Vietnamese scammers

[Arty]

I wonder, did anyone here had a valid customer from Vietnam?

I had 2 clients from that country so far. First one reversed transaction immediately after downloading my style, second one waited couple of weeks. Those are the only 2 scam attempts I had and both happened to be from same country.

Should I just block whole country?

 

[Sheldon]

Well, one of the "members" here, from the site they have, upload everything from here to there.

 

[Arty]

This is one of two scammers, one that uploaded my style to warez website:

Name: Bi Cún
Email: bicun9194@yahoo.com

I recommend everyone selling commercial styles/add-ons adding that one to ban list.

 

[cclaerhout]

Well, one of the "members" here, from the site they have, upload everything from here to there.

Not only one. And they are not only Vietnamese...

 

[Sheldon]

This is one of two scammers, one that uploaded my style to warez website:

Name: Bi Cún
Email: bicun9194@yahoo.com

I recommend everyone selling commercial styles/add-ons adding that one to ban list.

Would be interesting to know if that was an account here or not....

 

[Forsaken]

I wonder, did anyone here had a valid customer from Vietnam?

I had 2 clients from that country so far. First one reversed transaction immediately after downloading my style, second one waited couple of weeks. Those are the only 2 scam attempts I had and both happened to be from same country.

Should I just block whole country?

I've only had one chargeback, and it was by someone from Vietnam.

My practice for approving orders is to have them send me a PC here, and then ask a moderator if they're a valid customer (You could also have them post somewhere where customers can). It's not perfect, but even if there is a chargeback you can report the person for piracy.

A lot of them use proxies in the US and UK, so unless you can backtrack the IP and find out where it is originating, you won't be able to fully block them. If the IP comes from a company, chances are they're going to chargeback.

 

[dtmcl]

The last chargeback I had was for over $1000 for 2 custom xenforo styles about 3 weeks later, he was a member of this forum and American.

I have never had any trouble with Vietnamese people.

 

[AdamD]

The last chargeback I had was for over $1000 for 2 custom xenforo styles about 3 weeks later, he was a member of this forum and American.

I have never had any trouble with Vietnamese people.

Did you report it to his local authorities?
I would pursue it all the way and indeed, if possible, take him to the small claims court

 

[dtmcl]

I would have liked to, yeah but I don't have the time or energy to pursue someone who is at the other side of the globe. If the amount was larger then maybe.

 

[Kim]

In the nearly 10 years I have been doing Forum themes the absolute vast majority of chargebacks have been from Vietnam. In my experience they will also warez the themes as well, so you lose twice.

As a result I will not do business with Vietnam online at all.

Even though it is a country I am planning on visiting sometime soon, my favourite cuisine, and I really like the people from Vietnam I meet here, I don't believe the ones who are online from their homeland are trustworthy at all.

I have only had one exception to this and he was a Buddist Monk.

I hasten to add that I am sure there are other countries whose citizens take as little regard to Copyright laws, and I have had chargebacks and warzors from all countries, but Vietnam is by far the worst as a group in this regard.

 

[0xym0r0n]

I am half Vietnamese No chargeback from me lol!
I have had many sour deals with Vietnam and India clients.

 

[AdamD]

I would have liked to, yeah but I don't have the time or energy to pursue someone who is at the other side of the globe. If the amount was larger then maybe.

That sucks man, sorry to hear it

 

[DRE]

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/stopcountryspam-spam-combat.1016/


BTW Props to them for bringing this over. http://xenforo.com/community/resour...-for-xenforo-tích-hợp-qqfarm-với-xenforo.967/

 

[rollthebones]

Block Russia, all of the Middle East, and all of Asia and you'll stop most scammers. I've never had a problem with the rest of Europe.

 

[dtmcl]

Scrap my above post about me never having trouble with Vietnamese people, One Vietnamese guy has just ripped my forums theme and released it on warez sites -.-

 

[lasertits]

I would have liked to, yeah but I don't have the time or energy to pursue someone who is at the other side of the globe. If the amount was larger then maybe.

