Phoebe Gates could be going to prison for cookie stuffing. Others have gone to prison for similar crimes.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaqC8GjuDE6/
For criminal fraud, intention has to be proven.
But as people poiunt out, plugs do not accidentally end up systamticlly stealing sale commissions.
They have to be built that way.
Phoebe claims to have fixed the glitch but who believes it was a glitch?
Will her disgraced father be able to save her from prison as his own trial nears.
Possibly, but only if she pays huge fines.
From media
Phoebe Gates’ company Phia was found to have its browser extension insert affiliate tracking codes during checkout, allowing it to claim commissions for purchases it did not influence.
Bloomberg’s investigation revealed that the extension impacted dozens of major retail sites, including Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, potentially affecting hundreds of transactions over several months.
Phia addressed the issue after it was reported, updating its extension to ensure accurate attribution of affiliate sales and prevent unauthorized crediting.
From media
However, an investigation by Bloomberg, Capital One Shopping and Ben Edelman, an independent researcher, discovered that Phia's app had opened a background tab and injected its own referral code during the checkout process without any user interaction.
Known as 'cookie stuffing' or attribution fraud, Phia registered what was called 'fake clicks' on retailers' websites, allowing it to replace another referrer's unique code with its own and claim commission for sales it never earned.
The practice is largely considered a violation across many digital platforms' policies. Impact.com, a major affiliate network, told Bloomberg it suspended Phia's account after identifying behavior in its extension that was 'inconsistent with our platform policies.'
https://www.dailymail.com/lifestyle/article-15969007/bill-gates-daughter-phoebe-shopping-app-fake-clicks-money.html
Phoebe Gates' cofounder bragged about creating a fake male assistant to manufacture success in a resurfaced clip as the pair face fraud allegations against their coupon company.
Sophia Kianni, 24, and Gates, 23, sat down to chat on the popular podcast, Call Her Daddy, in April 2025, where the former revealed she started a fake assistant named Kobe to negotiate higher-paid public speaking gigs in college.
'I'm like, everyone's going to think I'm a fraud. This is so much money,' she told host, Alex Cooper, about her unique ploy.
The idea came about when one of her Stanford friends suggested she make a fake male assistant who can negotiate her deals for her. Although Kianni acknowledged the plan was 'psychotic,' she did it anyway, and quickly garnered higher paying gigs.
'That's so psychotic. You're a genius. I'm going to do that,' she said as Gates laughed and nodded alongside her.
Kianni even made her actual friend Kobe answer calls to speak with businesses on her behalf to keep the ruse going.
Eventually, the ploy allowed her to get paid thousands of dollars to speak and have her travel expenses covered as well, she told Cooper.
'I was so paranoid. I would change the way that Kobe did his grammar to not sound like me. I would capitalize weirdly,' she explained.
'Then when I had to loop myself back in, I would talk and sign off my emails in a different way. I had a whole elaborate scheme going on.'
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15969695/phoebe-gates-sophia-kianni-call-daddy-brag-male-assistant-fraud-allegations.html
