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I am a member of several machine embroidery Facebook groups. I think it’s a great way to discover new embroidery designs and get inspiration for new sewing projects. Unfortunately, I’ve seen lots of scammers hanging out in these same groups…
This post is meant to educate you so you don’t fall for any embroidery design scams.
The most common type of embroidery design scam I have seen is when someone copies a picture of an embroidery design and then posts it in a Facebook group, claiming it as their own. They then ask you to send them a message if you’re interested in buying it. This is almost always a scam!
Once you message the thief, they ask for payment. Then, one of two things will happen:
- You never receive the embroidery design and the scammer steals your money and stops responding.
- You do receive the design, but it is simply stolen from the original designer. Ugh…
The following is an example of a scammer posting in a machine embroidery Facebook group. (The owner of these photos has given me permission to share them in the hopes of making others aware of this growing embroidery design scam.)
In this post, James Smith is posing as the owner of this embroidery design. When people comment on his post, he likely sends them a message asking if they want to purchase the design… SCAM ALERT!
Here’s a photo showing that this particular embroidery design actually comes from Urban Threads:
Whenever you see posts like these in embroidery design Facebook groups, you should always report them to the admins and comment “scam.” This will help others avoid falling for the tactics of these thieves and also make everyone more careful in the future.
Here’s some advice from Riqui Gardner, an Admin of the String Theory Fabric Art Fan Group on Facebook:
So how do you avoid scammers and thieves?
- MAKE SURE the demo picture is an ACTUAL stitch out and not a computer simulated stitch picture.
- Make sure the watermark on the picture matches the biz selling the pattern.
- NEVER send money via PM / DM – go to the biz website to make the purchase. If they do not have a stand-alone website OR an ETSY shop — DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY.
- Do a little research before dropping big money. Every single “Mom & Pop” has a fan group. Join it, check it out, look at the “media” for other stitch outs of that pattern, etc. If there is NO fan group for a biz, they *may* be a scammer/thief.
Scammers are not going to go away, but we can all do our part to alert others when we see something that is not right. This will help deter scammers and make everyone more informed.
If you’re looking for embroidery designs from legitimate shops, check out this Massive List of In the Hoop Embroidery Designers.
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This is a totally out of box blog and love to come this blog. Such content is very rare to see. Thanks for sharing here.
Hey there,
I was about to say the same. From last couple of days same kind of activities are pass in front of my eyes