Copycat and -probably- phishing gigs

[renflowergrapx]

Hello everybody!
It seems a century I don’t open a topic.

Today I wanted to share with you my last experience.
I sometimes make a research to check for competitors. We all do that, isn’it? Lol

I’m not scared by competition, but I also love to compete and compare my work style with others, I did also gave part of my work sometimes, directing clients to another seller if i felt that seller could apply with a better entry and declining the job trusting that another artist could do it better, and i really mean it sometimes. This is at least how I live my job, i more care to point the best option to my customer rather than just “grab” what I can. I love my job, i respect my clients.

This is why I’m so pis*ed off.
When I search for my similar colleagues in the site i usually find one or two new entries and this cheers me up. but… in the last month it is like the category have been saturated from suspicious GIGs.

I’ll explain:
I made a research of 3 hours comparing pictures, descriptions and provenience of some sellers.
I did regularily report all the copyright infringements i could find.

But I could not report some profiles which seems legit but in the same time have:

1. the same description between eachother
2. the same “way to do” with profile picture (usually a random model from the internet)
3. the same weird locations.

Don’t get me wrong, the location thing is not to being racist, no way. But is weird that all those gigs have THE SAME identical description under the profile, the same description for the gigs, the same range of pictures and plus the same provenience. I am afraid there is a sort of group or center which flooded the site just copying something here, something there from all the artists on the site.

I can talk for my category, illustration and design.
Please if you find something weird as I did, just share your impressions here.

I got like 30 gig i can report (and I did)
They have common images from internet or from another gig, with a description of another one gig.
I keep reporting them, but it is like an endless war.

They now learned not to use famous pictures but amatorial ones, which re tricky to find back on google images. so this is why i find t like an endless war.

What is your experience about it?

[jonbaas]

Hello everybody!

It seems a century I don’t open a topic.

Today I wanted to share with you my last experience.

I sometimes make a research to check for competitors. We all do that, isn’it? Lol

I’m not scared by competition, but I also love to compete and compare my work style with others, I did also gave part of my work sometimes, directing clients to another seller if i felt that seller could apply with a better entry and declining the job trusting that another artist could do it better, and i really mean it sometimes. This is at least how I live my job, i more care to point the best option to my customer rather than just “grab” what I can. I love my job, i respect my clients.

This is why I’m so pis*ed off.

When I search for my similar colleagues in the site i usually find one or two new entries and this cheers me up. but… in the last month it is like the category have been saturated from suspicious GIGs.

I’ll explain:

I made a research of 3 hours comparing pictures, descriptions and provenience of some sellers.

I did regularily report all the copyright infringements i could find.

But I could not report some profiles which seems legit but in the same time have:

1. the same description between eachother
2. the same “way to do” with profile picture (usually a random model from the internet)
3. the same weird locations.

Don’t get me wrong, the location thing is not to being racist, no way. But is weird that all those gigs have THE SAME identical description under the profile, the same description for the gigs, the same range of pictures and plus the same provenience. I am afraid there is a sort of group or center which flooded the site just copying something here, something there from all the artists on the site.

I can talk for my category, illustration and design.

Please if you find something weird as I did, just share your impressions here.

I got like 30 gig i can report (and I did)

They have common images from internet or from another gig, with a description of another one gig.

I keep reporting them, but it is like an endless war.

They now learned not to use famous pictures but amatorial ones, which re tricky to find back on google images. so this is why i find t like an endless war.

What is your experience about it?

This is why I’m so pis*ed off.

When I search for my similar colleagues in the site i usually find one or two new entries and this cheers me up. but… in the last month it is like the category have been saturated from suspicious GIGs.

This is the nature of Capitalism and competition. Anyone with motivation and a service can try to compete within a market – and there nothing wrong with that. Yes, there will always be bad sellers, and Fiverr is working to weed them out. The good sellers will eventually rise to the top (with great marketing, promotion, and action) while the bad sellers are deleted or forgotten.

[misscrystal]

Hello everybody!

It seems a century I don’t open a topic.

Today I wanted to share with you my last experience.

I sometimes make a research to check for competitors. We all do that, isn’it? Lol

I’m not scared by competition, but I also love to compete and compare my work style with others, I did also gave part of my work sometimes, directing clients to another seller if i felt that seller could apply with a better entry and declining the job trusting that another artist could do it better, and i really mean it sometimes. This is at least how I live my job, i more care to point the best option to my customer rather than just “grab” what I can. I love my job, i respect my clients.

This is why I’m so pis*ed off.

When I search for my similar colleagues in the site i usually find one or two new entries and this cheers me up. but… in the last month it is like the category have been saturated from suspicious GIGs.

I’ll explain:

I made a research of 3 hours comparing pictures, descriptions and provenience of some sellers.

