MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: angelawaye on November 29, 2016, 12:07
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Hi everyone,
I'm flipping out right now and wonder what the heck is going on.
I got a "donotreply" email notification from FAA with a message about one of my images on SS. It says:
"I'm contacting you in concern with this image on shutterstock which we believe and have full evidence to be taken from us,so I'm asking you to take it down as soon as possible or we will be taken legal action against you in the state of NY".
It was from a hotmail address too...
I don't understand! I made this in Photoshop with a layer mask years ago. All the photos are of me, husband and my kids!
Are they trying to hack my account? I'm very worried. Are "add icons" copyrighted? It is on the keyboard - is the word "friends" copyrighted? Should I just delete it so they don't cause me problems. It doesn't even sell that much.
There was no mention of a business name or anything and I'm very worried. I responded to them and said the image is mine and to clarify the problem.
Any advice?
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I also did a google image search on my image and can't find anything else or similar. I'm so worried... Why are they saying this?
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It was from a hotmail address too...
Ignore it.
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ignore the do not reply and reply to them since this is a major threat to you and your business. Write to them what you told us. Worst case you remove it without much monetary loss...
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This doesn't sound legit at all. I agree-respond to FAA, not the hotmail address. If it is not from them, I am sure they would want to find out who sent it and take action. I would also check their site to see if someone there has stolen the image from you.
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I did reply to them at the hotmail account with this and waiting anxiously to their response:
"Hello,
I received an email through you via Fineartamerica the image 100963174
I created this image in Photoshop - those faces are of me and my family - they do not belong to anyone. I own copyright.
Is someone else claiming my own work as there own? Please advise.
Thank you."
They haven't responded yet. I don't have time for this crap! I have the photoshop file and all the images so it is easy to prove but I don't want a headache over this...
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I'd probably have ignored them as it's such a blatant lie, and I'd have presumed it was some sort of email scam.
The onus is presumably on them to 'prove' their allegation. I'd contact SS in case they try to get your portfolio taken down and FAA to keep them in the loop.
I'm sure others will have more useful advice from experience.
It would be great if they were stopped - there must be some sort of scam going on.
Good luck, try not to worry, but that's easier said than done.
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Thank you for your responses.
I never give out my email address and after I sent them a message directly, I realized they may have been trying to gain access of my email to login or something? It seemed so specific because they gave me a file number but maybe that is what "they" do ...
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I would contact FAA here http://fineartamerica.com/contactus.html?tab=contactus (http://fineartamerica.com/contactus.html?tab=contactus) to be sure it gets to the right people.
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The strange thing is, when I login to FAA I don't see the message but it was from "[email protected]"
I will definitely contact FAA.
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I did reply to them at the hotmail account with this and waiting anxiously to their response:
"Hello,
I received an email through you via Fineartamerica the image 100963174
I created this image in Photoshop - those faces are of me and my family - they do not belong to anyone. I own copyright.
Is someone else claiming my own work as there own? Please advise.
Thank you."
They haven't responded yet. I don't have time for this crap! I have the photoshop file and all the images so it is easy to prove but I don't want a headache over this...
It could be a phishing scam. Hopefully it won't cause any harm to your computer or account.
As a rule of thumb, if I get an email asking for info or accusing me of something, I will go directly to that persons/companys website and respond, or go to their site, get their phone number, and call them directly. There are too many nasty, dishonest people out there nowadays. >:( Fingers crossed it doesn't cause a hassle.
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The strange thing is, when I login to FAA I don't see the message but it was from "[email protected]"
I will definitely contact FAA.
I got one of these a couple of months ago, but it was genuine. One of my and my late husband's former students found and contacted me via FAA just after my husband died. (I'm sure there were easier ways to find me, including in the Phone Book!) He said he didn't get my email address until I had replied to him.
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I'm asking: in which way FAA can contact you via email without you gave it to them? from a hotmail account!!
May be FAA do not know nothing about this email...
A strange case of phishing from a fake noreply
not a great thing reply to hotmail address
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The strange thing is, when I login to FAA I don't see the message but it was from "[email protected]"
I will definitely contact FAA.
That's the way contacts from FAA customers come through - I've had several of those. The first few lines should be "From: [name] and their e-mail address". The FAA user doesn't get your e-mail unless you reply to them.
If you don't have a throwaway e-mail account to use when replying to questionable things of this sort, you might want to get one for the future.
