Ignore these scammers

I received a copyright claim from Copytrack one or two years ago. I did some research online and I decided to ignore them as it looked too suspicious to me, almost a scam.
I kept receiving warning messages from them; I think I received something like 4- 5 e-mails, in which they were always giving me a “final notice” or an ultimatum (meaning a warning that I would have only 14 days to reply, after which they would contact their legal partners or something like that). Still, I decided to ignore all of their e-mails as it sounded like money extortion.

The last time I’ve heard from Copytrack was in June 2019. One year has passed despite all of those ‘ultimatum’ they sent me. I hope it will stay that way.
The reason why they contacted me is that in 2016 I published photos of a photographer, that were protected by copyright. It is true that I used those images, but it was to promote the artist itself and talk about his works. In the article I wrote, the owner of the photos is mentioned many times. Besides, at the time that the article was published, my website was free from ADS so I was not making any money from it.
Not sure if this can justify me, but I decided that ignoring them is the way to go. I will keep you update you if something changes. It’s more than one year that I am not receiving any copyright claims from CopyTrack.
Anyway, you also mentioned KodakOne
Unfortunately, very recently I also received a copyright claim also from them, and for the same reasons. The story is the same, but I will let you read it and judge by yourself:

The email

Dear Sir or Madam,
After repeated attempts to contact you, we remain unable to verify a license for the use of (photographer name)’s image(s) on (your personal website). We are therefore obliged to notify you that if we do not receive any response to settle this case within 14 days it will be referred to our legal partner without further warning.
All details of the use can be found in the documentation included in our first email.
If you have a license for the image(s), please send your licensing agreement to us so that we can close this case.
Removal of the image(s) will not close this case. We would like to work with you to resolve this case in the most practical and inexpensive way possible by offering a license for the use that has already occurred.
If this case cannot be resolved by Post-Licensing the infringement, the only remaining course of action is for it to be passed to a lawyer. Once this case has been escalated, we can no longer offer you a license and this will likely result in greater costs for you. We hope this will not be necessary as KODAKOne’s Post-Licensing service is designed to be a cost-effective and practical alternative to the legal system for resolving copyright dispute.
If you wish to avoid unnecessary legal dispute, please contact us as soon as possible to speak with one of our Case Managers and arrange a retroactive license. By purchasing a Post-License, you can ensure you are free of liability for copyright infringement and bring this matter to a close without the need for escalation.
We hope we can help you to resolve this infringement without the need for further action or costs.
We understand this is a difficult time for many small businesses and we are doing our best to protect and support the creative community. If you are affected by COVID-19, please be sure to get in contact. A lack of response will not close this matter.
If you have any questions, please reply directly to this email. We look forward to resolving this case with you.
Best regards,
The KODAKOne Post-licensing Team

It sounds like a real thing, even though their methods are very similar to Copytrack even though the name “KODAK” is more famous, and maybe needs to be taken more seriously.
In any case, my idea is to keep ignoring them. If they will call me, or make physical contact with me I will try to explain the same thing I explained above:
I used those photos to promote the artist’s work, I didn’t use them to speculate or make money out of it. I would also tell them that I won’t be able to pay them any money, because, sadly, I really don’t have any, so there’s really nothing they could earn from me. It is just a waste of time, stress-producing, and energy/mind consuming for everyone.
I am not very good in English but I hope I could express myself clearly.

A guy from Europe.

BECOME A VIP MEMBER

BUY SLAY MERCH

UNMASK A SLAYLEBRITY

ADVERTISE WITH US

BECOME A PARTNER

BUY SLAYNETWORK COIN


Have you gotten an email or form submission starting with “Your website or a website that your company hosts is violating the copyright protected images owned by myself”? It’s a scam. Don’t click the link.

As of May 10, 2022, we’re seeing the highest traffic ever to this post. That means the copyright spam scam is going around again. Be careful! We see the following message – verbatim – every few months. It hits WordPress sites seemingly at random, usually through a contact form. The name used varies; one site yesterday received two identical messages from “two” “different” “copyright holders.” The link purports to offer “evidence” of your copyright infringement. Instead, it contains a trojan that can be used to install ransomware or malware on your system. In other words, if you get the following message, it is a scam. You have not committed copyright infringement. Hello! My name is Brittany. [Editor’s note: This is one of many fake names used. The “sender’s” name is not Brittany.] Your website or a website that your company hosts is violating the copyright-protected images owned by myself. Check out this doc with the URLs to my images you utilized at [your website] and my earlier publications to get the proof of my copyrights. Download it right now and check this out for yourself: [URL redacted; OMG, do not click things like this!] I believe you have intentionally infringed my legal rights under 17 USC Sec. 101 et seq. and could possibly be liable for statutory damages of up to $120,000 as set-forth in Sec. 504(c)(2) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (”DMCA”) therein. This message is official notice. I demand the removal of the infringing materials mentioned above. Please take note as a service provider, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires you, to remove and/or terminate access to the infringing content upon receipt of this letter. In case you do not cease the use of the previously mentioned infringing content a court action will likely be commenced against you. I have a strong belief that use of the copyrighted materials mentioned above as allegedly infringing is not approved by the copyright owner, its legal agent, or the law. I declare, under consequence of perjury, that the information in this notification is correct and that I am the legal copyright proprietor or am authorized to act on behalf of the proprietor of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. How do we know this is a phishing scam? First of all, the “claim” of copyright infringement is incredibly vague. We’ve seen copyrighted images unintentionally used in the past, and notices come from attorneys, or are super specific. “Hey, on this page you used this image.” Second, this is a dubious use of DMCA – scary-sounding “legal” language. See the part about $120,000 in damages as “set-forth” (not a word) in Sec. 504(c)(2)? That’s actually $150,000. Do your homework, scammers. (It seems that this amount varies in various versions of the scheme, FWIW.) Note, too, the last paragraph. This fake person is either the copyright “proprietor” or someone authorized to work on their behalf. Always sad to see a scammer with an identity crisis. Finally, there’s the fact that this links to a consumer-grade file storage server. Never, ever, ever – ever – click a link like this in an unsolicited message. Just assume it’s a scam. Who the DMCA Notice ‘Comes From’ Looking at analytics of this post, we’re seeing users searching for similar messages spoofed from: * Netsuite * Mailchimp * Freshbooks * HubSpot * Zoho * Slack * Trello The fake message is usually phrased as coming from “[Company Name], Inc.” So, “Netsuite, Inc.” These are real companies, with real lawyers. They wouldn’t send you the amateur hour message above. This is a scam. Do not click the link. What You Can Do Honestly, stuff like this is out there. And the particularly pernicious part is that these scammers have started to use website contact forms, rather than cold email, to ensure they end up in an inbox. (Looking at you, “Secret Weapon” form spammers who won’t leave us alone.) These jerks’ hope is that their message ends up on the screen of someone without much online experience, giving them free rein to extract a ransom or access your private data. Big picture? Ignore it. Copyright infringement – particularly with images – does happen. It’s usually a mistake, and folks pointing it out are typically pretty reasonable. But they’ll either go through a lawyer or reach out specifically. They don’t go about it like this. If you get a message with “Your website or a website that your company hosts is violating the copyright-protected images owned by myself” in your inbox, you have not committed copyright infringement. They are attempting to place malware or ransomware on your machine. Do not click the link.

Leave a Reply