Scrap my above post about me never having trouble with Vietnamese people, One Vietnamese guy has just ripped my forums theme and released it on warez sites -.-

Next best thing you could do is figure out where your style is being used if you can, then file a DMCA complaint against the site for using your copyrighted work when they don't have permission. It's free and takes less than an hour to do. Most hosts will handle these within 48 hours of receiving them. I've even had hosts in Russia respond swiftly to DMCA notices. Of course they could just switch hosts and keep using it, but it'll be quite an intrusive annoyance to them, especially if you file another at their new host and keep at it. They'll likely get tired of having to deal with their site being suspended all the time.

To add to the thread, I've had my custom style ripped and sold on warez forums, and the guy doing it was from Vietnam (though there were two other individuals doing it as well, one from UK, and one from USA). Always thought it was humorous seeing him pissed off when other people would give his rip away for free (which they bought from him and then released, he'd demand the thread releasing it be deleted and such). Just can't believe he'd be upset when he stole the product in the first place and didn't have to spend more than an afternoon creating it, if that, when I spent months creating it, and on top of that all the images are hotlinked to my site (which has been to my advantage for numerous reasons) so the theme download is just an XML file. I've since come up with various methods of preventing and blocking anyone from ripping my work again.

People that steal your work suck; people that steal your work and then sell it really suck.

 

[Forsaken]

Next best thing you could do is figure out where your style is being used if you can, then file a DMCA complaint against the site for using your copyrighted work when they don't have permission. It's free and takes less than an hour to do. Most hosts will handle these within 48 hours of receiving them. I've even had hosts in Russia respond swiftly to DMCA notices. Of course they could just switch hosts and keep using it, but it'll be quite an intrusive annoyance to them, especially if you file another at their new host and keep at it. They'll likely get tired of having to deal with their site being suspended all the time.

To add to the thread, I've had my custom style ripped and sold on warez forums, and the guy doing it was from Vietnam (though there were two other individuals doing it as well, one from UK, and one from USA). Always thought it was humorous seeing him pissed off when other people would give his rip away for free (which they bought from him and then released, he'd demand the thread releasing it be deleted and such). Just can't believe he'd be upset when he stole the product in the first place and didn't have to spend more than an afternoon creating it, if that, when I spent months creating it, and on top of that all the images are hotlinked to my site (which has been to my advantage for numerous reasons) so the theme download is just an XML file. I've since come up with various methods of preventing and blocking anyone from ripping my work again.

People that steal your work suck; people that steal your work and then sell it really suck.

It really isn't worth DMCA'ing over; you just end up wasting your time and it's pretty much posturing as most people aren't willing to go to court over it.

 

[lasertits]

It really isn't worth DMCA'ing over; you just end up wasting your time and it's pretty much posturing as most people aren't willing to go to court over it.

I'd say that's subjective upon how you wish to spend your spare time. Barely takes any time to file one though and it's always resulted with the offending site removing the infringed material, which is worth something to me.

 

[Forsaken]

I'd say that's subjective upon how you wish to spend your spare time. Barely takes any time to file one though and it's always resulted with the offending site removing the infringed material, which is worth something to me.

I know of at least 50 sites who are currently using pirated or ripped versions of my Imperial or xenBook styles, and quite a few others that are using a ripped version of Se7ensins style. Sending a DMCA would likely get it removed for the moment, however I would have to keep monitoring them to see if they ever put it up again, and the only other action I could do then is a lawsuit.

I also really can't see the point investing more time into it when I don't even cover the time I put into my styles in the first place (Other than custom work, which pays for a single job). I have much more important things to do than getting annoyed at people pirating my work as unless they've charged back an order, they aren't directly stealing from my business. For those that chargebacks I contact local authorities and their ISP notifying them of the situation, and I do so through my work for extra leverage. This doesn't do much in places like Vietnam where it generally gets ignored (Maybe 10% of the time it gets dealt with).

I have much better things I can do (Like creating more styles when I feel like it) then dealing with something that really can't be dealt with. DMCA's do very little, and the infringer can always throw the the style back up and your only option is a lawsuit then.

 

[xfrocks]

You guys should do some background check before dealing with everyone (or require advanced payment and the like). Blocking all Vietnamese clients is not a good idea. I know that because I'm a Vietnamese and I'm currently living in Vietnam.