We all downloaded and used free public domain images off the Internet for our Blog and social media posts. You can download images from websites such as Shutterstock and iStock, but they have an imbedded watermark. You must pay for a clear picture. Most of the time, a copyrighted image is clearly marked as such, and you must seek permission to use it. Not a problem.

Some enterprising souls see this as an opportunity to scam money off authors by saying you illegally used an image. Unless you make a hefty payment, you will be taken to court for copyright violation.

I received an email from Copytrack  https://portal.copytrack.com, the latest in a line of sites, most don’t even specify what image I used. The ones I like best are violation of Disney Studios images. Copytrack claim I illegally used a copyrighted image on one of my Blog posts I created in 2017. Unless I pay €739, they would take legal action against me. At the bottom of the official-looking email, the amount is €724. Their website is a clunky attempt to look professional and threatening.

Based on a little investigation, Copytrack is located in Berlin, Germany. That doesn’t make them less legitimate as a business, but what they are doing certainly throws up red flags. Their Google reviews are full of people claiming that Copytrack made false claims of copyright infringement. Copytrack doesn’t say they are a law firm, but do claim they are protecting the rights of photographers, even if those photographers aren’t their clients. They use image-matching AI and web crawling tools to look for potential misuse, and then send scary correspondence to get you to pay them.

Getting such an email, an author may feel intimidated, prompting a frantic search of his/her offending Blog or social media post, images of a cold courtroom and stern judge prominent in thought. Relax, have a chuckle, and file the email for future reference. NEVER reply to such emails. It will only encourage the sender to be more threatening. NEVER click on any attachment, as it invites download of malware or some other nasty thing to your computer. If not sure, don’t clink on any website link.

Read this interesting article for more information:

https://www.directive.com/blog/don-t-fall-for-these-image-copyright-infringement-scams.html

Lots of other articles on this subject on the Internet.

Happy writing!