It has been reported to us by one of our members that there is an email scam currently active that is targeting dance schools and dance teachers in particular.
The scam email claims to be from a dance photographer and makes accusations that you have used a copyrighted photo belonging to them. In order to help you ‘see’ which photo has been used unlawfully you are encouraged to click a link in the email to view the photo in question. However this link does not take you to a photo, but instead downloads a malicious piece of software onto your computer that proceeds to then delete the contents of your inbox and change your password so that you are locked out of your account. It is presumably then used to send the same scam email around to all of your contacts.
If you see a similar email appear in your inbox delete it straight away. Never click links from emails that you aren’t expecting.
UPDATE
We finally got this scam sent through to us! For your reference here is the content of the message we received:
Hello,
This is Melanie and I am a qualified photographer and illustrator.
I was baffled, putting it lightly, when I saw my images at your website. If you use a copyrighted image without an owner’s consent, you should be aware that you could be sued by the copyright holder.
It’s unlawful to use stolen images and it’s so low!
Take a look at this document with the links to my images you used at www.idta.co.uk and my earlier publications to obtain the evidence of my copyrights.
Download it now and check this out for yourself:
[LINK REDACTED]
If you don’t remove the images mentioned in the file above during the next few days, I’ll file a to your hosting provider stating that my copyrights have been severely infringed and I am trying to protect my intellectual property.
And if it doesn’t work, you may be pretty damn sure I am going to report and sue you! And I will not bother myself to let you know of it in advance.