I did regularily report all the copyright infringements i could find.

But I could not report some profiles which seems legit but in the same time have:

1. the same description between eachother
2. the same “way to do” with profile picture (usually a random model from the internet)
3. the same weird locations.

Don’t get me wrong, the location thing is not to being racist, no way. But is weird that all those gigs have THE SAME identical description under the profile, the same description for the gigs, the same range of pictures and plus the same provenience. I am afraid there is a sort of group or center which flooded the site just copying something here, something there from all the artists on the site.

I can talk for my category, illustration and design.

Please if you find something weird as I did, just share your impressions here.

I got like 30 gig i can report (and I did)

They have common images from internet or from another gig, with a description of another one gig.

I keep reporting them, but it is like an endless war.

They now learned not to use famous pictures but amatorial ones, which re tricky to find back on google images. so this is why i find t like an endless war.

What is your experience about it?

But is weird that all those gigs have THE SAME identical description under the profile, the same description for the gigs, the same range of pictures and plus the same provenience.

Recently I found seven gigs that were exact copies of one of mine and reported them all and they got removed. Don’t assume it’s all the same person with different accounts, although it could be.

All those accounts were also banned. There are too many who do this, come here and copy a successful gig from another seller. Those gigs are not ranked highly like mine sometimes are, nor do they get sales.

[renflowergrapx]

But is weird that all those gigs have THE SAME identical description under the profile, the same description for the gigs, the same range of pictures and plus the same provenience.

Recently I found seven gigs that were exact copies of one of mine and reported them all and they got removed. Don’t assume it’s all the same person with different accounts, although it could be.

All those accounts were also banned. There are too many who do this, come here and copy a successful gig from another seller. Those gigs are not ranked highly like mine sometimes are, nor do they get sales.

Thank you for sharing your experience MissCrystal.

I have the same feel.

I think they don’t get sale, but it is frustrating that

A. They flood the category

B. much important, They do not have a single respect for the work for the people they pretend to be.

I think this is hurting the site… giving less credibility and it is a consequence that we get slapped from this butterfly effect.

[renflowergrapx]

This is why I’m so pis*ed off.

When I search for my similar colleagues in the site i usually find one or two new entries and this cheers me up. but… in the last month it is like the category have been saturated from suspicious GIGs.

This is the nature of Capitalism and competition. Anyone with motivation and a service can try to compete within a market – and there nothing wrong with that. Yes, there will always be bad sellers, and Fiverr is working to weed them out. The good sellers will eventually rise to the top (with great marketing, promotion, and action) while the bad sellers are deleted or forgotten.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. As said i’m of with competition. It spice up everything.

But i’m afraid that if the suspicious gigs and probably just copies/scam will hurt the whole system.

Included us.

[jonbaas]

Oh, don’t get me wrong. As said i’m of with competition. It spice up everything.

But i’m afraid that if the suspicious gigs and probably just copies/scam will hurt the whole system.

Included us.

A successful seller will find ways to rise above. The only thing holding you back from achieving your goals is you – you can be better than the suspicious gigs, and great buyers will see this.

No excuses. Be better. Be successful.

[mariashtelle1]

I don’t really check my category that often because I know I have best gig there but still from time to time I have a look first couple of pages. And I had to report 2 people with no reviews but with copied images and descriptions (we not going to call the country), it did get me pissed off that they are showcasing stolen work instead of theirs and they even got a boost from fiverr to be on the first page. I still can understand that they all trying to earn some money for their living but I do not respect at all that they are trying to make money on someone else’s hard work and cheat their clients because they for sure wouldnt be able to even copy that style (otherwise they would’ve done some samples on their own)

[misscrystal]

Thank you for sharing your experience MissCrystal.

I have the same feel.

I think they don’t get sale, but it is frustrating that

A. They flood the category

B. much important, They do not have a single respect for the work for the people they pretend to be.

I think this is hurting the site… giving less credibility and it is a consequence that we get slapped from this butterfly effect.

I’ve had people tell me they saw my gig under another seller’s name and one seller even had my name in the title of the gig! Another even has my name with one letter changed in his description of his gig. I’m not sure that technically is wrong, but it clearly is meant to confuse people and think he means me.

[ammarshrf]

I recently reported 15 or so gigs that either have the same title as my best selling gig, or the same description or both. Most of them got deleted while the rest were removed until they were edited.

I do not know why some got removed completely and some just got a warning probably until they edit their gigs.

[shifan]

Their intention is not to get sales for those gigs. I think they are trying to mess the search results and confuse buyers.

[renflowergrapx]

A successful seller will find ways to rise above. The only thing holding you back from achieving your goals is you – you can be better than the suspicious gigs, and great buyers will see this.

No excuses. Be better. Be successful.

