Urgent PSA: Impostors Claiming to Sell My Work

Earlier this year, I had the unfortunate experience of finding out my name and images had been stolen and used on a series of scam sites. At first, I thought an unscrupulous individual was trying to pass my work off as their own.

But that’s not it at all. 

It’s a lot worse. 

So What’s Going on Here?

As far as I know, this has been going on since at least the end of last year.

Maybe longer. 

I've heard all kinds of stories from other artists and designers over the years about copyright infringement, but I hadn’t experienced anything firsthand. I wasn’t sure what impact this might have or what I could do if someone was stealing my name, images, and designs. 

It came up with a reverse image search, and I was immediately concerned about the number of red flags. The whole thing seemed so shady. 

The first thing that caught my eye were the products and images - they were all so different from each other. It struck me as odd. There's usually some kind of aesthetic consistency with a business, and there was just none whatsoever. Some were huge brand names, and some were smaller and independent.  

While I have no way of truly knowing, I began to suspect that the images were stolen from a variety of artists and designers from all over the net.

After doing a deeper dive, my concerns shifted quite a bit.

While it doesn’t look like anyone is stealing my work or trying to pass it off as their own, there is something else that seems to be going on. 

And it’s not good.

The Good News... and the Bad News

The good (?) news is that the sites are very fake. It doesn’t seem like stealing my work is the primary goal.

The bad news?

They may not even intend to fill orders at all. My initial search brought up a lot about the site in question, and all of it was pretty shocking. These sites may steal credit card info from their customers.

Awful, right?

You can read one of the many articles here.

My Name and Images Were Stolen, Now What?

I’ve had a few people suggest I let it go because there’s, "nothing I can do." 

That advice didn't sit well with me.  

Something that sets me apart from others is that my name was being used as well as my images. That means these sites are coming up on searches of my name and my business.  

I am very much not ok with that, and I want to help ensure that no one in my orbit gets duped by these scam sites. 

I planned to submit a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Takedown Notice to their site registrar, but the first site I found was taken down before I could even submit anything. 

That site was only up for two or three weeks before it went down, and there are so many red flags. I can only assume there were enough complaints to the registrar that they had no choice. 

Unfortunately, a new scam site came up the following week and I submitted my first DCMA Takedown request.

Less than 24 hours later, the site was down. 

Turns out, there is something I can do. 

And I'm going to keep doing it. 

How to Spot the Red Flags of a Scam Website

While I'm hoping they stop using my name and images eventually, I suspect this may continue to pop up. I'll keep sending DMCA Takedown Notices whenever I can.

In the meantime, I want to make sure you know how to spot a scam site and protect yourself from scammers claiming to sell my work. I put together a list of all the glaring issues I saw when I encountered these scam sites.

These are red flags you should be looking out for:

• Odd or Unpronounceable shop names | (xabxmall.shop, wfoqfashion.shop)
• Products and images with different aesthetics and styles | Most reputable businesses have some consistency with the products they sell and the images they use. All the scam sites I came across were all over the place, aesthetically and stylistically. 
• Incorrect original prices |  They seem to be far more or way less than what I charge normally. I can't speak for everyone, but you can always go to my site for reference on my products. My prices are the same everywhere I sell. If it's off, it's a sign something isn't right.
• Too good to be true discounts storewide (50%-60% or more) | These discounts are meant to draw you in to purchase before you can think about it. I do big sales sometimes, but never like this. Always remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!
• No clear contact or location information. It should be easy to find, and have a time frame for a response. Location info should be clear and make sense. Otherwise, beware. 
• Social links only link to the main URL for each platform, instead of an account related to the shop | Social media is huge for new businesses and small brands. If they're not making any effort to make themselves known and be traceable, beware. 
  
• Brand new site | You can find this info by looking up their URL on whois.com. The two I found were barely two weeks old, which makes fraud and scams a genuine concern. 

Always do some research before making any online purchase somewhere new, and be ok with walking away when things feel off. 

If you see any of these red flags, don't enter your credit card information!

Stay Safe and Internet Savvy

Make sure the customer service, reviews, and returns/exchange policy are solid in case you have any issues. If you find that you're very interested in a particular business, follow them on social media, join their newsletter, and engage with their business by asking questions. You can also show your friends and family and get their opinions. 

If I'm working with a new vendor or doing a special event, it will be all over my socials, website, and newsletter. If you're still not sure, you can always contact me.  

And of course, if you’d like to buy my work, it’s available here on my site and at local markets in Berlin. 

While I would love for this to be over, I have a sense it's going to be popping up from time to time. 

I'll keep sharing this info on my socials, and newsletter and hope it gets out to everyone who needs to hear it. This is so much bigger than me because I've found that a lot of people don't even know these kinds of scam sites exist. 

If this is news to you, please share it with those you care about!

Do you have any other questions, or was there something I missed?

Drop them in the comments!