in, you always have to update your skills and be ready to recertify. Go be a burger flipper if you don't want to work hard. |
| 9/1/02: jim from usa says: |
you people and your damn virtue.do you wounded virgens really think that microsoft really cares about taking your money.they want you to fail every test at least 3 times.and do you folks really think that microsoft has a problem with stealing?its about winning.thats how microsoft plays.you people should have become jesuits not business people.it disgusts me that i have to even explain the obvious to professionals. |
| 9/3/02: 17 Certs from Chicago says: |
Some quick notes for MCSE's, paper MCSE's, real MCSE's, and all others in between: If you use whatever knowledge you gain to pass an exam and feel good and justified, then you earn it and will make over $70,000 USD/year in the long run. If you used braindumps and other "actualexams" guides, you will feel it in your heart and will make less than $40,000 USD /year in the long run. The difference is about $30,000 betweeen brainumps and non-braindumps mcse's. Employers know it. Vendors know it. You know it. I know it. It's your money. Do whatever you want with it. In other countries (non-USA), certs are great for vendors and training companies to make money. For the schmuck employee, cert is gone after about 3 months on the job. And now a quiz for all: If you could log into the domain from your Win2k pro yesterday, but you can;t do it today, what do you check first? |
| 9/5/02: Anonymous says: |
Why doesn’t Microsoft take a page from Cisco’s CCIE certification book, where getting the TOP cert requires building and troubleshooting a W2K domain lab that includes Exchange and SQL. This way we can eliminate all these paper MCSEs….. |
| 9/9/02: Anonymous says: |
You all should wake up and smell the coffee !!! |
| 9/11/02: Anonymous from Fargo, ND says: |
I am glad this website is down. The answers where word for word and make the MCSE certification nearly worthless to the people who know there stuff. Versus wannabee's with no hands on experience. |
| 9/13/02: Stop the wininng!!! says: |
What a bunch of wieners! Who cares if some bonehead cheated to get his MCSE!! In the IT world, it is all about experience!!! Any worthwhile IT group is going to look at what you have done, not what certifications you have. If you have done anything worthwhile, they will ask you in for an interview. At that time they while drill you with questions regarding UNIX, CISCO, Compaq, and yes – Microsoft. If you can impress them with your knowledge here, you will get the job. I have been in the IT field for over ten years and the first sign of a beginner is someone who on the opening lines of there resume lists a bunch of certifications. Let me give these people some advice: List certifications at the end of your resume, and unless asked, never bring them up in an interview. Veteran IT Engineers know what I mean… |
| 9/16/02: Anonymous says: |
I agree with the last person. Instead of wasting your money on certification training and tests, go to E-bay and purchase as many routers, switches, firewalls, and servers that you can afford. Read the Microsoft and Cisco white papers regarding Domains, WANs, and LANs. Now you can get some hands on experience by building all different types IT environments. By understanding and practicing all the protocols within the OSI model inside-and-out, and how they work with all major IT hardware and software, you’ll nail any IT job at top pay. |
| 9/19/02: JustGottaSayIt from Georgia says: |
TestKiller is a good outline thats all! No course teaches you everything you need to know, and not a single one of us handles every portion of the job every day. Some sort of outline for study was needed and now it's gone. Stop Snobbin', we all work hard. Some of you people sound like you'll never get over the fact of being "Poindexter" in school. "I've got mine, i'll see that you don't get yours", is not going to create the talent pool needed in the future. |
| 9/21/02: experienced says: |
To all you techs that are so intolerant of the sites that give some of the less fortunate a chance. Some of the folks just need the extra help. I agree to give the exact answers is not right and should not be allowed. After sitting in countless classrooms as a student and a instructor and having to live with the incompetent official curriculum from all the major software companies and organizations that at best prepared the student for about half of the information that can be dumped on them when taking a cert. I think any of that have taken a class and sat in a testing center and wondered where was this in my training should get together and form a class action law suite against your schools, testing centers and the big software and hardware companies that drive this certification industry. By the way you all know that the software and hardware companies as well the testing centers are all making lots of money off you taking test pass or fail. Let here it any takers on the idea. |
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