How to Make a Scam Website Feel My Wrath?

[RDCanecutter 26570]

I sell art online, mainly on Etsy. Once in a blue moon I'll google myself and find knock-offs of my stuff. When it's on Amazon, easy to shut it down. Today I found an entire site that appears to be a scam.

https://www.wowlishq.com/

They've got 30 of my pieces for sale. At first I thought it was one of those little huckster sites that kicks you over to Etsy or eBay and gets paid a percentage of the sale. But they have my stuff listed at about 2/3 the Etsy price, they have stuff listed that I already sold, and, for things that are all one-of-a-kind, they offer multiple quantities.

Now, at best, they send out some crappy reproduction. 99% sure they don't send anything, and just go have fun with the credit card info. Which means they are cheating my potential customers. That pisses me off, because cheating my customers is my job.

So I looked them up on this "WHOIS" thingy, turns out their registrant is in Germany, and they have been around since August 2021.

https://whois.whoisxmlapi.com/lookup-report/gz5xMwnzkw

I tried to use the contact email on their website to send a little cease-and-desist note, but it's a dead link. I see another one in the registration info, but I started thinking I don't even want them to have my own email address.

What I DO want, is for my art to be off of their site, and, better yet, for some German cops with hangovers to come busting in their door, just to add to their no-doubt existing list of scams.

Any smooth way to do this, or should I go straight to hiring crazed mercenaries?

[deadshank 24653]

They should be good for some katzenfakten.  
 

Nein?

Edited November 14, 2021 by deadshank

[RDCanecutter 26570]

1 minute ago, deadshank said:

They should be good for some katzenfakten.  
 

Nein?

Mein Gott. 😮

 

[Guest Lobo]

I like your stuff that you've linked to me before.  And I like your posts.  And I'd be happy to help you, but stay away from this German art-fraud ring.  My only advice.  

If it were a lesser group, I'd help you fuck with 'em free of charge.  I enjoy making bad people suffer.  But just cut your losses with these guys.  

[ztejas 43777]

Maybe see if Germany has a way to report fraud or internet scams? 

If they're even in Germany. They could get shutdown and just move domains somewhere else. 

Edited November 14, 2021 by ztejas

[RDCanecutter 26570]

Just now, ztejas said:

Maybe see if Germany has a way to report fraud or internet scams? 

I came here because I am lazy and wanted somebody else to do that for me.

[ztejas 43777]

Just now, RDCanecutter said:

I came here because I am lazy and wanted somebody else to do that for me.

Looks like it's all under the Euro umbrella. Maybe try one of these:

https://ec.europa.eu/anti-fraud/olaf-and-you/report-fraud_en

https://www.europol.europa.eu/report-a-crime/report-cybercrime-online

Guessing nothing would ever happen and it isn't worth your time, though. 

[RDCanecutter 26570]

1 minute ago, ztejas said:

Looks like it's all under the Euro umbrella. Maybe try one of these:

https://ec.europa.eu/anti-fraud/olaf-and-you/report-fraud_en

https://www.europol.europa.eu/report-a-crime/report-cybercrime-online

Guessing nothing would ever happen and it isn't worth your time, though. 

Danke. Probably it would get results, as in, nothing happens to the scammers but 5 years from now I myself get pulled off a plane by Interpol because a German cop with a hangover typed my name in the wrong space on the form.

Prolly oughta just go to Germany myself, and start beating the hell out of people who look like they know how to use computers.

[CooterBrown 18108]

Are you Richard Gere?

[RDCanecutter 26570]

38 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

Are you Richard Gere?

Yes. Yes I am. And don't knock it until you try it.

[atomheartbevo 90142]

edit: oh fuck never mind.

Edited November 15, 2021 by atomheartbevo

[mchookem 16593]

 

[MillerEP 30576]

If it helps, the site's trust rating is super low. So low in fact most proactive IS programs will auto-block you from getting to it:

[Baboontyme 2842]

I would try to make sure that Victor Maitland isn't behind all of this before you do anything at all. 

