Stop the Pinterest Scammers Who Steal Pins

Pinners, beware! Thieves are stealing pins, change the website link, and redirecting them to their own website, click bates, or other scams. It’s very upsetting when your Pinterest pins are stolen! Pinterest has been fighting this uprising situation and resolving this as fast as they can; however, you can help, too. Before you pin – check to see if the website link matches the one on the pin. Or click to see if the pin leads to the correct site, although only do this if your devices are protected from virus attacks. Here’s the Pinterest help link on spam: https://help.pinterest.com/en/articles/spam-pinterest

For Business Pinners

You have business accounts, so you want to create that perfect pin for your blog, product, or service by: searching for the perfect commercial free picture or pay for one, clicking on your Canva account or whatever tool you use to create your pins, checking what colors and fonts work best for the pin, spending anywhere from five minutes to half an hour creating that perfect pin, and uploading it to your website or blog. It starts bringing in traffic, then traffic slows down; therefore, you go on Pinterest only to discover that some scammer has redirected your pin to their website!

I understand your outrage and frustration! This is how I felt when I discovered my pins were stolen. My two pins on PTSD dreams were taken by two different scammers to redirect to the same website. Another scammer took a pin that I created for my column The Love Channel  in Bellesprit Magazine to be redirected to a porn website! What a relief when Pinterest took those pins down, yet the next day a scammer tried to steal my PTSD pin again; can you say – report to Pinterest.

Until Pinterest can solve this problem I advise that you check your pins weekly. I know it’s a hassle, but it’s worth it.

Report Pinterest Stolen Pins

• Check your keywords and hashtags to search for your pins.
• Run your mouse over your pin to see if it has your correct URL or click on the pin to see where the URL is being directed to.
• Block any spammers to stop access to your account and pins.
• Click on the three dots (…) on the right to report a pin, scroll to the bottom of Report this Pin, and click on this is my intellectual property. Fill out the form, although DON’T select “Remove All” because then your pin is removed from Pinterest, too. Instead, SELECT “STRIKE,” which will remove the stolen pin from Pinterest and ban the spammer – hooray!
• Avoid doing what I did (lesson learned), by wasting your time emailing the website or leaving a comment on how they stole your pin.
• Breathe deeply and relax. Pinterest technical staff will remove that stolen pin ASAP.
• Report other scam pins that are not your own or let the business owner know their pin has been stolen.
• From now on make sure your pins are branded with your name and/or website, which helps alert pinners whether a pin has been stolen by a spammer.

Lastly, ask God, Goddess, or whatever you choose to call your Higher Source – to protect your pins. Here’s the hard part; begin the forgiveness process for the loser who has stolen your pin. Think about how sick, desperate, insecure, and fearful these scammers must be in order to ride off your success, instead of having the courage to build their own business. Know that their karma is coming; better them than you!