Castlecops the volunteer website set up to help fight against internet fraud and scams has sadly closed its doors.  Despite being the targets of many DDOS attacks, Castlecops managed to keep up and running and be a thorn in the side of cyber criminals.  However, it looks like the volunteer group has finally had to close the site down.   When you arrive at the home page of the Castlecops site you get this message;

Greetings Folks,

You have arrived at the CastleCops website, which is currently offline. It has been our pleasure to investigate online crime and volunteer with our virtual family to assist with your computer needs and make the Internet a safer place. Unfortunately, all things come to an end. Keep up the good fight folks, for the spirit of this community lies within each of us. We are empowered to improve the safety and security of the Internet in our own way. Let us feel blessed for the impact we made and the relationships created.

With respect to the server marathon, by March 17 2009 CastleCops will refund contributions made through PayPal that were specifically designated for servers. Unfortunately, server donations made via check cannot be returned because we do not have the addresses for the donating entity. Unless instructed otherwise, CastleCops will re-allocate these funds as a donation to the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC.org). This organization sponsored our hosting environment for approximately the past 2 years. Please contact us [cc at laudanski dot com] before March 17, 2009, if you would like a return of your server marathon donation. Otherwise, we would like to thank the ISC for their unfettered support.

We thank everyone in creating our unique footprint and memories in time.

Love, Best Wishes and Happy Holidays, CastleCops
PST 23 Dec 2008

This is a great loss to the greater Internet community.  If any of the volunteers happen to come by this Blog I would like to say thank you for your efforts and hopefully your talents, experience and skills are still being used to tackle cyber crime.