Photo Theft Via Craigslist...Oh yeah, I'm pissed

M

MusicMan

New member
I post my ad on craigslist every few days or so...but decided to do a quick search to see the other local 'detailers' that were advertising in my area...and i came across this:



Top Shine Mobile Auto/RV/Boat Detailing (480-385-8788)



Look at the third photo, then look at this write up:



http://www.autopia.org/forum/click-...tion-780-hp-780-torque-crazy.html#post1489741



Look familiar? MAN am i pissed. Ive busted my *** for years with my sister to finally be able to land jobs like that car...and then drop hours of work into doing it...and this *** just goes and steals it. You can even see my car in the background! So far ive found he's been posting that photo since April 2nd.



Funny thing, its a Lingenfelter Camaro right? Well i notified the owner about a photo of his car being used...and the owner wants to talk with him to inform him that that is a one of a kind car and that it is trademakred!



Ive spoken to Greg and Scott and know i'm not the only one...this is even a 'mild' theft, if there is such a thing, compared to what happened to them. The photo further down on his page, 5 from the bottom, is directly from AG's website for extractors (funny, the guy that ripped off Greg used the same photo). But Im really pissed about MY picture being stolen...what the f***.
 
I use Photoshop to place my logo on photos before I upload them. Sure they can crop it but I have proof the pics are mine. Tell him to remove all stolen photos or pay a royalty for their use.
 
Nth Degree said:
I use Photoshop to place my logo on photos before I upload them. Sure they can crop it but I have proof the pics are mine. Tell him to remove all stolen photos or pay a royalty for their use.
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Ive thought about adding a logo..thats a lot of extra work with as many photos as i deal with. I already have proof its mine..first its my car behind it, secondly and most importantly i have this:



WillsPolish.jpg




And this:



UsAndOwners4.jpg




Honestly id like to show this guy those photos in person and then see what he has to say. Ill see if he replies to the owners call and if not, i might call myself. I do try to get photos of us working on the car everytime now...plus i have the original copy which i believe can digitally be proved to be original. Losers like him will always find a way around it...i mean if they stole right off of AG's site as well...im nothin to them.



hotrod66paul said:
Maybe we should all start calling him and tying up his phone or you could take out another add to expose him.
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Lol, that might be a fun option...we'll see what happens though. Just makes me wonder if others have stolen more from me.
 
Not only do I put my logo on all photos, but I also crop them. There will always be parts of a photo that only I have, thus proof that I am the original owner if there is ever a debate.
 
I wish we could expose them to the people that they do business with and show them that they stole your/our photos. I use a small easy program called Picture Resize Genius 2. It can resize and add a watermark logo. It works great.
 
Looks like several of the pictures have been pulled by ImageShack, including the one of yours he stole... did you contact them Wills?



It's funny, I was going through eBay a couple months back and came across a car for sale and the owner had several pictures of his actual car in the listing, except for the passenger side. Then, he posted a pic taken from my website of a similar (not even identical) car I'd detailed as a representation of his car's passenger side -- I suspect because there was probably damage on his car. I told him to take the stolen pic down within 24 hours or I'd report him to eBay.... within an hour the pic was taken down and he replied to me with "ok thanks" :lol:



People can be shady as hell. :wall
 
MirandaDetailin said:
I wish we could expose them to the people that they do business with and show them that they stole your/our photos. I use a small easy program called Picture Resize Genius 2. It can resize and add a watermark logo. It works great.
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Exactly, thats what i wish i could do...i wish i could find a way to alert people to this scammer.



C. Charles Hahn said:
Looks like several of the pictures have been pulled by ImageShack, including the one of yours he stole... did you contact them Wills?



It's funny, I was going through eBay a couple months back and came across a car for sale and the owner had several pictures of his actual car in the listing, except for the passenger side. Then, he posted a pic taken from my website of a similar (not even identical) car I'd detailed as a representation of his car's passenger side -- I suspect because there was probably damage on his car. I told him to take the stolen pic down within 24 hours or I'd report him to eBay.... within an hour the pic was taken down and he replied to me with "ok thanks" :lol:



People can be shady as hell. :wall
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Ah not yet, i think i'll do that...that should be a good start.



And as for your ebay story, wow...well thats just a new low lol. I think thats pretty funny that out of ALL the things on the internet and out of ALL of ebay, you came across that...what a creep, seriously.



Highrev1 said:
Wills I see you use Photobucket, with the new Photobucket software its easy to add a watermark.
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Hey, yes i am using photobucket. Im not the most computer literate person in the world so..though i know its not full proof, if i could add it to all my photos in one swoop, that would be nice...i have no clue how to work it though...advice?
 
Wills.WindowsAndWheels said:
And as for your ebay story, wow...well thats just a new low lol. I think thats pretty funny that out of ALL the things on the internet and out of ALL of ebay, you came across that...what a creep, seriously.
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Yeah, freaky coincidence for sure... I had just happened to run a search for the particular make/model to browse through parts for another customer, and the first item that came up was the car for sale with my pic as the main image for the listing. Pretty stupid considering it was very obviously sitting in front of my garage just like pretty much every other pic on my site, so I could easily have proven it was my pic if it had come down to it.



The biggest concern I had was that if this guy was trying to defraud people, I didn't want there to be any way someone could come back on me because my pic was used to perpetrate the fraud.
 
DDN79 said:
Batch processing your photos in photoshop

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Wow, that's very helpful. This is where buying a high quality camera and using it on every detail will be important, unless you want to create watermark logos for every camera you use. Thanks for the link!
 
Really nothing can be done about it. My pics get taken all the time. I hate using a watermark because it ruins the pic in my opinion.

I have done two things to combat it somewhat, 1- Either myself or an employee of mine is in the picture, 2- I have collected a bunch of my stolen work to include photos and copy off my site. I captured them with screen capture software. What I am going to do is start a "Superior Shine Wannabe" page where I can showcase the wannabees. Hopefully that will work.
 
I forgot, but the day you posted this thread I texted this guy and linked him this thread. I asked him if he put an Ad on Craigs list and that someone is claiming that he stole his pictures to use in his ad. I told him that his company is going to get a bad reputation and he should come here and clear his name. I guess he felt like ignoring this, deleting the your pics which in my estimation means he's a guilty scumbag. I say you put out an ad on Craigslist warning people that this guy is misrepresenting himself.
 
David Fermani said:
I say you put out an ad on Craigslist warning people that this guy is misrepresenting himself.
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David, don't you see some liability in doing somthing like this. What I mean is that you could then open yourself up to a suit by that detailer no?
 
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