There will be some potentially embarrassing questions asked including exactly how many infringing images are in the database, why existing technology wasn't enabled which could easily ferret out these images, as well as perhaps the most embarrassing one - where did the sales revenue from these stolen images actually go? Was any effort ever made after the discovery of suspect images and deleted accounts to identify and contact the original copyright owners and at the very least turn over any sales revenue? Depending on the findings it  could answer the question many of us are naturally asking ourselves - is Shutterstock actually complicit at this point or not?

Great points above.

As a publicly-listed company this goes to the very heart of corporate responsibility and directors' duties. Stakeholders rely on corporate information to make investment decisions. There are currently 440,000 active accounts generating quarterly sales of $165.46 million (source: https://www.fairfieldcurrent.com/news/2019/02/14/165-46-million-in-sales-expected-for-shutterstock-inc-sstk-this-quarter.html). Can someone guarantee that 5% of those contributor accounts are NOT fraudulent and an unspecified amount generated from those accounts is NOT a "proceed of crime"? If 5% were proved to be fraudulent, how would this affect their reputation and stock price?

SS are of course regularly audited. These past few weeks myself and others have provided auditors with more than enough evidence of the scale of the fraud going on almost unimpeded. SS will probably just do enough to cover themselves until something huge, as stated by DavidK above, occurs. Plaintiffs may find difficultly in claiming for lost profits as I doubt that any of these fraudulent accounts generate much since they're so badly captioned/keyworded, however, there may be other types of claims available. 

I should probably keep going to maintain the momentum so it's brought (again) to the forefront of their attention or at the very least, well-known sources. Just need to find the time and motivation - I've spent about 20 mins on this today and already flagged some 15 accounts, with the help of others. I'm sure if SS devoted 10,000 hours of manpower they would be able to flag at least 44,000 suspicious accounts, which would be equal to at least 1% of their total number of contributors. Simply hire interns based in India, which ironically is where most of the fraudulent accounts are based.

All-time summary:

Total moles identified to date: 448

Total moles wacked: 337

Summary for week ending Feb 17:

Moles wacked (by SS) from Feb 3 - Feb 17: TWO (2)

Moles pending: 111

This is my last week doing this as it's apparent that SS don't give a fk about this project with only two wacked moles after 2 weeks. I and others helping out obviously have way more important things to do with our time. If anybody else wants to pursue this apparently fruitless task further, please be my guest.

Perhaps I'll re-continue if I see SS pull their weight. Meanwhile the number of thieves keeps growing...

https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96484-thieves-thread-update-week-ending-feb-17-448-so-far-flagged/

Typical of SS I could have predicted they'd get bored of actually doing any real work on this.

I'll make a tongue in cheek prediction ~ you've seen the last of SS deleting thieves accounts.

Yeah, I'm kinda bored too...

Quote from: Brasilnut on February 02, 2019, 08:00

Small update:
-----

All-time summary:

Total moles identified to date: 468

Total moles wacked: 236

Summary for week ending Feb 3:

Moles wacked (by SS) from Jan 27 - Feb 2: 116

Moles pending: 105

https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96349-thieves-thread-update-week-ending-feb-3-468-so-far-flagged/

Highest praise for you, and finally somehow getting their attention. I only got two shut down last year on my own, you've done an outstanding job. And I realize that some people on the SS forum have been contributing to your collection as well.

If the crooks found that they can't profit, hopefully the word will get out and they will do this less. If the claim of locations are true, those people are probably using fake IDs or borrowed IDs and could be the same group behind it. I mean, once they can't profit, we could get rid of a repeating person or orginization and get the profits to the correct artists.

I think they'll just go to another agency. I haven't done any research at the likes of iStock or Adobe Stock but I'm sure they have their own issues with theft, however, they probably have better systems in place to flag similars, etc (I'm assuming).

Most of their keywords are so terrible that not sure they'll ever get sales. Then there's the 3-month payment probation. I can't see how doing this can ever be worthwhile and hope they start to realise that it's really fruitless. Some have decent Photoshop skills and should just focus on that instead of looking for shortcuts.

