Website Impersonating Me Even Using My Name

1. 93

   PegCole17posted 9 years ago

   It is discouraging to find yet another website which has copied pictures of my family, my pets, my articles, used my titles and created a website that impersonates me. Today I've already wasted a couple of hours researching their host site and filing the appropriate DMCA Takedown Notices.
   
   When I did a Google search for one of my formerly popular articles which has recently taken a nosedive in traffic and score, I found this site using my name in vain.
   
   You may want to search under the name Rikanita dot com and then enter your user name in the search box. I was totally aghast when I saw pictures of my dogs, my husband and links to my articles that have this person's name first with poorly scrambled copies of much of my work.
   
   The host name is www. ramnode. com. We'll see if they respond quickly.
   
   This is SO frustrating...
   

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   1. 87

      bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Peg, that's awful! I guess we should all check to see if the same is happening to us. I hope you get it squared away and have the site taken down.

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      1. 93

         PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Bravewarrior,
         I really despise giving them further traffic by checking out their website. As it is, they're getting over 10,000 hits daily according to the counter on the site that mimics mine. Wow. It's no wonder my traffic is so pathetic.

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   2. 61

      The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Did you have to Translate the page, Peg?

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      1. 93

         PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hi The Examiner, No I didn't translate as most of the site was in (poor) English with a jumble of my different articles and fake links with my name that lead to a blank page. I hope you are okay and not on their radar, Kevin.
         P

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         1. 61

            The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Did you show us the correct site to type in because when I typed it in, it came up and asked if I wanted the page translated. Was the spelling correct? It asked if I meant Re..., so I tried that and it was somewhere in Indonesia - I think.

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            1. 93

               PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Kevin, I hope this picture comes out. I snipped the results of the WhoIs Hosting page.
               
               
               Here's how I found it. I used the actual URL from my hub inside quotation marks and put it in the Google search bar. This is what came up. I don't know if HP will allow this or not. Perhaps it will get snipped.
               
               

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               1. 87

                  bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Thank you for this. I just found one of my most popular hubs on a site called JL Forums. People are congratulating him for such a helpful article. One guy even commented on the Donald Duck Tree story I used in my hub as an example. I can't even get in and leave a comment or contact the owner without registering for the site.
                  
                  Here's the link:
                  
                  http://jlforums.com/search-engine-optim … /#msg68753
                  
                  Now, I've got some DMCA work to do of my own!

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                  1. 69

                     Fiorenzaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Brave warrior unless I'm missing something they have just linked back to your hub; they haven't scraped it.  I agree that a back link from a site like that may not be very desirable as looking at the forum generally they are providing tools to spin articles.

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                     1. 87

                        bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Fiorenza, it kinda looks like that, but comments have been posted on the forum. Also, when I look at my traffic sources, that site doesn't come up.
                        
                        I've checked many other of my hubs, especially a product review I did. My URL shows up several times, within various SERPS, but when you click on them, they take you to my HP hub and there are no comments on the sites where I found my link.

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                  2. 93

                     PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Oh, Shauna. I'm so sorry, but glad you found that URL thing helpful. It is so very discouraging to lose traffic to these hackers and copy lifters. Best of luck on your filings. Don't bother with the individual. Go straight for the jugular.(the host)
                     Peg

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                     1. 87

                        bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        The host site is currently down. Surprise, surprise. However, I sent a DMCA to the registrant and the registrar. We'll see what happens.

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                  3. 93

                     PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Hi Bravewarrior, I checked out this site and the link he presented actually takes people directly to your hub. I'm not sure if this is a violation, as long as they didn't publish the text as their own.
                     
                     

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               2. 90

                  Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh this is depressing. I Googled "Millionaire Tips on HubPages" as you suggested, and found five links. Only one of them is actually on HubPages.

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                  1. 93

                     PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Oh, Millionaire. I'm so sorry. It has been a really eye-opening day for me. Sad and revealing.
                     I hope you get your DMCAs filed and resolved soon.
                     Peg

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                     1. 90

                        Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Thanks Peg. I did the same lookup on yahoo and found more.  These are all such weird websites that taken snippets from lots of different places on HubPages.  I'm not sure how to do a DMCA, because they don't have a lot of information - basically a sentence or two from each subdomain.  One of them has a picture but it is a creative commons one and not one I took. I would hope that Google realizes from the bounce rate that they are not worth featuring.

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                        1. 93

                           PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Millionaire, I also found several other sites that have a jumbled up mess of things from several of my hubs in one run-on paragraph. When I went to the "Contact Us" there was a threatening message about not reporting copyright claims via this method, since everything they had was in the Public Domain (according to them) and within their rights. Funny part is that at the bottom of their site is a copyright notice. The gall.
                           I'm not sure how to report this either.
                           Peg

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         2. 69

            Shyron E Shenkoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Peg, I went there and could not find my name.
            
