Angela's Desk

A Real Example of a Scam Copyright Infringement Accusation Email

August 11, 2023

A Real Example of a Scam Copyright Infringement Accusation Email
Print Friendly

I received two fake copyright infringement accusation emails this past week. I’m sharing one of them with you today. They sure look legit! But, don’t fall for it.

All of the photos we use on our website are either taken by us, or by our writers, or they are provided by Pixabay, which is extremely reputable. Pixabay is incorporated into WordPress, which is what we use to maintain, and update, our website. So, the first time I received an email like this, I knew it was a scam. Unfortunately, some people don’t, and they follow the instructions in the scam emails to avoid getting sued.

What sad is this “firm’s” website claims they provide all sorts of legal services. However, despite their address (listed below), they appear to be located in Iceland. But, that is just the tip of the iceberg…

You can read the scam accusations about this company on the Better Business Bureau website RIGHT HERE.

The BBB website states:

Nationwide Legal Services
401 Congress Ave Ste 1540
Austin, TX 78701-3851

BBB rating: F

Nationwide Legal Services

Alert:

BBB began investigating Nation Wide Legal Services in April, 2023 after receiving complaints the business may be fraudulent. Consumers allege Nation Wide Legal sends businesses DMCA Copyright Infringement Notices via email for images used on various websites.

BBB has discovered the images used by these businesses have all been provided by royalty free and stock image websites and no copy right infringement would have taken place.

BBB has also discovered that none of the attorneys listed on the businesses website are registered with the Texas state bar and some images have been found in other locations with different names.

As of today the website is suspended and no longer accessible.

Except, they’re wrong about the website. The URL provided in the email below is absolutely up and running today. The last picture of the attorney on the site looked fake so I did a reverse image search on Google. Sure enough, her picture is on several stock image sites. It wouldn’t surprise me if the others are as well.

I looked up the website in WhoIs. The country of registration is listed as “IS.” That is the code for Iceland. Yet, their website and email states they are in Texas.

Here’s the scam email:

——– Forwarded Message ——–
Subject: DMCA Copyright Infringement Notice
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2023 21:29:18 +0800 (SGT)
From: Raquel Sherman | Nationwide Legal <raquel@nationwide-law.biz>
To: angelahoy@writersweekly.com

Dear owner of https://writersweekly.com/author/admin/page/26,

You are receiving this legal infringement notice from Nationwide Legal Trademark Department due to the unauthorized usage of our client’s image.

The use of this image : https://i.imgur.com/2KLmkIC.png on this page : https://writersweekly.com/author/admin/page/26 is fine, as long as our client (onlinepokerisrael.com) is fully credited.

The credit must appear under the image or the footer of the page and be clickable to https://onlinepokerisrael.com/ within 5 working days. We await your response to confirm this has been completed, removing the image does not resolve the case.
Failure to do so in this time frame, will result in legal case (No. 42582) proceeding under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s Section 512(c) (” DMCA”) for past and or current usage.

Past usage of the image can be seen in the records on Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org) – a permanent public archive of the web, which will be called upon as evidence in this case.

This email serves as the required official notice.

Regards

Raquel Sherman
Trademark Attorney

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

raquel@nationwide-law.biz
www.nationwide-law.biz

Rachel (I doubt that’s his or her real name) can kiss my you-know-what! Funny thing is she isn’t even listed on their website as one of the attorneys. Ha ha ha! The level of sloppiness this outfit has demonstrated while trying to appear legit is hilarious!

If you, too, have been contacted by these folks (or have received similar false accusations), please share your experience in the comments box further down on this page.

RELATED



HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK?

Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com,
a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.

ASK ANGELA!