Even though I started the initiative, this is a team job and really appreciate those that are taking their time to find these moles. I need to stress that nobody, including myself, is getting paid a cent for this.

Small update:
-----

All-time summary:

Total moles identified to date: 468

Total moles wacked: 236

Summary for week ending Feb 3:

Moles wacked (by SS) from Jan 27 - Feb 2: 116

Moles pending: 105

https://forums.submit.shutterstock.com/topic/96349-thieves-thread-update-week-ending-feb-3-468-so-far-flagged/

213 pages of topics, mainly about this question

https://discussion.alamy.com/forum/4-ask-the-forum/

Quote from: Brasilnut on January 27, 2019, 08:54

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...

I don't know how you feel but it looks like Shutterstock stopped deleting the thieves accounts

They probably pay a bit of lip service and carry on their usual head in the sand  approach

So far it seems that no accounts on the list have been shut down this week, disappointing.

Will put together a end of week update on Sat night. 

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.

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.

"It's not Stock, it's Thievestock, and we dont care."

Some bad publicity would maybe force SS to do something about it. Like for example an article about situation on Petapixel or similar. That kind of stuff usually helps.

Brasilnut, you're good with words, becuase of your blogs, etc....

To be fair, today I noticed that SS has shut down about 15 of the 100 flagged accounts. It's a drop in the ocean, of course.

Yes, it's a interesting/relevant topic and looking at some angles to pitch to major publications, along with updates on my blog. Gathering evidence at the moment...maybe once we get to 1,000 suspicious accounts it will be turn some heads and this goes viral. This stuff isn't immune to SS and wouldn't mind doing a similar investigation on other agencies, except iStock / Getty which are simply bad for the industry with their pathetic fees and don't deserve my help.

Thanks for the compliment on my writing.

I'm going to email Seth and let him know where his stuff is being sold.

Nice spot!

P.S. Sorry for my english

Do you offer keywording services too? I'm interested!

Depressing and just ruins an otherwise fun shoot with my grandfather.

Getty / Istock are just bad for the industry and they know it!

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 17, 2019, 11:38

Quote from: jonbull on January 17, 2019, 11:28

.if 99% of cheater come from those is not racism ar trumps but reality.

Saying that 99% (made up number, of course) of cheaters come from some countries is exactly what xenophobia is about.
For you, some nations are inferior, some nations are "nations of cheaters".
A couple of months ago, you were ranting about Russia and Ukraine, now you rant about Algeria, Bangladesh and India.
FYI, racists or white-nationalists "justifications" function based on similar assumptions: that non-white races are inferior.

It's so sad that you don't even realize it!

only in the last two days, with minimal efforts brasilnut found at least 10 15 thieves from india. why not from usa or other country?

I look for them and they happen to be predominately from India, Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh and Russia. Not sure what % are fraudulent but wouldn't say it's 99%. Pity for other otherwise legitimate contributors from those countries that give them a bad name, especially India which is such a rich and colourful country. Some of those contributors just need to step out the door and see the beauty.

SS have a 90-day "high-fraud risk" list of countries before they can withdraw, so it's not by accident that those places are more likely to have thieves than others. Nothing to do with DNA or nationality/ethnicity or the fact that their staple food is rice other than potatoes, it comes down to education or in many cases, lack of. Also corruption is ripe in many of those countries and there's a kind of free-for-all and lack of social fabric that is found in more egalitarian societies. 25 cents in many of those countries is worth a lot more than 25 cents in our western developed world, so we're likely to see the proliferation of thieves in the coming years while QC standards become increasingly non-existent.

No excuse, still thieves and need to be shut down and educated. 

p.s how they let the same image be distributed by 6 people is beyond me and close to negligence for a publicly listed agency with audited accounts and a compliance dept

�Our campaign is a celebration of the amazing artists who contribute these incredible assets to our platform, and highlights the extraordinary value that they bring to creative endeavours every day.�

Guess they're not referring to the complete trash being uploaded on a daily basis and being accepted by a non-existent QC