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I know - I feel so STUPID replying to the hotmail but I was very scared in the moment.
I should have gone for a walk before replying ...
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I know - I feel so STUPID replying to the hotmail but I was very scared in the moment.
I should have gone for a walk before replying ...
I understand. You do get shocked into a kneejerk reaction when faced with such an accusation.
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The strange thing is, when I login to FAA I don't see the message but it was from "[email protected]"
I will definitely contact FAA.
Just because it says that was the sending address doesn't mean that's actually where it was sent from. If you dig around in the message headers I'd be willing to guess that it's just third-world spam and can be safely ignored.
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I'd say forget about it. It isn't even in correct English, and it's also 100% generic, not specific to you or your image. Just another idiotic scammer.
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It looks phishing scam email. Hacker normally spoof sender address, which appear legitimate.
Once I received scam email identical to skrill in which they are asking for logging and changing my password. The sender address appear legimate but it was random phishing scam.
1. Skrill always address with first name and last name but scan contain only my email address name
2. I looked into page source (html code) and found hacker address
3. Just for experimenting, I clicked on login link from within email, which lead me to fake skrill login page www.skrll.com/login (http://www.skrll.com/login). I observed URL address closely and it was WWW.SKRLL.COM (http://WWW.SKRLL.COM) (skrill without i). Anyway I entered dummy username/password for skrill and it login without any problem.
Don't worry about such scam/phishing email. Instead replying to these email, contact website through CONTACT US link
Good explanation about email address spoofing
http://www.howtogeek.com/121532/htg-explains-how-scammers-forge-email-addresses-and-how-you-can-tell/ (http://www.howtogeek.com/121532/htg-explains-how-scammers-forge-email-addresses-and-how-you-can-tell/)
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Thank you for your responses.
I never give out my email address and after I sent them a message directly, I realized they may have been trying to gain access of my email to login or something? It seemed so specific because they gave me a file number but maybe that is what "they" do ...
It's too late now but you should never give out a "good" email address. I have a free email account on mail.com it lets you create 10+ aliases to throw them away when no more needed. You should try it too for future events.
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Well, they responded and this is what they said:
"Sorry if you get me wrong that logo no the picture /image was stolen from us and we have full proof as to where you get it from ,so I'm asking you again to take it down or the next step is going to legal action 2 days"
I don't get it, "full proof"? I bet they are foreign so if they take legal action wouldn't they have to come where I am? They still haven't shown me their example or let me know the business name. It all seems so strange.
Maybe I should just delete it....
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I would simply deny all allegations and tell them you are waiting for their "proof". And that you reserve the right to countersue for slander or any damages that occur to your business.
Most importantly i would contact FAA and SS. So that you write to them first.
Maybe they are trying this scam on many other artists and only FAA and SS can catch who is behind this.
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Counter-suing would mean I need to come up with a retainer for a lawyer and the way SS is going, I am making pennies.
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Counter-suing would mean I need to come up with a retainer for a lawyer and the way SS is going, I am making pennies.
Again, easier said than done, but hold your nerve. They have no possible leg to stand on. After you've informed SS and FAA try to forget about it. It would be nice to think that SS or FAA would take action against them, as they are no doubt blanket- threatening several producers simultaneously in the hope of scaring some poor soul with not even the emotional backup of msg. However, I suspect that's just wishful thinking.
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Sue them because they are using your image without your authorization, and because they blackmail you!
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I feel like if I delete the image I am admitting wrong but it has barely made me any money - less than $100. I couldn't work the entire day over this and the stress seems too much for me.
I emailed FAA but not SS. What are they getting out of this though? How does me removing the image give them money? Will they try something later on?
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I would simply deny all allegations and tell them you are waiting for their "proof". And that you reserve the right to countersue for slander or any damages that occur to your business.
Most importantly i would contact FAA and SS. So that you write to them first.
Maybe they are trying this scam on many other artists and only FAA and SS can catch who is behind this.
If it were me I would contact FAA and SS and ignore their emails unless/until they take some formal legal action which I very much doubt. Its hard to just ignore I know but the more you engage with them the more they draw you in.
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Does the photo have any logos in it? This is weird.
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I posted the photo on the first page - the only thing I can think of is the "addition" icons on the side. Can we not use those in images? I'm shocked if so ...
