Agency Based Discussion > Shutterstock.com
Shutterstock suspicious accounts "wackamoles" update
Brasilnut:
Summary of last week (week ending Jan 27):
Total moles identified: 250
Moles wacked (by SS) from Jan 20 - 26: 120
Moles pending: 130+ (new accounts identified today)
https://brutallyhonestmicrostock.com/2019/01/27/update-why-shutterstocks-copyright-infringement-problems-should-concern-you/
Complete list:
https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96297-thieves-thread-update-week-ending-jan-27-251-so-far-flagged/
Small victory but huge huge challenges ahead...
dpimborough:
Something is rotten in the state of Shutterstock :(
They can spot all sorts of similars in an individual submitters portfolio but don't seem to have the ability to spot it across different ports.
sgoodwin4813:
Wow, great job - you are doing a real service to all legitimate contributors by outing these fraudsters. Although it looks like they often change the color or orientation of the images, you'd think it would be relatively easy for a company like SS do develop automated methods to flag suspicious accounts that could be followed up by a person. They definitely need a fraud division!
It seems like the same stolen pics are showing up in ports of people from different countries? Is there an organized web doing this? Or are people spoofing their country of origin as well? I assume SS doesn't go after them to recoup the money that was paid out and give it to the copyright holders, but that is what really should be done to minimize the problem and be fair to the true content providers.
In the meantime great work and carry on the effort.
Brasilnut:
--- Quote from: sgoodwin4813 on January 27, 2019, 09:35 ---Wow, great job - you are doing a real service to all legitimate contributors by outing these fraudsters. Although it looks like they often change the color or orientation of the images, you'd think it would be relatively easy for a company like SS do develop automated methods to flag suspicious accounts that could be followed up by a person. They definitely need a fraud division!
It seems like the same stolen pics are showing up in ports of people from different countries? Is there an organized web doing this? Or are people spoofing their country of origin as well? I assume SS doesn't go after them to recoup the money that was paid out and give it to the copyright holders, but that is what really should be done to minimize the problem and be fair to the true content providers.
In the meantime great work and carry on the effort.
--- End quote ---
Thanks. It is really amazing that this has gone so far for so long, bordering on professional negligence really. They appear to be taking action but seems to be too little, too late. :/
These accounts seem similar and linked. There appears to be groups, based in India, scouting 24/7 these scummy free sites such as Unsplash, Pixabay and Pexels for suckers who upload and as soon as will download to re-license.
Most worrying and something that I'm keeping an eye on is how I've spotted some fraudulent images within these accounts that are licensed as commercial without releases. I had a few examples but didn't flag them at the time and now can't locate them anymore without taking up a huge amount of time.
This suggests a link suggests possible collusion between QC reviewers and fraudsters, upping the notch. Not making any accusations as don't have evidence to present but will keep an eye on this development.
No idea what happens to earnings from fraud. I assume SS pockets the money as copyright owner is left in the dark. More transparency on this is needed.
photok:
--- Quote from: Brasilnut on January 27, 2019, 08:54 ---Total moles identified: 250
--- End quote ---
Oh, wow! Thank you so much for your hard work! Really appreciated. However it is surprising that it has to be done and reported by someone outside SS. Apparently they have no working algorithms or human power to even bother with this issue.
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