Külföldi torrent oldalak Torrentz Returns As Kickass Torrents Scams And Clones Appear

In the wake of the demise of top torrent sites Kickass Torrents and Torrentz, more new clones and scam sites are popping up. One recent mirror site is scamming users for credit card details, another is really just The Pirate Bay in disguise, but a new version of Torrentz appears to be the real deal. ( TorrentFreak )

As the fallout from the shutdowns of two of the world's most popular torrent websites, Kickass Torrents and Torrentz, continues, a new version of Torrentz has appeared just as more alternative Kickass Torrents mirrors and scam sites are popping up. One of those sites is scamming users by asking for credit card details, while another is really The Pirate Bay dressed up in the skin of the now defunct Kickass Torrents.

As we have been reporting, the world of torrent and file sharing has been rocked in the past few weeks. First, the largest and most popular torrent site in the world, Kickass Torrents, was shut down by the US government. Soon thereafter, another top torrent site, this time meta torrent search engine Torrentz, voluntarily closed its doors, ostensibly due to concerns that it would be next on the crackdown list.

The rapid disappearance of two of the top three torrent sites sent users scrambling for alternatives, and as we reported, only days after the shutdown of Kickass Torrents, numerous clone and mirror sites popped up, hoping to steer traffic their way. The clones, however, were of limited use in that they only provided cached content available prior to the sites demise, with no new files available.

Now it appears as if some of these clones and mirrors are getting more creative in their attempts to trick former users of the now defunct websites. When Kickass Torrents first went offline, one of the mirror sites that most benefited was Kat.am, which claimed to be a full working and updated mirror of Kickass Torrents. Despite the fact that it only held prior cached content, media reports that Kickass Torrents had returned in full at the domain led many users to utilize it. That is, until a complaint from the MPAA (Motion Picture Association Of America) resulted in the suspension of the Kat.am domain and the disappearance of the site.

Now it appears that when the domain suspension was released, new owners purchased it, and are currently operating it as a dangerous scam. Although it initially appears as a normal working mirror of Kickass Torrents, a pop up appears upon user download attempts, redirecting to a portal that requires credit card information. These type of pay-to-download sites are almost always scams and potential users should beware this one as well as any torrent or file download site that similarly requires credit card details in order to use it.

Ironically, the original creators of the Kat.am domain have moved their wares to other domain names, kickass.cd and kickass.mx, where they have another clever, albeit much less harmful trick up their sleeves. It turns out that the Kickass Torrents mirror they are offering users is not a Kickass Torrents mirror at all, but instead sources all of its file information from The Pirate Bay. A comparison of search results from the two sites shows the exact same information, including the same number of peers and seeds.

As a result, the site is now offering recent torrents as opposed to only those from files cached prior to the original Kickass Torrents closure. Although the site appears to be safe so far, and is not requiring any sort of payment or credit card details, users can also access exactly the same content directly on The Pirate Bay.

Meanwhile a new version of the Torrentz search engine has appeared in the form of Torrentz2.eu. The mirror, however, does not appear to be merely a clone of prior cached search content and is a working meta search engine that legitimately mirrors Torrentz. The site lists new, freshly uploaded torrents and search results direct users to official versions of sites such as The Pirate Bay and Extratorrent, just as Torrentz did prior to its demise. Though seemingly safe to use, actual details on the new site's origins and its creator's intentions are currently unavailable.