            But I did find names for the person on their site.  Adrian Bruce and Adrian Lewis Peterson associated with rikanita.com.
            
            Adrian Lewis Peterson is an American football running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Vikings seventh overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Oklahoma. Wikipedia
            
            Born: March 21, 1985 (age 29), Palestine, TX
            Spouse: Ashley Brown (m. 2014)
            Current team: Minnesota Vikings (#28 / Running back)
            School: University of Oklahoma
            Children: Adeja Peterson, Tyrese Robert Ruffin
            Parents: Nelson Peterson, Bonita Jackson
            
            Look at the last name Bonita = rik a nita

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            1. 93

               PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Hi Shyron, I'm glad you didn't see your articles out there. Did you use your hub URL in quotation marks in the Google search? That's how I found mine.
               How did you locate this Adrian Lewis Peterson and Bonita Jackson? I'm still confused as to who is really hosting these guys. Your explanation makes sense with regard to the site name but ??? why would a football player run a skam like this?
               P

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               1. 69

                  Shyron E Shenkoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  I typed in Rikanita.com and found the information and copied it here. When I tried to find it again, this is what I found. 
                  
                  Account number   Sign up
                  Password    Log in
                  我的中心 My center
                  •     Forum
                  •     I move
                  •     Label
                  •     Member
                  •     Search for
                  I moved Forum »error message
                  There has been an error
                  ________________________________________
                  No older topics, please return
                  返回上一步 |  Forum Home | Login | Register
                  I moved Forum - ultra-thinking - Statistics - Site Map - Beijing ICP No. 10040882 -5
                  Wodong Technology Ltd - Lite Edition - Style
                  
                  I just tried to copy it again  and it is not there. But I found Rika Nita facebook page. I also found the following.
                  
                  rikanita.com - Website and Domain information data ...
                  wsdata.com/2014-06-21/rikanita.com-domain-information.html
                  Jun 23, 2014 - rikanita.com - domain information. , , . ... Find domain name like rikanita.com and register it on GoDaddy · Register your domain name today ...
                  
                  rikanita.net - Mawords.com
                  mawords.com/rikanita.net
                  Translate this page
                  View domain rikanita.net statistics, ratings, possible spells, users reviews and others. Domain IPv4: 162.251.113.165 looks like that this site is online now.

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                  1. 93

                     PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Hopefully this means the site has been taken down, Shyron. I did submit a DMCA notice to GoDaddy at copyrightclaims@godaddy dot com as well as a couple of other places. Thank you for the update.

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   3. 33

      Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Report them on this form and they will lose their AdSense account forever:
      https://support.google.com/adsense/trou … 0500?hl=en

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      1. 93

         PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hello Writer Fox,
         It asks four questions: is this an AdSense Violation? A complaint? Or what. Sorry, is there a choice that leads to impersonation of my website? Is this even a Google related complaint like for example, Blogspot?

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         1. 33

            Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Check the first box:  a violation regarding content.  Using copyrighted material without permission is a violation of AdSense Guidelines ─ using your pictures and translating your work. (Point out how many times the word 'HubPages' is mentioned.) Also, a lot of the content on that site is spun content, which is also a violation.
            
            This has nothing to do with the Blogspot complaint form.  This is not a Blogspot site and AdSense is a completely different part of Google.

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            1. 93

               PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks, Foxy, I'm on it. Back in a while...
               Peg

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               1. 33

                  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Peg, that site is hosted by an American company, Adhost Internet Advertising, dba webiness.com, dba tierpoint.com.
                  
                  DMCA notices should be sent to dal-abuse@tierpoint.com.

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                  1. 93

                     PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     Thank you Writer Fox. Okie Dokey, I just sent off another notice. How is one to know how to find the REAL host? I have a Who Is Hosting report that said it was Ramnode LLC and/or WIMSbios.com. This really gets to me.

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                     1. 33

                        Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Maybe what you have is a 'who is' report, which just shows who registered the domain name, not who owns it and not who hosts it.
                        
                        This is from http://www.whoishostingthis.com/:
                        
                        

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                        1. 70

                           Judy Filareckiposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Just clicked on your link to who is hosting this and I got a message that the page does not exist. It is the : after the link that is messing it up. It is making the : a part of the link.

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                           1. 93

                              PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                              Hi Judy,
                              Thankfully I reported this a couple of weeks back and filed the proper DMCA paperwork. It appears as if the copy has been removed. Thanks for your help with the Whoishostingthis. I've used this many times to find sites with infringing copy.
                              Peg

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   4. 75

      Frank Atanacioposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      wow..  That's just a damn shame..hope yo clear it up fast..

