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An Explanation on Wallpart.com - PLEASE READ
10 years ago
So, I have been notified by several people about pages of Peter & Company and other pieces of my artwork being supposedly "available for sale" through Wallpart.com, and in the past 24 hours have seen many other artists make journals/submissions talking about finding their own work on there as well. Naturally, the inclination of any artist finding their work available for sale without their consent is to head to the "Report Violation" link attached to every listing and file a complaint to have it removed.
PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT DO THIS ON WALLPART.COM'S WEBSITE.
I've dug into their site code and reviewed some audits that were performed by other folks in various places online who were aware of this site's existence, and there's some very devious bait-and-switch going on. Essentially:
- They are not actually selling any of the images that appear on their site. Their "search function" is nothing but scraper software, which essentially just loads up hits from Google Images and displays them within a pre-built "shop" template based on the image's resolution. This is why every single piece on there has a title that is lifted directly from whatever gallery site (FA/DA/Weasyl) or general website was hosting it. Example: They have my title card from my Kickstarter page for the P&C pilot, with the title lifted straight off the description.
- The dependence on Google Images is also why doing a search for your own name will turn up different results each time, or possibly no results at all. Their "search" function never actually searches their own listings, because they have none. Confusingly enough, performing the same search multiple times often returns different results at different times throughout the day. I was able to find dozens of P&C pages supposedly for sale by searching my name yesterday, but today none of them show up in search results -- even though the direct links to the page forms (which I saved) still exist.
- Their "Report Violation" link is actually a 100% phishing form. If you fill it out, no matter what you put there, you will be sending them a LOT more than you anticipated. This is actually the main purpose for the site's existence -- they completely anticipate artists being upset about their work supposedly being sold, so they developed a system to exploit those who complain.
- Various pieces of malware and other malicious code have been found embedded throughout their pages at different times. This site is just bad news all around.
- The site itself is hosted in Russia, and has already swapped web hosts 4 times in the past few months. The current host is listed as ENOM, and other bloggers/artists have already sent complaints and reports to their contact page, with little luck. It looks like it's already been branded and caught in the past and is trying to keep itself alive.
- Also, for a site claiming to have "billions of images" available for print, to only have a little over 3,000 "happy customers" should be a pretty big red flag on its own.
So please -- DO NOT EVEN VISIT THIS SITE. Do not give it page views, and most absolutely DO NOT FILL OUT ANY VIOLATION FORMS, EVEN IF THE ARTWORK ON THE PAGE IS YOUR OWN. Instead, there is a Change.org petition (https://www.change.org/p/remove-wal.....ut-persmission) asking for the domain to be stripped and brought down.
Please share the word around as much as possible so other artists don't potentially fall into their trap by thinking that their "Report Violation" page is actually what it claims to be. These people are pure scam artists, plain and simple. Avoid them at all costs.
PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT DO THIS ON WALLPART.COM'S WEBSITE.
I've dug into their site code and reviewed some audits that were performed by other folks in various places online who were aware of this site's existence, and there's some very devious bait-and-switch going on. Essentially:
- They are not actually selling any of the images that appear on their site. Their "search function" is nothing but scraper software, which essentially just loads up hits from Google Images and displays them within a pre-built "shop" template based on the image's resolution. This is why every single piece on there has a title that is lifted directly from whatever gallery site (FA/DA/Weasyl) or general website was hosting it. Example: They have my title card from my Kickstarter page for the P&C pilot, with the title lifted straight off the description.
- The dependence on Google Images is also why doing a search for your own name will turn up different results each time, or possibly no results at all. Their "search" function never actually searches their own listings, because they have none. Confusingly enough, performing the same search multiple times often returns different results at different times throughout the day. I was able to find dozens of P&C pages supposedly for sale by searching my name yesterday, but today none of them show up in search results -- even though the direct links to the page forms (which I saved) still exist.
- Their "Report Violation" link is actually a 100% phishing form. If you fill it out, no matter what you put there, you will be sending them a LOT more than you anticipated. This is actually the main purpose for the site's existence -- they completely anticipate artists being upset about their work supposedly being sold, so they developed a system to exploit those who complain.
- Various pieces of malware and other malicious code have been found embedded throughout their pages at different times. This site is just bad news all around.
- The site itself is hosted in Russia, and has already swapped web hosts 4 times in the past few months. The current host is listed as ENOM, and other bloggers/artists have already sent complaints and reports to their contact page, with little luck. It looks like it's already been branded and caught in the past and is trying to keep itself alive.
- Also, for a site claiming to have "billions of images" available for print, to only have a little over 3,000 "happy customers" should be a pretty big red flag on its own.
So please -- DO NOT EVEN VISIT THIS SITE. Do not give it page views, and most absolutely DO NOT FILL OUT ANY VIOLATION FORMS, EVEN IF THE ARTWORK ON THE PAGE IS YOUR OWN. Instead, there is a Change.org petition (https://www.change.org/p/remove-wal.....ut-persmission) asking for the domain to be stripped and brought down.
Please share the word around as much as possible so other artists don't potentially fall into their trap by thinking that their "Report Violation" page is actually what it claims to be. These people are pure scam artists, plain and simple. Avoid them at all costs.
While image scraping happens a lot, and it's nearly impossible to prevent any image online from being stolen and reposted, tricking people into trying to buy a product and then steal their info through your complaints for non-delivery is a dirty move. Social engineering keeps getting more and more devious.
The hosting service will need to be alerted that this site is engaged in felony criminal acts using their site and that their company is directly financially and legally liable for any and all damages through the actions of this site if they continue to permit it operating there. Most hosting sites will be quick to take action to shut it down, because if they don't, they can quickly be put out of business. Let's hope they do the right thing quickly.
Unfortunately, this time of scam can easily pack up and rehost in a matter of a couple of hours.
2. Then find out who their hosting provider is (Whois might help with that.)
3. Contact a legal firm that specializes in copyright law to see what your options are. Some firms will give you free preliminary advise to determine if you have a case or not... The costs tend not to be applied for the initial consultation though some will apply the preliminary consultation fees if they determine you ahve a case and they choose to take your case on.
4. Share this journal and inform others (Artists or not) about this.
Overall I kind of doubt this site is as cut-throat and I'm not trying to chicken little the sky falling so everyone should bust out 19 virus software programs or change every password they have, but at the same time there is something to be said about a bit of caution on a couple things that seem like they'd be ideal targets. If anything if someone was logged into their email and it was stored as a cookie then they filled in said email, that may be all they really want or need.
That said, I also realize I'm about as tech savvy as a potato personally. Its more that in my net bumbling I've encountered the usual gauntlet of phishing sites, the more sinister cookie grabber ones, and then sometimes you get the ones trying to pose as the other. No matter the case, there is likely something more worthwhile to be gained from their scheme and scam than what initially meets the eye cause otherwise why would they really bother. So it's mostly just grasping straws as to what.
If enough people do that, maybe it'll make the information unprofitable for them and they'll quit it...
It's also a good chance you'll get a virus or spyware even looking at pages on the site
Just feel like doing something to mess with lowlifes like this. I can't just leave them alone!
Because like this journal states, they're targeting artists. If artists ignore, they lose.
https://supportcenter.godaddy.com/A.....eReport/Index#
report for phishing, and his IP is hugedomain.com
just remember this asshole keeps changing domains so it wont be long till it's back up