I just got eight $2 sales - it usually takes a week to get that much. So is BS the latest target of the fraudsters, is it just a freak day or has a buyer driven out of iS turned up to boost the sales? They came in two separate groups of dls, but all for the same price.

no worries, you'll find them just as I have now, minus 6$ representing "adjustments".

I don't know when they reacted to the fraud or whatever it was. I'm not paying much attention, BS is a very poor earner for me. But I am using picNiche plugin and I saw I exceeded the payout limit, wanted to withdraw and found out that I can't do it, since I have 6 bucks ummm... adjusted

I had an adjustment yesterday. Today is showing over 30$ which is almost unheard of for me at BS but no adjustmants so far. Whether they pay us or not doesn't change the fact that somebody has downloaded our images.

I had an adjustment yesterday. Today is showing over 30$ which is almost unheard of for me at BS but no adjustmants so far. Whether they pay us or not doesn't change the fact that somebody has downloaded our images.

I know, which is why we need to flag it up as soon as possible if there is something fishy.

Wow... as for me, 25 downloads at $3 each early this morning for a total of $75.  Here's hoping that the system somehow didn't report these as it should have all month and we're being "adjusted" in a positive way for downloads that should have been reported all along.  But that's just me, a naive "glass half full" person. 

Waiting for those sales to disappear.

If that was the case then wouldn't all have been downloads at the hightest size possible.

They've just cancelled four of mine as "invalid transactions". I expect the rest will follow shortly.

Nothing for me.  You know your portfolio is really bad when even fraudulent buyers don't want your stuff.   

We are rowing the same boat lmao.

They got me too. The last two days I've had about 100 images downloaded that I would have made about $130 on. I did contact support and heard that they are aware of it and they have implemented and will be implementing new measures today to stop this.  It's most likely the same group that stung Istock.

Hi guys,

We'll follow up with additional info, but as was mentioned earlier in the thread, we're aware of this and addressing it.  We have a large number of existing controls and procedures and we're adding to them. The team has been online and working.   

Pixart - I'm not 100% sure what you're seeing, but we can look into it.  Please reach out directly to the support email address and they'll look into anything that you can't explain.

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/contactus.html

Thanks,

Scott
Bigstock

Nothing for me.  You know your portfolio is really bad when even fraudulent buyers don't want your stuff.   

LOL . . .  you are right, it is kind of insulting when no body wants to steal your stuff.  I feel left out some how.

I really appreciate the communication as well, but if this was a credit card issue, then I really don't understand why there is no automatic check in place to stop suspicious activity. There seems to be several easy identifiable criteria that a site could check:

1. New account (or account that has not had confirmed buying activity in the past)
2. # of downloads in a given period of time
3. Length of time between downloads
4. Downloads outside "normal working hours" of given country
etc..

It seems easy to write an algorithm that check one or more of these crtieria and suspend suspicious activity. I mean c'mon I had about 100, another poster had about 100, and alot more.. When does that happen legitimately?.....like never.  If they're suspicious, lock them down after like 25 downloads

+1 (the only difference is a smaller number than Lisa!  )

Just noticed that the last fraudulent charge appears to have been made at 5:14 am.  The charges after that are normal size and not reversed.  Hopefully that means that whatever BigStock is doing managed to put a stop to it?

Pixart - I'm not 100% sure what you're seeing, but we can look into it.  Please reach out directly to the support email address and they'll look into anything that you can't explain.
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/contactus.html

That was me overreacting in a way - but now I see now that it's the money put "on hold" for new sales causing confusion (I get pretty uptight when by balance diminishes!).  For illustation - say yesterday I had $50 with nothing on hold and I could cash out.  Today I had $11 in bogus sales, and they are put "on hold" anyway.  Then the $11 is reversed from my account.   That balances out the bogus sales on your side - but the $11 bogus sales are still "on hold" so the account balance is $39 when it should really be $50 and no cash out is possible until the $11 clears. 

Noone will be surprised if you suspend cashouts for the moment anyway so it should all wash out when the "hold" clears the account - what is that - 7 days? 

I hope that makes some kind of sense to you.  Happy New Year everyone.

That was me overreacting in a way - but now I see now that it's the money put "on hold" for new sales causing confusion (I get pretty uptight when by balance diminishes!).  For illustation - say yesterday I had $50 with nothing on hold and I could cash out.  Today I had $11 in bogus sales, and they are put "on hold" anyway.  Then the $11 is reversed from my account.   That balances out the bogus sales on your side - but the $11 bogus sales are still "on hold" so the account balance is $39 when it should really be $50 and no cash out is possible until the $11 clears. 