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If the email were genuinely from FAA wouldn't they have just taken the image down and banned you...? Its a scam try not to stress about it.
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The photo is NOT on FAA. They used the FAA name to contact me. It came from the [email protected] email but when I logged into FAA it was not there. I'm not a fan of FAA but maybe a user can contact someone to an email address instead of on the site?
Also, if you google my name - my website is at the top so I don't know why they went this route of contacting me...
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I made the photo in 2012. I've been google image searching to see if I can find anything similar with "add icons". I googled the girls name who emailed me and can't find anything either - still a hotmail account and no business signature. Maybe she is a designer and wants to use my "logo" and this is a way to make me get rid of it?
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The photo is NOT on FAA. They used the FAA name to contact me. It came from the [email protected] email but when I logged into FAA it was not there. I'm not a fan of FAA but maybe a user can contact someone to an email address instead of on the site?
Also, if you google my name - my website is at the top so I don't know why they went this route of contacting me...
They took this route because scammers have a way of tapping into your email contacts and making it look like the email is coming from FAA. You wouldn't have opened it, or even got it if they used an unknown email because your spam filter might have caught it.
Or they have tapped into FAAs email and are using their contacts to scam people. I know this because I have a client whose email keeps getting hacked. I keep getting emails from a person who also works with that client. The first time I got one from her, the email was suspicious. I checked the headers and sure enough, it wasn't really from her. I got another one last week. I didn't even bother to open it. I marked it spam and deleted it immediately.
My suggestion is to just forget about this, like Pauws99 said. It's a scam. Change all the passwords on your accounts and email. Don't have any more contact with them. Delete all emails off your computer. Run a malware or spyware check on your computer. When you have done all that, go Christmas shopping! :)
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Thanks Cathy :) I always enjoy reading your comments on the site. I don't always respond to every post but I read the forum daily.
I want to contact SS but reluctant to "make a mess" on my account if it is just a scam. I guess it doesn't hurt to be proactive but I hear it takes weeks for them to get back to you.
The screenshots are ready to go ...
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Sorry to hear about this scary incident that happened to you.
I agree with others, the Hotmail address and language they use spell SCAM. "Full proof", threats, simple language etc is just the kind of language spammers, scammers and phishers would use. They will make you feel like you have no options but to act quickly. If you clicked any link on the emails they sent, scan your emails and computer very carefully for malware, spyware and viruses like somebody already suggested.
If you have the materials that you used for the image, that's good, keep them, but I would not be worried if I were you. You know it is your image and you can easily prove it if necessary!
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How are they making money from me removing it though - that is the part that has me worried...
There was no external link, no other action but for me to remove it. Unless they are planning something for later ...
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The photo is NOT on FAA. They used the FAA name to contact me. It came from the [email protected] email but when I logged into FAA it was not there. I'm not a fan of FAA but maybe a user can contact someone to an email address instead of on the site?
Also, if you google my name - my website is at the top so I don't know why they went this route of contacting me...
Sorry I misunderstood I noticed on FAA they have a contact us web page if you haven't already I would use that and see what they say.
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How are they making money from me removing it though - that is the part that has me worried...
There was no external link, no other action but for me to remove it. Unless they are planning something for later ...
They can ask you later for some money to forget about case. Or they gonna send you some attachment (similar to document) with malware.
Do not open anything. Dont worry. Just ignore *insult removed* :)
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They were talking about these e-mails on FAA forum. Go there. Many people got those, it is a hoax.
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If the email were genuinely from FAA wouldn't they have just taken the image down and banned you...? Its a scam try not to stress about it.
It is a scam, but as Jo-Anne and I noted above, there is a genuine system by which people can use FAA'S system to contact sellers but without giving away the seller's email address. One example of a reason they do this is to facilitate direct selling of artwork, as opposed to prints.
Obviously I don't know for a fact that Angela's wannabe scammer used the legit system any more than you know that they didn't.
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Probably a scam, but to what end on their end? Take down a pic? For what? Why?
Even if they sue, they would have to prove financial loss. How much have you made on a micro stock pic of our family?
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If the email were genuinely from FAA wouldn't they have just taken the image down and banned you...? Its a scam try not to stress about it.
It is a scam, but as Jo-Anne and I noted above, there is a genuine system by which people can use FAA'S system to contact sellers but without giving away the seller's email address. One example of a reason they do this is to facilitate direct selling of artwork, as opposed to prints.