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      1. 93

         PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Franko, Yep, it's a cryin' shame. Let's toss them into the slammer. Have you checked for possible infringements on your articles? Mine are personal stories and they scraped them anyway - with pictures of my HUBBY and my dogs!!! How rude.
         Peg

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   5. 69

      Shyron E Shenkoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      ► 2:44► 2:44
      
      
      www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPpumdvDzq8

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      1. 93

         PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I watched this video and it was funny but it only went to 2:43. Was there something I missed?

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         1. 61

            The Examiner-1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            It was the same time when I watched it, but it looked like it was all there. Perhaps she just marked the wrong time.

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2. 72

   relacheposted 9 years ago

   That looks like a massive scrape.
   
   The domain is registered to a human in AZ, but looking at the content, I bet it's fake, in which case you want to complain to the ISP.  Because if they can't get in touch with the owner, the whole site gets pulled down.

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   1. 93

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Relache. I hope they do pull the site. It's a sham.

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3. 91

   lisavollrathposted 9 years ago

   Yikes! Peg, I'm so sorry this happened to you.

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   1. 93

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you Lisavollrath. Me, too. This gets really old. I'd rather be writing articles than filing DMCA complaints.
      P

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4. 81

   mckbirdbksposted 9 years ago

   Hello Peg - So sorry this is the way your wee has started. I am sure there is karma in the world. They will somehow pay for this. Mike

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   1. 93

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Mckbirdbks, Thanks. I'm not happy. Not happy at all. Harrumph. Sorry, it's a really bad way to start a Monday. I just edited one of my oldies on Perception (with a broken link) and that didn't even help improve my mood. I'll just hop over to your latest and get a dose of Chocolate.
      

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5. 96

   Glenn Stokposted 9 years ago

   Peg, Thanks for this info. I found that Google had indexed my info on Rikanita dot com also. But when I looked at the page it had already been removed. I did, however, find many other Hubbers plagiarized on that site. But their pages seem to change dynamically. So you get different results than what Google has indexed.
   
   Another site that everyone should check is liveverify dot com. They have many plagiarized hubs on that site and I'm having trouble getting mine removed. Their hosting company, Wholesale Internet, had their server hard drives seized by order of a federal judge back in 2011. It seems they are still acting like criminals since they ignore my repeated DMCA takedown notices.

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   1. 93

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Glenn, Do I have the host right? I see they are using 2 DNS: I looked it up on WhoIs hosting this and copied the IP addresses on my complaint form.
      I'm sorry you've been scraped, too. I looked at that liveverify site and read the scoop on that guy whose servers were confiscated. Perhaps he's out of business as a result. We can certainly hope so.

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      1. 96

         Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Interesting. Are you saying live verify dot com uses 2 DNS as the host?  I had been communicating with the clerk at  Wholesale Internet. She accepts that liveverify it is one of their sites they host and she keeps telling me that she keeps passing my DMCA takedown requests to her boss, who is still employed there as their copyright agent. But he never complies and she refuses to put me through to him. When I tell her that it is against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to ignore these requests, she tells me that she is not responsible for the decision.
         
         Just to be fair, since this thread is about Rikanita dot com, I really should continue the discussion of liveverify at http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/125009#post2652046 so as not to confuse people.

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         1. 93

            PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Glenn, I should have been more specific. I was referring to my Rika... copycat site when I said 2 DNS show on the Who Is Hosting report.
            P

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6. 66

   Ann Hindsposted 9 years ago

   That's pretty interesting. The links don't go anywhere but I did find some of my text on one of them. I ususally don't check because  Vintage Trailers and Teardrops is a small niche and easy to spot. Thanks for the heads up.

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   1. 93

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Ann Hinds, Yes, they are using a combination of multiple articles jumbled together with fake links to create their "copyrighted" work. Bah! I hope you'll file the proper complaint forms about your work being used without your permission. Try typing one of your URLs into the Google Search bar with quotes around it and see if it doesn't come up with something.
      P

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7. 66

   Ann Hindsposted 9 years ago

   PegCole, thanks! Three links are dead and the other two go back to HubPages. I never thought to check because that stuff is way beyond me but now I check some others and look into filing a report.

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   1. 93

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Ann, I used to think it was way beyond me, too. What is required is that once you identify an "alleged" copy cat (you have to be careful with accusations), then you fill out the DMCA form and send it as an email attachment to the host. I don't bother trying to contact the individual perp anymore. I do NOT want them getting my personal email address.
      I created a DMCA template and saved it to Word and use this form for each offense unless the host site has a form that you can fill out. You might copy and paste this into a doc for future use.
      