I Agree. I don’t feel penalized, i’m sorry if I can’t explain it properly.

I feel more like if I was a buyer i would have an opinion of the site by what I see, and what I see is a mess.

This is why I believe there hould be more control.That’s it.

I want my customer to feel comfortable, to love the site as much as I do.

But thanks for sharing your opinion =)

I share big part of your words.

[renflowergrapx]

I don’t really check my category that often because I know I have best gig there but still from time to time I have a look first couple of pages. And I had to report 2 people with no reviews but with copied images and descriptions (we not going to call the country), it did get me pissed off that they are showcasing stolen work instead of theirs and they even got a boost from fiverr to be on the first page. I still can understand that they all trying to earn some money for their living but I do not respect at all that they are trying to make money on someone else’s hard work and cheat their clients because they for sure wouldnt be able to even copy that style (otherwise they would’ve done some samples on their own)

Also, some bad experience made from “fake” gigs, might then penalize a seller, the original creator, which will be recognized from the work, but who didn’t create that experience to the buyer. 😃

it is so… a bad wheel.

However I wanted just to share a feeling,

Thank you for sharing your experience

[renflowergrapx]

Their intention is not to get sales for those gigs. I think they are trying to mess the search results and confuse buyers.

I still don’t understand the reason. Is it a sort of Anarchy Club? lol,

What do they gain?

I am concious buyers will learn from genuine sellers and they return.

This is not a problem, i mean, we can deal with it.

But i stil lwonder how some suspicious activities can bypass.

IDK!

Hugs to everyone,

love,

Ren

[misscrystal]

I recently reported 15 or so gigs that either have the same title as my best selling gig, or the same description or both. Most of them got deleted while the rest were removed until they were edited.

I do not know why some got removed completely and some just got a warning probably until they edit their gigs.

Two gigs can have the same title it seems.

[ammarshrf]

Two gigs can have the same title it seems.

Two gigs can have the same title it seems.

But all of the ones that I reported had their gig’s titles changed.

I cannot remember honestly if all of them had my description or part of my description or not. But I assure you all were either removed or edited.

[estherrandell]

Hi, this is a fascinating topic for me as I see this a lot on Fiverr. So since I eat the Internet for breakfast, let me share a quick tip on how to catch anyone who’s been stealing and using your content.

1. Copy a portion of your gig description maybe about 30 - 50 words.

2. Go to google search and paste it in within quotation marks like so… “My gig description…”

3. Put a space and then write fiverr.com also in quotation marks. Altogether you should have something that looks like “My Gig description” “fiverr.com”. Hit the enter button and Bingo!

Thank me later…

[ammarshrf]

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reporting someone for the same title seems a but much to me!

Well, there are several ways of writing a gig title, especially in my category. But to copy every single word of my long title, along with the order of the words and commas placement is what drove me to check out these gigs.

E.g.: My title is : I will do microsoft excel macro, excel vba, ms excel formula fast

When you see 10 or 15 gigs that are exactly like that, you don’t think it is a direct copy? Come on 🙂 Cannot they change at the very least the order of the services? like put formula before macro …etc.?

And apparently, Fiverr editorial team agreed with me (they do not tell you whether they contacted or warned the reported gigs’ owners) but you can notice the differences after a couple of days. So, it is not a bit too much to me nor to Fiverr 🙂 At least that is what I noticed.

I get it if someone is using your name, description (although really? that’s tenuous too unless it is directly plagiarized), likeness, images, or infringing your copyright by taking audio, images, video, or creative copy. But beyond direct infringement like that, I can’t see why a gig should be reported or removed!

Again, I disagree with you. Why would someone copy my gig’s description or part of it and not get reported? I highly advise everyone to report anyone who copies part or all of their descriptions. Let’s clean Fiverr.

[ammarshrf]

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@sturoyce

Please look at the below image, how pathetic. This person, copied my gig description to their profile… Now tell me, they do not deserve a report? oh and the title of the gig, description and everything as well is a direct copy.

[mariashtelle1]

Hi, this is a fascinating topic for me as I see this a lot on Fiverr. So since I eat the Internet for breakfast, let me share a quick tip on how to catch anyone who’s been stealing and using your content.

1. Copy a portion of your gig description maybe about 30 - 50 words.

2. Go to google search and paste it in within quotation marks like so… “My gig description…”

3. Put a space and then write fiverr.com also in quotation marks. Altogether you should have something that looks like “My Gig description” “fiverr.com”. Hit the enter button and Bingo!

Thank me later…

I wasn’t even going to google my gig description but after reading your post it just stuck in my head so just out of curiosity I decided to google it. And tadaaaam I had another person steeling my gig description.

