I am Livid At The Dishonesty

Let me begin by saying that this isn’t in any respect what I had deliberate to weblog about at this time. However y’all, I’m in a temper. I’m livid. I’m simply so extremely pissed off.

Yesterday, I shared with y’all about how I recognized a shipping container scam on Facebook Marketplace. I noticed purple flags straight away, so I didn’t really come near letting them separate me from my cash, however I’m certain others have! And the considered that makes me offended.

We’ve all come throughout scams on-line. If we haven’t been scammed ourselves, we undoubtedly know somebody who has. My mother just lately purchased some large, full, attractive fake ferns from a Fb advert, or so she thought. What she really acquired was a tiny faux fern with about 5-7 leaves that had been about 10 inches lengthy. It was a far cry from the huge, full fern within the commercial that most likely spanned at the very least three ft.

It’s to the purpose that I received’t belief any advert anymore until it’s from a enterprise I’m conversant in. I get loads of advertisements from Hole, Loft, Ann Taylor, Outdated Navy, Aerosoles, Anthropologie, and different well-known shops. I belief these. I buy from these. I get pleasure from seeing their advertisements as a result of I can sustain with their gross sales. However I’m to the purpose that I don’t belief any retailer I don’t already know. And that’s actually unhappy. That’s an enormous drawback to the official small companies which might be attempting to get their services on the market to the lots. However the reality is that the scammers are ruining it for them.

How on this planet does Meta not have extra management over this? I imply, they’re one of many largest information assortment corporations on this planet. They accumulate a lot information on us that they know us (and our purchasing habits) higher than we all know ourselves. So if they’ve us so dialed in, how do they not have these rip-off corporations dialed in? I simply don’t get it. And it appears to be getting worse and worse by the day.

So I used to be totally pissed off this morning, having already handled that rip-off delivery container firm two days in the past, after I received a message from a reader who advised me about an organization utilizing my images. This isn’t new. Firms have been stealing my images for over a decade to make use of for his or her ads. I’m fairly certain each blogger on the market has needed to cope with this.

My first publicity to this was again in 2010 when a Texas inside designer stole images of a room I embellished for the Waco Symphony Showhouse years in the past and used my photos to promote her enterprise. I wrote about it here. And it has occurred many occasions since then. I’ve had contractors, builders, and handymen steal my images and use them to promote their companies. It astounds me how a few of these folks really feel so free to steal photos of another person’s work after which declare it as their very own work and use it to promote their providers.

So when this commenter stated an organization was utilizing my photos, that’s what I anticipated. (Had I learn her remark extra fastidiously, I might have realized this was very completely different.) However this had nothing to do with my home or a room I had designed or embellished. No, the images this firm was utilizing had been OF MY FACE. That they had actually stolen earlier than and after photos OF MY FACE to make use of to promote their (most likely rip-off) pores and skin tightening product.

They’re promoting this eye tightener cream, though the girl within the Fb advert video makes use of it throughout her face…

I’ve by no means used this firm’s product, and I had by no means even heard of it till at this time. However that didn’t cease them from stealing my photos and making this faux earlier than and after to push their rip-off product.

Initially, what a silly comparability! In that first image, I don’t have on any make-up in any respect. Within the second image, I’ve on make-up, my hair is completed, and the lighting is vastly completely different. However additionally they retouched that second image! I’ve been utilizing castor oil on my face (though I feel that image was taken earlier than I began, or proper after I began), and whereas castor oil has helped my pores and skin tremendously, and I can see an enormous distinction within the high-quality strains and wrinkles on my face, it most definitely didn’t flip my face into porcelain, which is what it seems to be like of their ridiculous retouched photograph above.

That is the photograph they stole. I nonetheless have wrinkles. I haven’t seen that particular person above of their “after” photograph in about 25 years.

I imply, I’m so unbelievably offended on the sheer degree of dishonesty and scams. Perhaps we’d all be higher off returning to a “purchase native” mentality. You by no means know what you’re going to get on-line, however it appears to me like at the very least 50% of the ads out there are entire scams.

And FYI, I’m not utilizing plain castor oil. I do love castor oil, however my bonus sister Cathi despatched me some tallow and castor oil cream that she makes and requested me to strive it out. That stuff is AMAZING!!! I had tried tallow earlier than (the Kushi model), and whereas I did prefer it quite a bit, it was by no means a type of merchandise that I believed, “Oh my gosh! That is wonderful!!” Actually, I had cancelled my subscription as a result of I most popular my plain castor oil.

However after I began utilizing Cathi’s tallow and castor oil balm, my pores and skin LOVED it! It makes my pores and skin really feel so silky easy and moisturized. In order that’s what I exploit at night time now. I nonetheless get the advantages of the castor oil with the added moisturizing advantages of tallow. Her stuff is so good that I’ve advised her I can by no means be with out it now. She’s only a one-person operation, however you can get some here. She makes small batches at a time, so if she’s offered out, you’ll be able to verify again later.

Anyway, the ethical of the story right here is that, in my humble opinion, the web is now crammed principally with scammers attempting to separate you out of your cash. Persist with tried and true companies, or companies urged to you by folks you now and belief. As a result of when you get outdoors of these companies, it’s just like the Wild West on the market.

Additionally, be at liberty to go flood the comment section of this company’s advertisements with your honest opinion of them stealing photos from me to promote their rip-off product. I left two feedback, however they deleted them. And in the event that they stole my photos, I might think about that the remainder of the “earlier than and after” photos on that product itemizing are stolen as effectively. And I’m certain the so-called “critiques” are faux additionally.

Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I rework and beautify the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do the vast majority of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.