Phishing SCAM Alert: Beware of Fake Email from an “Experienced Photographer and Illustrator” Claiming Copyright Infringement
Please note that PICS has always properly licensed the images used in our clients websites – however fake emails are being sent to businesses claiming images on their website violate copyright infringement.
As a public service announcement, we are posting a new variant of the email/form submission received by one of our clients on 5-25-21. As Liz notes in her article – “the text and phrasing of the email has been updated to sound more professional quoting U.S. Copyright statutes. Since we’ve had so many reports of this phishing scam, we wanted to spread the word about it since it uses a fairly effective scare tactic against businesses.”
Again, if you do get this email, or via your website form – simply ignore it.
- It is not real. It is a phishing attempt.
- Do not click on the link (it will almost certainly contain Malware or a Virus)
- Do not reply to the email (you’ll get more phishing emails!).
Below is a copy of the most recent version sent to our client on May 25, 2021:
My name is Barbara.
Your website or a website that your organization hosts is infringing on a copyright-protected images owned by me personally.
Check out this report with the URLs to my images you used at exampledomain.com and my previous publications to find the proof of my copyrights.
Download it now and check this out for yourself:
https://URLREDACTED/download?d=URL-REDACTED (notice the URL has “download” in it. If you click on it, you will be prompted to download a file that most certainly contains MALWARE. DO NOT CLICK ON IT”.
I really believe that you willfully violated my legal rights under 17 USC Sec. 101 et seq. and can be liable for statutory damages as high as $130,000 as set-forth in Section 504(c)(2) of the Digital millennium copyright act (DMCA) therein.
This message is official notification. I seek the elimination of the infringing materials referenced above. Please be aware as a company, the DMCA requires you, to remove or/and disable access to the copyrighted content upon receipt of this particular notice. If you do not cease the utilization of the above mentioned copyrighted content a law suit can be commenced against you.
I do have a good self-belief that utilization of the copyrighted materials described above as presumably infringing is not permitted by the legal copyright proprietor, its legal agent, as well as legislation.
I declare, under penalty of perjury, that the information in this message is correct and that I am the legal copyright owner or am certified to act on behalf of the proprietor of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Best regards,
Barbara Wegner
Please note that PICS has always properly licensed the images used in our clients websites – however fake emails are being sent to businesses claiming images on their website violate copyright infringement.
Again, if you do get this email, or via your website form – simply ignore it.
- It is not real. It is a phishing attempt.
- Do not click on the link (it will almost certainly contain Malware or a Virus)
- Do not reply to the email (you’ll get more phishing emails!).
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