(And I was hoping that nobody would steal it as it’s quite spiecific and taylored only for my gigs. He didn’t even change it for his own options.) REPORTED ✅

He even already made it to level one seller. 😡

[ammarshrf]

I wasn’t even going to google my gig description but after reading your post it just stuck in my head so just out of curiosity I decided to google it. And tadaaaam I had another person steeling my gig description.

(And I was hoping that nobody would steal it as it’s quite spiecific and taylored only for my gigs. He didn’t even change it for his own options.) REPORTED ✅

He even already made it to level one seller. 😡

He even already made it to level one seller.

I previously reported a level 2 seller with 200+ jobs. and their gig got paused till they changed the copied content. too bad they weren’t banned 😈

[estherrandell]

I wasn’t even going to google my gig description but after reading your post it just stuck in my head so just out of curiosity I decided to google it. And tadaaaam I had another person steeling my gig description.

(And I was hoping that nobody would steal it as it’s quite spiecific and taylored only for my gigs. He didn’t even change it for his own options.) REPORTED ✅

He even already made it to level one seller. 😡

Its quite sad that people do that. I’m not against getting ideas from the competition but its just horrible to copy everything verbatim.

[renflowergrapx]

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totally plagiarized

yes, this is the exact term. 😃 I couldn’t find a more appropriate description.

To think I might get reported, or even have my gig (which is doing okay so far) remove), because my title might match someone else’s seems ridiculous…

i agree. I talk about empty profiles which have ONLY plagiarized gigs. took from different sellers. Art, title and description.

[Guest smiler3d]

totally plagiarized

yes, this is the exact term. 😃 I couldn’t find a more appropriate description.

To think I might get reported, or even have my gig (which is doing okay so far) remove), because my title might match someone else’s seems ridiculous…

i agree. I talk about empty profiles which have ONLY plagiarized gigs. took from different sellers. Art, title and description.

profiles which have ONLY plagiarized gigs. took from different sellers.

How can you be 100% sure of who copied whom?

The length of time they’ve been a seller here makes no difference as information could have been copied from one to another at any time.

I completely understand that sellers would be upset if somebody copied their own gig descriptions etc. as they would know when they were created etc. but it’s much harder to judge other sellers’ gigs. You could be inadvertently reporting completely innocent sellers as well as those you see as being ‘guilty’ of something.

[hanshuber16]

profiles which have ONLY plagiarized gigs. took from different sellers.

How can you be 100% sure of who copied whom?

The length of time they’ve been a seller here makes no difference as information could have been copied from one to another at any time.

I completely understand that sellers would be upset if somebody copied their own gig descriptions etc. as they would know when they were created etc. but it’s much harder to judge other sellers’ gigs. You could be inadvertently reporting completely innocent sellers as well as those you see as being ‘guilty’ of something.

You could be inadvertently reporting completely innocent sellers as well as those you see as being ‘guilty’ of something.

I agree. Unless it’s your own gig that’s been copied, there is no way of knowing who copied whom. We cannot make decisions based on suspicion and “common sense.” Not unless we have 100% CONCRETE proof/evidence with us (which we don’t).

[renflowergrapx]

profiles which have ONLY plagiarized gigs. took from different sellers.

How can you be 100% sure of who copied whom?

The length of time they’ve been a seller here makes no difference as information could have been copied from one to another at any time.

I completely understand that sellers would be upset if somebody copied their own gig descriptions etc. as they would know when they were created etc. but it’s much harder to judge other sellers’ gigs. You could be inadvertently reporting completely innocent sellers as well as those you see as being ‘guilty’ of something.

Got your point.

We cannot ever be 100% sure of WHO made what.

But, if I see a raw of gigs, all with HYPER recognizable famouse images, with a copycat descripton…well.

Let’s say i also have seen some descriptions starting with my own name:

“Hi this is ren” bla bla, and under a sort of list of the faqs…

The same faqs of a another gig–

With the difference that in the original GIG the FAQs decribed were also listed as faq (with their answers and all) while on the second gig, the SUSPICOUS one, there was no FAQ.

Just saying.

I can’t be 100% sure of who copied what, but it is common sense if that 90% of guilt is on a single side… let me have my own opinion on it.

I didn’t make names, i’m fighting a war where I feel i want fiverr a better place for sellers and buyers.

Where copyright is fair, and we all go further with our strenght and maybe some luck if needed, yes.

We all got inspired from the description of someone else, it happened to all of us i guess, but not copied the whole thing, using the images from another one, and the exact title from another another another one-

Does it makes sense?

I’m not worried about the copycat thing, i say it again.

I worry about the fact the the credibility of some sellers and of course, the WHOLE community, get hurt in business cause of overflooded categories with empty gig from suspicious profiles.

I can’t explain it better. I’m not a native speaker and i’m trying to get the point back =)