Beware of sites stealing Etsy member designs, and photos, and descriptions
I'm a little late to the party, but this is signal worth boosting.
Start here, on Live Journal, where I learned about the problem.
The rest is going to be mostly links to send you places to read things.
Discussion on Etsy here
Violets new Vintage blog post here
DaniWeb IT discussion forum post here
and just in case you can't find the link to the original photo that's mentioned in the Daniweb article, there's a screen shot of it before it was taken down here
Conclusion; beware of T r a d e r L o u, and A . H . S m i t h websites.
Even before you go clicking it's worth noting one of the Etsy members mention of aftermath of visit to TL site:
"Spam???
So I went to the TL website out of curiosity about an hour or so ago. A few minutes ago I received my first piece of Spam that I ever got via a convo. It was from an Etsy shop who sells jewelry and had the same exact photos that the TL site has (whited out around the jewelry). Now I do not favorite any jewelry pieces or shops because jewelry is not really my thing. I find it suspicious that I visit their website and then all of the sudden an etsy shop (I won't name them, but it doesn't resemble the TL name) sent me Spam. Coincidence... I doubt it."
and another said
"Ha! The site got blocked by my security program and would not let me on. It had this message with it:
The page you are trying to access has been identified as a known exploit, phishing, or social engineering web site and therefore has been blocked for your safety. Without protection, such as that in the AVG Security Toolbar and AVG, your computer is at risk of being compromised, corrupted or having your identity stolen.
Be careful... "
Hmm... this site, with reverse image search, could prove very useful if you think any of YOUR photos got ripped off.
Start here, on Live Journal, where I learned about the problem.
The rest is going to be mostly links to send you places to read things.
Discussion on Etsy here
Violets new Vintage blog post here
DaniWeb IT discussion forum post here
and just in case you can't find the link to the original photo that's mentioned in the Daniweb article, there's a screen shot of it before it was taken down here
Conclusion; beware of T r a d e r L o u, and A . H . S m i t h websites.
Even before you go clicking it's worth noting one of the Etsy members mention of aftermath of visit to TL site:
"Spam???
So I went to the TL website out of curiosity about an hour or so ago. A few minutes ago I received my first piece of Spam that I ever got via a convo. It was from an Etsy shop who sells jewelry and had the same exact photos that the TL site has (whited out around the jewelry). Now I do not favorite any jewelry pieces or shops because jewelry is not really my thing. I find it suspicious that I visit their website and then all of the sudden an etsy shop (I won't name them, but it doesn't resemble the TL name) sent me Spam. Coincidence... I doubt it."
and another said
"Ha! The site got blocked by my security program and would not let me on. It had this message with it:
The page you are trying to access has been identified as a known exploit, phishing, or social engineering web site and therefore has been blocked for your safety. Without protection, such as that in the AVG Security Toolbar and AVG, your computer is at risk of being compromised, corrupted or having your identity stolen.
Be careful... "
Hmm... this site, with reverse image search, could prove very useful if you think any of YOUR photos got ripped off.