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Disturbing new trend: STOLEN BOARDS

theburntsunsetnovel
Loves to help

I've noticed a disturbing trend on Pinterest @PinterestGabby - whole boards being stolen and redirected to spam sites. 

Here's my board (PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS ONE DOWN):

https://www.pinterest.com/theburntsunsetnovel/the-summer-happy-relationship-poetry/ 

Here are two boards that steal my text, the pins, use the same board description, and use a similar board title all while sending people to another URL. 

https://www.pinterest.com/bettyearly470482/the-summer-happy-relationship-poetry/ 

https://www.pinterest.com/allisongarcia352806/the-summer-happy-relationship-poetry/ 

How do I get this spammer banned for life without messing up my impressions? I'm so tired of losing pins to people like this. I don't have the energy to report the 21 pins on each board that they stole and redirected to another website. They are even redirecting a story on each board. 

Why doesn't Pinterest start pursuing legal action against these people? I spend hours per day making content just to have it stolen within days.

This totally sucks and it ruins my brand. All the while my impressions go all over the place. When Pinterest responds to me I would like a detailed description of how action was pursued against these spammers. I'm tired of the DCMA form letters. 

Chris

6 Kudos
34 Replies
theburntsunsetnovel
Loves to help
I received a letter form Pinterest asking for more information on this issue. This is my response
 
Bridget,
 
Thanks for looking into this. This is a complex issue. 21 pins (including two of my stories) from my board The Summer Happy were stolen and placed on two other boards. These boards in turn point to another user and another website other then me. Please compare the three boards below. You will see that the person stole not only the pictures but also my board description and my pin descriptions. It is true that some of the photos are held under copyright licence from shutterstock and some are in the public domain, however, each photo that was posted has my border and my filter applied. In the case of the shutterstock photos I purchased the licence. The other photos are held in public domain except I artified them. All of the photos were cropped, filterer, bordered, and arranged on my computer. The spammer stole the work I put into these photos. For the two stories that were stolen, I own all copyright material. Stealing stories alone should get someone banned. Here are the specific details I posted on the pinterest business forum:
 

Here's my board (PLEASE DON'T TAKE THIS ONE DOWN):

https://www.pinterest.com/theburntsunsetnovel/the-summer-happy-relationship-poetry/ 

Here are two boards that steal my text, the pins, use the same board description, and use a similar board title all while sending people to another URL. 

https://www.pinterest.com/bettyearly470482/the-summer-happy-relationship-poetry/ 

https://www.pinterest.com/allisongarcia352806/the-summer-happy-relationship-poetry/ 

How do I get this spammer banned for life without messing up my impressions? I'm so tired of losing pins to people like this. I don't have the energy to report the 21 pins on each board that they stole and redirected to another website. They are even redirecting two stories on each board. 

Why doesn't Pinterest start pursuing legal action against these people? I spend hours per day making content just to have it stolen within days.

This totally sucks and it ruins my brand. All the while my impressions go all over the place. When Pinterest responds to me I would like a detailed description of how action was pursued against these spammers. I'm tired of the DCMA form letters. 

 

Screen Shot 2020-06-24 at 8.09.59 AM.jpg

 
My board is in the top left corner. The two stolen boards are in the middle bottom.
 
The stolen boards point to this user  https://www.pinterest.com/wepicy/pins/  and this website https://quoteshole.com/ after you get beyond the stolen board name and click on a stolen pin. It's a double layer of duplicity. The real stealer is hiding behind fake accounts. 
 
This whole thing seems to be park of a larger scam. Please take this seriously. Again look at the board names and descriptions. They are nearly exact copies. Stealing the two stories alone should get this URL, user, and boards banned . 
 
Please take a detailed look at this issue. There is a whole thread on the Pinterest Business Community forum about this specific problem. Several other users have looked into the evidence and verified my claims. I will be reporting back to the board what was done to rectifiy this situation so please be specific and not send me some DCMA form letter back that you handled the issue.
 
I hope I am not being to direct but the people who handle the DCMA issues don't seem to realize how much these spammers and hackers are ruining Pinterest for the honest people. I'm a small business and I don't have time to spend an hour a day protecting my content. I just can't afford it. The average business owner needs to be convinced that Pinterest is really going to take these issues seriously.
 
Thank you,
 
Chris
2 Kudos
theburntsunsetnovel
Loves to help

@PinterestGabby The user, URL, and the boards I sited are still active. Can you check into this? Every minute Pinterest waits is another minute my brand is disparaged by this spam.

0 Kudos
theburntsunsetnovel
Loves to help

@PinterestGabby This spammer added 3 more boards today. Can you check on the DCMA violation described in this post? I haven't heard back from Pinterest in a while.

0 Kudos
faithfilledinfl
Just visiting

I never heard of this.... glad I read these posts once in a while to see what is going on. 

Why do people steal boards? 

0 Kudos
PinterestGabby
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hey @theburntsunsetnovel, can you send us the ticket # so we can do a quick check? We aren't able to influence or make any decisions for our support team, but what we can do, is make sure your request is on their radar. Feel free to send me a private message if you'd prefer with the ticket info. Thanks! 

1 Kudo
theburntsunsetnovel
Loves to help

@PinterestGabby Copyright Takedown Notice ID #854712335 Thanks.

2 Kudos
PinterestGabby
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hey @theburntsunsetnovel, appreciate you sending that # over. I escalated to our team who said they'd be reaching out today. LMK if you have any questions in the meantime. 👍

1 Kudo
theburntsunsetnovel
Loves to help

My boards that were stolen from me were taken down. A few remain stolen form another user's account. If you click on the pics in those boards a warning appears. Issue is resolved.

Screen Shot 2020-07-03 at 2.13.00 PM.png

2 Kudos
therealsouthamerica
Jack-of-all-trades

@theburntsunsetnovel that's awesome I hope you feel a little better? I am glad that they were able to do something Lisa😁

1 Kudo