Z-Library is one of the largest shadow libraries on the Internet, hosting millions of books and articles that can be downloaded for free.
The site defied all odds over the past two years. It continued to operate despite a full-fledged criminal prosecution by the United States, which resulted in the arrest of two alleged operators in Argentina.
According to the latest available information, these two defendants are still fighting their extradition. Meanwhile, the Z-Library site has continued to operate as if nothing ever happened, serving books to millions of people all over the world.
Z-Library Fundraising
A few days ago, the shadow library announced a new fundraising campaign to generate revenue. While users can buy premium access all year round to obtain access to additional features and downloads, Z-Library regularly hosts additional donation drives to fund project maintenance and development.
"Although the last 2 years have been challenging for the project and the team, we are not giving up and are continuing to work on the development of the library," the team writes, asking users to contribute.
As last time, thousands of dollars are quickly pouring in from all over the world. Despite the legal challenges and the ongoing criminal investigation, many people seem happy to chip-in through various payment options, including cryptocurrencies.
Donation Options
This type of generosity from users is rarely seen on 'pirate' sites. While the shadow library's operators are undoubtedly happy with the support, popularity also comes with a major downside; scammers.
Soon after Z-Library lost its main domain names following U.S.-orchestrated seizures, outsiders stepped in to hijack the traffic. The site has repeatedly warned against these "fraudulent" and "unsafe" copycats but the problem never went away. On the contrary, it's getting worse.
Email Scams
Over the past several weeks, there have been dozens of reports from Z-Library users who received emails, purported to be from the Z-Library team, alerting them to a new domain name. One of the early versions included the following message:
"It is with a heavy heart yet hopeful spirit that we reach out to you. We're entering a period of significant change at Z-Library.
As an integral part of our community we believe it's important you're among the first to learn of our transition to a new domain: z-lib.id. This change, though challenging, paves the way for an enhanced, more robust Z-Library experience.
Your steadfast support has been a beacon during our journey. As we navigate these new waters, your continued presence and advocacy are more important than ever. We hope you'll join us in embracing this change and help in sharing our new address, z-lib.id, within your circles."
These emails were received by actual Z-Library users but the domain being promoted has nothing to do with the original Z-Library project. On the contrary, it appears to be linked to a popular copycat site that's been around for a while.
In recent weeks these 'scammy' emails have continued, but the messaging has changed somewhat. An email sent to many people this month is more to the point, urging people to visit and bookmark the new domain.
"Good news! Z-Library has a new web address: z-lib.id. You can simply type "z-lib.id" in Google or put it in your browser to visit us. We appreciate your support."
Scam Email
Needless to say, these emails are not being sent by the Z-Library team but by scammers attempting to drive traffic to their site. There's a clear profit motive, as "premium" access is currently required to download anything.
'Not Compromised'
Of course, it's no surprise that outsiders are trying to profit from the popularity of an existing piracy brand. We have seen variations of this theme for several decades. However, the email campaigns are rather novel.
At this point, it's not clear how the scammers obtained the emails. In an email to TorrentFreak, the real Z-Library team acknowledges the scam problems but says that there's no sign that their systems were compromised in any way.
"Unfortunately, the situation with fraudulent mailings is getting worse. Since our domains were blocked in November 2022, there have been at least a few independent scam sites posing as z-library. They use our name, design, and highly similar domain names.
"[W]e are confident that there have been no incidents of user data leakage. However, we strongly recommend that you change the password for your account," a Z-Library spokesperson writes.
The team suggests that recipients of the scam emails may have tried to sign into one of the scam sites in the past. That would have exposed their email address and password to these people, which is why Z-Library believes it's important to update this information.
Scam Connection
It's not clear who is behind these misleading email campaigns, but there are some interesting patterns to observe. The .id domain name promoted in the emails uses the same Cloudflare nameservers as z-lib.is did in the past.
The identical nameservers are not solid proof, however, as there are thousands of sites using the same ones. However, there's an additional traffic pattern that links the two domains as well.
As seen above, traffic to the .is domain tanked in February, around the time when the emails started coming in, while traffic to the new .id domain surged. This suggests a link between the two domains. Perhaps the scammers somehow lost control over their old domain, triggering them to launch the email campaign.
Seizures and other Troubles
Whatever the reason, the official Z-Library team continues to caution users to be on the lookout for copycats, including via an updated warning banner that mentions the new domain name.
Scam Banner
The Z-Library team believes that scammers and copycats are regularly DDoSing its servers too. At the same time, they have tried to add their links to the official Wikipedia page and hijack the top positions in search engines.
Of course, scammers are only part of the challenge. The U.S. Government has also repeatedly seized the site's domain names, which creates an opportunity for copycats to increase their traffic. The latest seizure round was last November, but that may not be the last.
On the legal front, there hasn't been any movement in the U.S. criminal case recently. The two alleged operators filed a motion to dismiss the criminal complaint last summer, but news has been quiet since then.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
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