Obviously I don't know for a fact that Angela's wannabe scammer used the legit system any more than you know that they didn't.
h'mmm that doesn't seem very sensible approach gives spammers a way in. Sadly these days you have to be very careful about any emails you receive.
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Probably a scam, but to what end on their end? Take down a pic? For what? Why?
n email
I suspect it will be followed by a nasty attachment in a that might cause all sorts of problems.
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Probably a scam, but to what end on their end? Take down a pic? For what? Why?
n email
I suspect it will be followed by a nasty attachment in a that might cause all sorts of problems.
Also getting the contributor's email address could be essential for a possible account breaking attempt. And they only have to make you reply them for that.
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I posted the photo on the first page - the only thing I can think of is the "addition" icons on the side. Can we not use those in images? I'm shocked if so ...
Sorry, first read the thread on my mobile and must not have waited for it to load.
I've got no idea what their problem is. Maybe they have a similar logo, maybe with the three plus signs?
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I posted the photo on the first page - the only thing I can think of is the "addition" icons on the side. Can we not use those in images? I'm shocked if so ...
Sorry, first read the thread on my mobile and must not have waited for it to load.
I've got no idea what their problem is. Maybe they have a similar logo, maybe with the three plus signs?
There's nothing wrong with the image, this is a scam. Easy to spot because they use bad English and a hotmail email address. Everyone should ignore these people or report them to the sites and let them deal with it.
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How are they making money from me removing it though - that is the part that has me worried...
There was no external link, no other action but for me to remove it. Unless they are planning something for later ...
They can ask you later for some money to forget about case. Or they gonna send you some attachment (similar to document) with malware.
Do not open anything. Dont worry. Just ignore *insult removed* :)
I bet in "2 days" I will get an email with a link or attachment for a "settlement". Don't worry, I won't click or download anything. Thank you so much for all your reassurance. So glad this forum exists ...
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Following is such hoax email which I received from a buyer/seller at fiverr. After reading email I become stressed and decided to reply. But then I ask myself, why not google about it. Google return many forums, where people discussing about same following email. Finally I deleted message and reported this fake general to fiverr support, who delete his account within few hours, which was created on that same day.
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Hoax email
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Hello my dear,
My name is General Nancy William, U. S. A. Army, is my pleasure to contact you after viewing your profile today, I wish to have undisclosed partnership with you, I hope you recontact me back Via the email below,
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Therefore relax and ignore it.
If you further contact them, they may be successfully install any malware with the help of attachment (including ransomeware, which will encrypt your all drive data) afterward they will ask you for money for decrypting your locked data.
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Well, they responded and this is what they said:
"Sorry if you get me wrong that logo no the picture /image was stolen from us and we have full proof as to where you get it from ,so I'm asking you again to take it down or the next step is going to legal action 2 days"
I don't get it, "full proof"? I bet they are foreign so if they take legal action wouldn't they have to come where I am? They still haven't shown me their example or let me know the business name. It all seems so strange.
Maybe I should just delete it....
If they thought they had a legit claim, I would think they would send a DMCA take down to the owner of the site on which your image is posted. That could cause some issues if it went to one of the agencies.
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Counter-suing would mean I need to come up with a retainer for a lawyer and the way SS is going, I am making pennies.
Don't tell them that...just reserve the right. You seem like a very nice person, maybe a bit too nice.
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Probably a scam, but to what end on their end? Take down a pic? For what? Why?
n email
I suspect it will be followed by a nasty attachment in a that might cause all sorts of problems.
This will be the response when "proof" is requested is my guess. Nasty scam!
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This is fishy...
If they were serious and this was legit, you would have received some note from a take down notice from a lawyer or communications from FAA or Shutterstock.
So, two days taking action...maybe that's the scam...they will send some court scam email asking you to pay money.
In any case, if you received their email, try to find out where the IP originated from. Maybe from some third world country. Bellow is how:
http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-track-the-original-location-of-an-email-via-its-ip-address/ (http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/how-to-track-the-original-location-of-an-email-via-its-ip-address/)
http://lifehacker.com/how-can-i-find-out-where-an-email-really-came-from-1190061668 (http://lifehacker.com/how-can-i-find-out-where-an-email-really-came-from-1190061668)
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The IP address from the email from donotreply@fineartamerica's is: 207.150.192.50
It says Austin, Texas.
