Author Topic: istockreseller.com - Scam site? (Read 21784 times)

Poncke · « **Reply #25 on:** December 20, 2012, 12:13 »

I reported the site to PayPal long time ago and they didnt tell me what they did of course but the fact it still has PayPal means they didnt find anything wrong either. Weird stuff. Still dont believe if it was a scam that Getty would let it operate this long. If Getty goes after small time grannies with their lawyers demanding 1500 dollars for a single use web thumbnail, why dont they shut down this one. I'd say its all Getty who set it up, so that they do not have to pay royalty to contributors

.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #26 on:** December 23, 2012, 16:34 »

Another iStock user has been downloading images today - PayPal is working again, apparently.

In the last case of an exclusive passing on all the information to compliance enforcement about a scam sale (that they made to try and get the account closed and the problem taken care of) it took a week or more, but the sale was refunded as expected.

I don't understand why they haven't been able to shut this site down given how long they've had information about it and examples of it in operation.

Maui · « **Reply #27 on:** December 24, 2012, 05:38 »

They seem to use a regular iStock account or API for obtaining access to full resolution images.
I find it very strange that iStock should not be able to shut down that account.

Makes one think that they are not really interested in shutting down the site...

KarenH · « **Reply #28 on:** December 24, 2012, 11:35 »

It took them a month to issue the refund for mine. I wonder just how much business that site is getting. I agree that they don't seem to interested in shutting it down. Something funny going on here . . .

enstoker · « **Reply #29 on:** December 31, 2012, 08:55 »

NOW I know where is the catch:

this site is not scam,
this site is PP.

enstoker · « **Reply #30 on:** December 31, 2012, 08:56 »

W/O paying to contributors, of course.

ShadySue · « **Reply #31 on:** December 31, 2012, 09:08 »

Interestingly, that site seems to have better SEO than iStock does, as does Spider official-partner Pic. And I see that GIS my pics is at least equally likely to throw up the image in the scam site (and/or Spider*) as on iStock.

Something wrong there, Shirley.

Noedelhap · « **Reply #32 on:** January 10, 2013, 10:03 »

It's still online

drial7m1 · « **Reply #33 on:** March 08, 2013, 15:00 »

Seems to be still up and running today.

Microbius · « **Reply #34 on:** March 14, 2013, 05:55 »

I cant believe this site is still up, I came across it again today.
Can't they do a couple of test purchases and trace how the scam is working?

This really does make IS look utterly useless (if any more proof was needed)

cathyslife · « **Reply #35 on:** March 14, 2013, 06:34 »

I wonder if it is a scam at all. As was mentioned earlier, just another API or partner? Seems pretty unlikely that it would still be live if it were in fact some kind of scam.

Microbius · « **Reply #36 on:** March 14, 2013, 06:56 »

Well maybe if Getty are just interested in increasing short term profit for a sale they could be letting it run. They get the sales in the short term as the scammers build up their collection at our expense. They obviously don't care about resale value or long term volume of sales right now (they are happy to devalue our work for a short term revenue boost as demonstrated by the Google firesale).

leaf · « **Reply #37 on:** May 29, 2013, 03:44 »

It looks like this site is now being sold on Flippa
https://flippa.com/2932098-pr2-photography-site-with-2-000-000-indexes-tool-to-make-3000-monthly

It also explains how the system is working.

Quote

When customer presses the Download button:

+ If this photo has been previously purchased by another (and has already been stored on the server), the code automatically resizes the original photo into the size requested by the customer (the secret account of admin on istockphoto will not have to make any more payment – Buy one time and use forever)

+ If this photo does not exist on the server yet, the code automatically orders from istockphoto and download the photo (each different photo is purchased only once with the largest size)

Obviously against the iStock Terms of Service

topol · « **Reply #38 on:** May 29, 2013, 04:50 »

Quote from: cclapper on March 14, 2013, 06:34

I wonder if it is a scam at all. As was mentioned earlier, just another API or partner? Seems pretty unlikely that it would still be live if it were in fact some kind of scam.

Is is a scam. It's probably part of the istock-getty scam family. The fact that the site is still up is just amazing. Allover business morals miles below the lowest of low standards. People should be in prison.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #39 on:** May 29, 2013, 06:52 »

Hilarious. Since IS hasn't figured out how to stop them, maybe the details will help. Doubtful....

leaf · « **Reply #40 on:** May 29, 2013, 07:15 »

Quote from: sjlocke on May 29, 2013, 06:52

Hilarious. Since IS hasn't figured out how to stop them, maybe the details will help. Doubtful....

Assuming all high tech ways of figuring out who they are fail, it would be pretty easy to buy 5 pics through their site and look on the iStock back end and see which account is purchasing those images. Or... perhaps they just don't care that this site is illegally reselling our content???

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #41 on:** May 29, 2013, 07:33 »

Wouldn't matter. They just open another account.

leaf · « **Reply #42 on:** May 29, 2013, 07:41 »

Quote from: sjlocke on May 29, 2013, 07:33

Wouldn't matter. They just open another account.

They'd have to do ip rerouting though and perhaps they'd run out of credit cards.. eventually?? Surely there is some way to shut the site down given the weight of the Getty Gorilla?

Noedelhap · « **Reply #43 on:** May 29, 2013, 07:53 »

So, what's the latest news on the process of stopping this scam site? Is Istock simply unable to stop them (which I can't believe) or have they stopped caring?

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #44 on:** May 29, 2013, 10:30 »

Quote from: Noedelhap on May 29, 2013, 07:53

So, what's the latest news on the process of stopping this scam site? Is Istock simply unable to stop them (which I can't believe) or have they stopped caring?

Both? Obviously they've been at it for a while. Two years? Don't remember. They must have a nice little stash built up.

ppdd · « **Reply #45 on:** May 29, 2013, 10:57 »

Flippa should not allow this auction to proceed - it violates their terms as well.

Noedelhap · « **Reply #46 on:** May 29, 2013, 11:20 »

Quote from: ppdd on May 29, 2013, 10:57

Flippa should not allow this auction to proceed - it violates their terms as well.

Yeah, I was thinking of reporting it. Anything to pester the owner of that crap site.

leaf · « **Reply #47 on:** May 29, 2013, 14:18 »

yes, we should all report it.

Logorilla · « **Reply #48 on:** May 29, 2013, 14:44 »

Looks like iStock have given up. This is from the comment section on Flippa:

"Is this against istockphoto's terms of service? How likely is it that they will sue you?"
Reply from seller "Don't worry, it work very good if you have a hosting outside U.S. Before, iStockphoto contact me about this problems, and now all work great without any problems."

topol · « **Reply #49 on:** May 29, 2013, 15:07 »

Quote from: leaf on May 29, 2013, 07:41

Quote from: sjlocke on May 29, 2013, 07:33
Wouldn't matter. They just open another account.

They'd have to do ip rerouting though and perhaps they'd run out of credit cards.. eventually?? Surely there is some way to shut the site down given the weight of the Getty Gorilla?

Drop that childish myth already, getty is failing bankrupt company even these low-level internet scamsters are laughing in their face.

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Author Topic: istockreseller.com - Scam site? (Read 21784 times)

Poncke

Jo Ann Snover

Maui

KarenH

enstoker

enstoker

ShadySue

Noedelhap

drial7m1

Microbius

cathyslife

Microbius

leaf

topol

Sean Locke Photography

leaf

Sean Locke Photography

leaf

Noedelhap

Sean Locke Photography

ppdd

Noedelhap

leaf

Logorilla

topol

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