      To Whom It May Concern,
      The following information serves to assert my rights and request removal of allegedly infringing web content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The following is a report, in good faith, of alleged copyright infringement. I am contacting you as the designated agent for the site upon which the infringing work currently appears. This letter is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in §512(c) of the U.S. Copyright Law.
      I am the copyright owner of the works and the following is true and accurate.
      1. The original work, for which I claim copyright, appears, with my permission, at the following locations online:
      {URLs WHERE YOUR ORIGNAL AUTHORIZED WORK APPEARS}
      2. Copies of my original copyrighted work are {attached/included/provided-Put the URL of YOUR HUB here} to assist you in your evaluation and determination.
      3. The allegedly infringing {work/text/image} appears at the following location(s) online:
      {URLs WHERE INFRINGING WORK IS CURRENTLY LOCATED}
      4. My contact information, as copyright holder, is as follows:
      {INCLUDE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION, Name, Address, City, State Zip}
      5. The information of the alleged copyright infringer is:
      {INSERT WHOIS INFORMATION FOR THE SITE YOU ALLEGE IS INFRINGING}
      6. I have a good faith belief the use of the above reference copyrighted work(s) that appears on the website for which you are the designated DMCA agent is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by law.
      I declare, under penalty of perjury, this notice is true and correct and that I am the copyright owner entitled to exclusive rights which I allege are being infringed.
      Signed this ________ day of ___________, 20_____ in {INSERT CITY, STATE, COUNTY}.
      {YOUR SIGNATURE/eSIGNATURE}
      
      The learning center has also published this hub for more information.
      http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
      
      Hope this helps,
      Peg

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8. 81

   WillStarrposted 9 years ago

   Or worse! Someone did this to me, and I lost MY adsense account!

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   1. 93

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Oh NO, Will. Can't you protest to the powers to be and ask HubPages to help document your claim?
      Oh, nevermind. That is just awful. I'm so sorry.
      Peg

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      1. 81

         WillStarrposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Hubpages has no say over Adsense, and while Adsense admitted that I had done nothing wrong, they still closed my account and returned all my earnings to their advertisers. That was over two years ago.
         
         It has also happened to several other writers.

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   2. 96

      Glenn Stokposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      They must have used your AdSense code and then clicked the ads.
      Did your AdSense report show a sudden increased click rate? 
      Did you report the plagiarist to AdSense?
      Report it here:
      https://support.google.com/adsense/trou … er/1190500
      Don't give up.

      replyreport
9. 92

   Nell Roseposted 9 years ago

   I just found me on there too, what??????

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   1. 93

      PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Nell, this could explain some of the traffic issues you've been noticing. It has really affected my highest ranking hubs and traffic. Of course, you know what to do about it. File, file, file.
      So sorry this is happening to you. Together we will get them tossed out.
      Peg

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      1. 92

         Nell Roseposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Haven't done it yet but i will do, thanks

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10. 88

    Howard S.posted 9 years ago

    I looked up the Rikanita site. I don't see a search function to search for hubber names. I notice the site is entirely in Indonesian, a language I happen to speak fluently. I did not probe beyond the home page. It caters to topics of interest to women: fashion, health, shopping, etc.

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    1. 93

       PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Hi Howard, I used one of my URL titles in quotes and it brought up this site on Google right after my own hub. When I went to that site, there was a search bar within the page.
       
       
       
       Now, the link on Google directs to my article but it did not the other day. It took me to a page with the Rika..name and fake links to my articles with her copyright at the bottom of the page. Perhaps it's been removed as I reported it to Google the other day.
       
       Wow, you speak Indonesian. That's impressive!
       Peg
       

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11. 61

    Cee Ceeceeposted 9 years ago

    Peg, I am so sorry this happened to you.  A similar thing happened to a friend of mine on Facebook. Someone used her name, profile pic, all of her personal pictures, etc., and proceeded to send out friend requests to everyone that was already her friend.  Definite red flag for me.  I didn't accept it. I called my friend up, and made her aware of this.  I don't know what that person's motives were, but I am sure they were not intended to be for good things.  I really hope that you can get this straightened out, and you can get back your copyrighted materials.

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    1. 93

       PegCole17posted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Hello CeeCee, Thanks so much for your concern. This is an ongoing issue with our work here and elsewhere. It seems as if I've filed more DMCAs than I've written articles. One site even used my article word for word on their promo page. Finding them and getting them taken down requires a lot of effort but I try to keep on it.
       Sorry to hear about your friend on Facebook. That happened to a couple of my friends out there, too. That is one reason I don't list my page here on my profile.
       See you,
       Peg

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