Copyright infringement - spam email attempting to get a link on a website

Update 21 Nov - I've now had 3 of these emails and I've added the others at the end.

Here's some nonsense (text version at the end) -

Last week I received the above email (from someone purporting to be legally-adjacent) telling me that an image I'd used on my work website was in breach of their client's copyright. 

This is the image - 

                 Image by DrSJS from Pixabay

To fix this all I'd need to do was add a clickable link from my website to their clients. This is baloney. 

People use all sorts of tactics to try and get their website linked from other sites because this is read by Google as 'esteem'. 

If I link to your website from this blog (or any other site) I am effectively 'recommending' that site to readers. Strategies for getting a 'link back' on someone's website include offering to write a guest post (that includes a link to a particular target site), or sometimes people offer payment for you to add a link. Another way is to comment on a blog post, or like it and hope that someone clicks on their profile (or a link in the comment if it's been accepted).

How I confirmed that this email was nonsense
Several websites were useful: WHOIS to see when the various websites had been registered (very recent, suspicious), WAYBACK MACHINE to see if and when the site was first captured (again, recent). 

The image we originally used actually comes from Pixabay (free to use) and it was uploaded there in 2014, several years before we used it and well before 'Claude AI' created their website (July 2023) or used the image themselves. 

I used GOOGLE IMAGES SEARCH to see that the same image had been used on many other sites too (it was possible that it had been wrongly lifted and added to Pixabay but that hadn't happened here). 

Further reading
False Claims to Stolen ‘Free’ Photos May Be a Strange New Online Scam (26 April 2022) PetaPixel - raises the possibility of a scammer deliberately uploading someone else's stolen photo to Pixabay and then going after websites which have used it.

There was also this more recent article from The Skeptic magazine - the format of the email is very similar to the requests I received.

📄 When copyright credit scammers target skeptical organisations (1 February 2023) The Skeptic

📄 Beware of Nationwide Legal – fraudsters already in Poland! (23 August 2023)
Sadurski.com [English translation via Google Translate]

📄 The DMCA Scam Returns in the Form of Nationwide Legal Services (3 October 2022) FreeTech4Teach
- about the use of this image, also from Pixabay

Image by Chen from Pixabay

📄 A worrying scam backed up by an AI-generated website (11 February 2024) Mark Carrigan

📄 Discussion on Mastodon (19 September 2024): https://mastodon.social/@bagder/113164265224867686

Text-based versions of the emails above

[REDACTED] = htXps://^claude[I have broken this link]ai^•uk/

Subject:	DMCA Copyright Infringement Notice
Date:	Sat, 3 Feb 2024 07:21:59 +0700 (ICT)
From:	Ava Campbell | Commonwealth Legal <ava@commonwealth-firm.com>

Dear owner of https://www.cs4fn.org/petermcowan/,

I represent the Intellectual Property division for [REDACTED].
We have identified an image belonging to our client on your website.

Image Details: https://i.imgur.com/GPwog5k.png
Location of Usage: https://www.cs4fn.org/petermcowan/

We require that you credit [REDACTED] for this image. Please add a
direct and clickable hyperlink to [REDACTED]
either beneath the image or in the footer of
the page. This must be completed within the next five business days.

Please understand the seriousness of this request. Simply removing
the image will not suffice. If you do not comply within the given
timeframe, we will have to start legal proceedings under case No. 84132,
following the DMCA Section 512(c) guidelines.

For historical image usage, you can check the Wayback Machine at
https://web.archive.org/.

This is an official notice. We value your prompt response and
cooperation. Please correspond in English.

Regards

Ava Campbell
Trademark Attorney

Commonwealth Legal Services
3909 N 16th St, 4th Floor
Phoenix, AZ 85016

ava@commonwealth-firm.com
http://www.commonwealth-firm.com/ <-- this link is dead

- - - - - - -

2. Added 2 April 2024

Edit 2 April 2024: I have now received a second version of this email (on 28 March 2024), from a different company, and have added that at the end. I've also added to the 'Further reading' above a translation of a Polish website warning about the same company, from 2023, and a further article from 2022.

This second email comes from Nationwide Legal Services, first email came from Commonwealth Legal Services. 

Email from Alicia Weber | Nationwide Team <alicia@nationwide[hyphen]legal•us>

Dear owner of https://www.cs4fn.org/petermcowan/,

I represent the Intellectual Property division for [REDACTED].  We have identified an image belonging to our client on your website.

Image Details: https://i.imgur.com/GPwog5k.png
Location of Usage: https://www.cs4fn.org/petermcowan/

We require that you credit [REDACTED] for this image. Please add a direct and clickable hyperlink to [REDACTED] either beneath the image or in the footer of the page. This must be completed within the next five business days.

Please understand the seriousness of this request. Simply removing the image will not suffice. If you do not comply within the given timeframe, we will have to start legal proceedings under case No. 84132, following the DMCA Section 512(c) guidelines.

For historical image usage, you can check the Wayback Machine at
https://web.archive.org/.

This is an official notice. We value your prompt response and cooperation. Please correspond in English.

Regards

Alicia Weber
Trademark Attorney

Nationwide Legal Services
401 Congress Ave.#1540
Austin, TX 78701

alicia@nationwide[hyphen]legal•us
https://nationwide[hyphen]legal•us/

- - - - - - 

3. Added 21 November 2024

Another one. I've also added to the 'Further reading' section above a post by Mark Carrigan and a link to a Mastodon thread.

Email from Noah Carter | Commonwealth Legal Services

Dear owner of https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/about-us/

I represent the Intellectual Property division for Claude AI. We have

identified an image belonging to our client on your website.

Image Details: https://imgur.com/406AyWa

Location of Usage: https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/about-us/

We require that you credit Claude AI for this image. Please add a

direct and clickable hyperlink to

https://^^claudeai•wiki 

either beneath the image or in the footer of

the page. This must be completed within the next five business days.

Please understand the seriousness of this request. Simply removing

the image will not suffice. If you do not comply within the given

timeframe, we will have to start legal proceedings under case No. 84132,

following the DMCA Section 512(c) guidelines.

For historical image usage, you can check the Wayback Machine at

https://web.archive.org/.

This is an official notice. We value your prompt response and

cooperation. Please correspond in English.

Regards

Noah Carter

Trademark Attorney

Commonwealth Legal Services

3909 N 16th St, 4th Floor

Phoenix, AZ 85016

noah@elitejusticeadvisors•biz

https://elitejusticeadvisors•biz 

 

- - - 

Note: the image comes from Pixabay and was uploaded there in 2017, seven years before either the claude ai wiki site was registered or, for that matter, the elite justice advisors dot biz site. 

 

My reply said

 

Dear Noah

The image is already correctly credited to Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/illustrations/success-strategy-business-solution-2081167/) so I will not be linking to Claude AI as they have nothing to do with this image. It was created and uploaded to Pixabay in 2017, several years before either the link you'd like me to add (or even your own website) were registered.

Incidentally this is the third example of this email I've received within the last year, I will add it to the other two on my blog - thank you for sending it to me for my collection https://brodiesnotes.blogspot.com/2024/02/copyright-infringement-spam-email.html.

Best wishes
Jo