I see I have a negative $73 balance.  That makes no sense to me.  They have already deducted the $170+ of bad charges, but why is the remaining $73 showing as a negative balance? 

I agree with Pixart - I am willing to wait for a cash out until this is all straightened out - but I am concerned when I see proceeds from legitimate sales showing as a negative balance...

And, to continue with Lisa's question, what happens about images already downloaded?  Are they being used for FREE in violation of author's copyright?

Nothing for me.  You know your portfolio is really bad when even fraudulent buyers don't want your stuff.   

Are we related?

I did have a $2 sale in Oct. It's about time for one more for the year? I'm still on the track to cash out and close my account, sometime in 2012 if I live that long.

Hello All,

In response to some of the earlier inquiries - unfortunately, we can't give specifics or details about security procedures.  We do have a large number of existing security checks in place and (like other e-commerce sites) we aggressively monitor and adjust them on an active basis to prevent fraud.   As you know from recent issues at iStock, fraudsters work hard to mimic legitimate customer behavior and these attempts seem to have spiked this week.    

Many of our existing prevention methods have already been successful, but we are putting increasingly restrictive controls and review procedures in place.  Our staff has been actively working through the holidays (and continues to do so) to ensure a safe selling and buying experience.

In response to negative balances - I'm going to speak with the team and we'll get that straightened out.  As mentioned earlier, please forward any details to the [email protected] e-mail address, since that will create a ticket for the team to track with details.

Best Regards,

Scott

Understand, thanks for responding here!

I had five sales today that are all invalid transactions. I am glad BigStock was there to get a handle on it immediately. I really appreciate that. I am a little concerned, too, about the images being stolen. I hope the thieves can be tracked down and prosecuted.

Just want to add my note of appreciation to the list, Scott.  Thanks so much for the timely and informative posts, and thanks to the team at BigStock for their hard work in addressing this issue.  It's very reassuring.  Much respect, and happy new year to all at BigStock. 

I am a little concerned over the fact that although the credit card fraud has been detected, stopped, and our accounts were adjusted immediately, the person downloading STILL got my images. If this person didn't have any moral issues using the stolen credit card to make the purchases, I don't believe they are going to have any problems giving my images away or even reselling them and grabbing the money.

What I don't want to see is a blanket statement, such as has already been issued, that copyright infringement is taken seriously, but we never hear anything again about what has actually been done to prosecute the person who stole the images.

292,000 images had copyright information removed and replaced from them, via BigStock, Media Bakery, Colossus and Pixmac. The images were pulled down, but AFTER the damage had already been done. I haven't heard a single word about what the agency(ies) have done to prosecute the person responsible for changing our copyright information to that of Colossus. That whole issue just disappeared into thin air. Nobody knows nothing and nobody was at fault.

I expect to be compensated for the fact that a few of my best selling images have now been stolen. Multiply that by how many images overall have gotten stolen this past couple of weeks and we aren't talking chump change anymore.

Back room deals with only the big suppliers isn't good enough. Each and every contributor affected should expect to receive compensation for what has been stolen from them.

What a pisser. Over 60 of my images (many of them my best sellers) have been ripped off in this round of fraud. As it stands right now, I have no idea what my true earnings were for December, and when I try to request a payout, it says that I have an insufficient account balance to do so. I know that's not correct, so I hope this gets resolved soon.

Me too.

I wonder why a crook would "waste" being nailed for credit card fraud over a bunch of images. How does one profit from such crime?

Image CD sales on Ebay or in stores in the less developed parts of the world perhaps? Prints too maybe in countries where they've got no chance of being caught.

Thanks Scott. Appreciate the rapid efforts of the team over the holiday period and also the timely information. Take a heart for your trouble!

+1.  

BigStock's timely and aggressive response to this threat is very much appreciated.  And so is your taking the time to keep us updated and respond to our concerns, Scott.  Thanks very much!  

FWIW, I haven't had any fraudulent sales today, so hopefully the problem is under control...

Big thanks to Scott and the BigStock team for working so hard to clear this mess up. I'm not so happy that someone managed to walk away with a lot of my images, but hey - that's the risk we take by putting stuff online I suppose.

Props to BigStock!