The IP address from the hotmail account is: 65.55.116.12
It says Virginia, Washington
So now I'm really worried...
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Angela
For goodness sake - forget this. Forget their email address and its IP, forget the claim, forget this thread. No-one is going to sue you - it costs a fortune and what damages would they expect to get if they even attempted it and were successful - nothing!
Get back to normal life.
Steve
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Angela
For goodness sake - forget this. Forget their email address and its IP, forget the claim, forget this thread. No-one is going to sue you - it costs a fortune and what damages would they expect to get if they even attempted it and were successful - nothing!
Get back to normal life.
Steve
Yes. This is nothing, and you are getting worked up over something you should totally ignore and never think about again.
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I agree, this is a scam, please forget about it.
When I said you should deny all allegations and reserve the right to countersue, it doesn't mean you need a lawyer at all.
This is a standard reply to protect yourself. No lawyer needed.
If they had anything on you, you would have received something with substance by now and they would have identified themselves properly. Not doing that, puts them into a weak position if there ever was a court case.
Please ignore it all, relax and enjoy the holidays.
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If you are in the US, many police departments take reports of internet and phone frauds. You could also report it to police, at least the ones who pay attention to cyber crimes.
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The IP address from the email from donotreply@fineartamerica's is: 207.150.192.50
It says Austin, Texas.
The IP address from the hotmail account is: 65.55.116.12
It says Virginia, Washington
So now I'm really worried...
Proxy web sites / VPN / other tools can be used to send email from any server and any location of world. People often used these technique to visit banned website, hide their original IP, anonymous surfing etc.
As Steve and others already said, ignore and forget it. I have seen your image that is nothing wrong with it.
How to recognize scams
Scams can contain the following:
1 Alarmist messages and threats of account closures.
2 Promises of money for little or no effort.
3 Deals that sound too good to be true.
4 Requests to donate to a charitable organization after a disaster that has been in the news.
5 Bad grammar and misspellings.
(https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/safety/online-privacy/phishing-scams.aspx (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/safety/online-privacy/phishing-scams.aspx))
Fake emails often (but not always) display some of the following characteristics:
The sender’s email address doesn’t tally with the trusted organisation’s website address.
The email is sent from a completely different address or a free web mail address.
The email does not use your proper name, but uses a non-specific greeting like “dear customer”.
A sense of urgency; for example the threat that unless you act immediately your account may be closed.
A prominent website link. These can be forged or seem very similar to the proper address, but even a single character’s difference means a different website.
A request for personal information such as user name, password or bank details.
The email contains spelling and grammatical errors.
You weren't expecting to get an email from the company that appears to have sent it.
The entire text of the email is contained within an image rather than the usual text format.
The image contains an embedded hyperlink to a bogus site.
(http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/scam-emails (http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/scam-emails))
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The IP address from the email from donotreply@fineartamerica's is: 207.150.192.50
It says Austin, Texas.
The IP address from the hotmail account is: 65.55.116.12
It says Virginia, Washington
So now I'm really worried...
They wouldn't use a hotmail email and have an error with their English if they were legitimate. Scammers use hotmail and usually make mistakes with their English. Stop worrying, you might want to change your email address because if this causes you stress, you are likely to be getting more scam emails now.
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They wouldn't use a hotmail email and have an error with their English if they were legitimate. Scammers use hotmail and usually make mistakes with their English.
[OT] Sadly, plenty of genuine emails from well-known companies contain grammatical/spelling errors / typos. Including, but not limited to, superfluous or missing apostrophes.
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They wouldn't use a hotmail email and have an error with their English if they were legitimate. Scammers use hotmail and usually make mistakes with their English.
[OT] Sadly, plenty of genuine emails from well-known companies contain grammatical/spelling errors / typos. Including, but not limited to, superfluous or missing apostrophes.
That's probably true, but at least they'd be written by a native English speaker.
The number 1 tipoff that an email is a scam is that there's nothing in it that specifically references you, or the image in question. It's a mass mailing.
Angela: just get up and walk away from this. Read what steheap posted, above. It's just a dumb scam that goes nowhere. You have absolutely nothing to worry about.
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Thanks guys. I really appreciate all of your input :) No new emails from them.
Now I'm just focusing my time on Christmas backgrounds which won't sell. Cheers!