[Horn of Gabriel 1866]

Don’t waste your time. My business is in professional training and we had a German guy fly to Boston, take our classes, then fly back to Germany and replicate exactly what we do, slide for slide. Complete rip-off of our IP.

Our CEO was pissed, he sends a cease and desist, nothing, hired a German lawyer to do the same, nothing. Eventually sued him in German court. I got to fly over and testify. The case was heard by a 3 judge panel. The Germans guy defense was basically “look at this big bad American company who is trying to bully me!”

They found that he infringed, but gave him the ability to tweak the slides with different words (same concepts) and avoid any monetary penalties. We spent probably $1M on nothing.

Save your time and sanity and invest it in better SEO to get clients that way. The people he scams aren’t your problem. Do right by your clients and get word of mouth referrals. More loyal and cheaper.

[NeverMarryAStripper 22054]

Yeah, it's a lot cheaper to lure them back to the US and plant pedo porn on their computer

[RDCanecutter 26570]

On 11/15/2021 at 10:14 PM, Horn of Gabriel said:

Don’t waste your time. My business is in professional training and we had a German guy fly to Boston, take our classes, then fly back to Germany and replicate exactly what we do, slide for slide. Complete rip-off of our IP.

Our CEO was pissed, he sends a cease and desist, nothing, hired a German lawyer to do the same, nothing. Eventually sued him in German court. I got to fly over and testify. The case was heard by a 3 judge panel. The Germans guy defense was basically “look at this big bad American company who is trying to bully me!”

They found that he infringed, but gave him the ability to tweak the slides with different words (same concepts) and avoid any monetary penalties. We spent probably $1M on nothing.

Save your time and sanity and invest it in better SEO to get clients that way. The people he scams aren’t your problem. Do right by your clients and get word of mouth referrals. More loyal and cheaper.

Sounds like a variation on the Mexican Private Language School dodge of 15-20 years ago:

Establish a faux-distinguished new school in a Mexican town. Rework the teaching materials you stole from your last job. Get a shiny sign made out of big metal letters. Recruit students from the ten filthy rich families that control that town. Make bank for about three years. Then your best teachers steal all your teaching materials and set up their own faux-distinguished new school and do all the same things, until three years later their teachers rebel and do the same thing. Repeat until the next revolución.

Back to my scam parasite website, I figure if it's anybody's problem, it's Etsy's. I doubt I'll remember to tell them. I am still sore that they pulled one of my paintings because it included a cartoon VW Bug (as about a thousand other pieces of art do) but some English narc wanker reported me on behalf of Hitler's favorite car company.

[RDCanecutter 26570]

On 11/15/2021 at 3:02 PM, Baboontyme said:

I would try to make sure that Victor Maitland isn't behind all of this before you do anything at all. 

Or, worse, Knox Harrington.

[Prepuce of Doom 21139]

On 11/15/2021 at 10:14 PM, Horn of Gabriel said:

Don’t waste your time. My business is in professional training and we had a German guy fly to Boston, take our classes, then fly back to Germany and replicate exactly what we do, slide for slide. Complete rip-off of our IP.

Our CEO was pissed, he sends a cease and desist, nothing, hired a German lawyer to do the same, nothing. Eventually sued him in German court. I got to fly over and testify. The case was heard by a 3 judge panel. The Germans guy defense was basically “look at this big bad American company who is trying to bully me!”

They found that he infringed, but gave him the ability to tweak the slides with different words (same concepts) and avoid any monetary penalties. We spent probably $1M on nothing.

Save your time and sanity and invest it in better SEO to get clients that way. The people he scams aren’t your problem. Do right by your clients and get word of mouth referrals. More loyal and cheaper.

Germans have a bizarre sense of business ethics. 

[ROFL BOX 6650]

Germans have a bizarre sense of business ethics. 

Well, supposedly work WILL set you free.

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