I absolutely hate pity and inspiration marketing. As someone with a disability it fills me with absolute rage even when actual companies do it. When scams do it that just adds insult to injury.

Etsy should simply not allow a new listing with a photograph identical to an old listing from another user.   That would at least force scammers to put in some effort on these scams.

The drop shipping pity scam has been around for a while not only with black people but also there was a rash of ones with “sweet” older people. It’s just so gross that these scams are becoming more prolific and harder to tell apart especially if you aren’t online or up to date with the technology/types of videos out there.

I’m honestly glad you mentioned the facts that they love using black families for these scams. There are creators of all colors who get overlooked and they’re stilling goodwill towards POC and reinforcing stereotypes to get money.  It’s so grubby and gross.

@1:51 - I am so glad you are exposing scams. That so-called 'Montessori Puzzle Ball' is my daughter's pattern. Even the picture is off her website. Before her book came out with Amamani puzzle balls there were NONE of these patterns on the internet. She designed it after an Amish cloth ball I made her when she was a little girl. Even though her book is for sale, the individual patterns were and still are free on her website, so why would someone make money off her free pattern?

PSA ALSO NEVER SAY "YES" WHEN A TELEMARKETER OR SCAM CALL COMES IN. They can record it and use it to say you authorized a purchase.

I can’t even buy patterns on Etsy anymore Ai has gotten so bad! 😭

Thank you for this! Creative Grandma just did a video on her stolen pattern! 😱😱😱😱😱

The hobby lobby scam signs you up and charges you for a membership on some sort of shopping site, they claim due to policy they can’t refund but can credit your account on the site but you have to leave a review on trust pilot first. Then it appears they cancel the membership but you get charged again for a ‘mini membership’. If you leave a neg or low star review they will say they can’t help you. Had to dispute charges and get new cards. Happened to someone I know.

Creative Grandma just posted of one of her patterns that was stolen. Be careful who you buy from!

if anyone is wondering, the squished squirrel coaster is by StudioWowToysUA. she has a lot of amazing patterns 😄

I don’t think any social media platform cares that these scams exist on their platforms. I have reported the counterfeit granny square card deck so many times on various platforms and I just get a response saying the product isn’t a violation of TOS. It’s a shame that so many people with no integrity exist.

Another Scam I've noticed going around a lot, is Jo-ann website "closing sale" Like come one man, it's too soon XD

While it's not really a holiday, March 8th is International Women's Day.

Not something I expect Hobby Lobby to be a fan of.

It used to be that looking at Etsy reviews helped for crochet patterns, but now I look for photos of completed items.  It would still be possible to scam, but even less likely.

I just scrolled past that hobby lobby scam literally yesterday.  I also don't shop at hobby lobby 😅

I remember when JoAnn was closing (RIP. Why couldn't Hobby Lobby be the one that closed?), there were TONS of those fake sites for JoAnn offering upwards of 70% off. So many people in the comments had fallen for it- saying that they had paid $30 for a sewing machine and wondering why it hasn't shipped. It was really sad- and all of the page titles were like "JoAnn fabrics clearance specials" or putting a hyphen in JoAnn.

Sadly, it led people commenting on ACTUAL JoAnn posts that their REAL sales were scams. The spirit was there- just not commenting in the right place.

Ugh all of these piss me off, but especially the one where they’re taking free patterns, stealing them, and trying to sell them 🤦🏻‍♀️ recognized the little Dino pattern too! I made that one and it’s super cute 🥰

one of my free pattern was stolen and put on a random blog. the pattern itself and my pictures. I only noticed this because I was tagged in a Ravelry forum where other people are browsing the internet to expose scam websites and alert the original designers. The scammer had a Ravelry profile themself, I texted them and they responded, claiming they did not know not to share my pattern (it literally had the standard "don't share/ reproduce this patttern" disclaimer, but yea). They took it off of the website for maybe a month. and uploaded it again. I filed a DMCA with Google (highly recommend! super easy to fill out and didn't even took a day to be approved). So at least the website does not show up in Google search results if you google for my pattern. Sadly, the website is still up. The domain host never replied to my mails (allowing stolen content on a website that you host is illegal, but going to court over a free pattern just seemed.. a lot).

Media literacy is at an all time low, not to mention AI fakes are getting better and better at passing as real, so I'm not surprised that these scams are claiming victims. Like my mom always says, "believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see"