Anyone else getting incessant ransom letters from Photobucket?

[tap4154]

I haven't even looked at my Photobucket accounts in years. It began as a free service where you could upload pictures and then it would host them to post on forums etc. But since most forums now will host the pictures themselves directly, there's no use for it. Many people that have accounts probably know that quite a while ago they tried to extort us by holding our pictures hostage unless we upgraded to a crazy annual fee.

That scam went away, but now they're hitting me almost every other day with emails saying my account is over storage and I need to either delete it or pay the ransom LOL!

Well they can keep my pictures, I have them stored elsewhere anyway!

 

[Mike Simpson]

Photo bucket is dead to me. I got tired of their crap and deleted all my pics and cancelled the account a couple years ago.

 

[rexhunta]

I still keep getting them. I backed up all my folders when they first said they were going to pay accounts, and never touched it again. you would think of sending the first year or so of emails they would give up ?

 

[tap4154]

I still keep getting them. I backed up all my folders when they first said they were going to pay accounts, and never touched it again. you would think of sending the first year or so of emails they would give up ?

Basically what they're doing is no different than any other internet scam. They'll get a few people that will pay the ransom, but most will probably just ignore it and leave their pictures up there, and most people have them elsewhere anyway. Actually the only reason I ever uploaded pictures there was to post a link here and in other forums, that were not hosting pictures at the time. But of course Photobucket wrecked a whole bunch of old threads when they either deleted the pictures that were linked, or put their watermark on them.

If they wanted to charge new account owners that would be one thing, but to go after people that uploaded pics when the service was free is unethical and despicable.

 

[Peegoo]

Block 'em.

I currently use IMGBB to share photos. Free, no sign-up and no account necessary.

If they go away, I don't mind.

https://imgbb.com

 

[Brad Pittiful]

i upload my pictures to my computer...then to a hosting site...at the time it was free...photobucket...now i use imgur...i still have my pics on my computer...photobucket can go **** themselves

 

[rexhunta]

Block 'em.

I currently use IMGBB to share photos. Free, no sign-up and no account necessary.

If they go away, I don't mind.

https://imgbb.com

I'm with imgur.com and have been for quite a while.

 

[dazzaman]

Yes, I get them basically daily. My first three or four build threads here were done with Photobucket and I guess if they ever do carry out their threats the images will be gone. But no more gone than I am from Photobucket.

They could not have handled all this much worse from the start of the “need to pay” part no matter how hard they tried.

 

[boris bubbanov]

They still contact me 4x week, and I've been just deleting the e-mail without even thinking about it.

I'd consider it a personal favor, if each and every one of you not send them a nickel. They just need to understand, once and for all.

 

[fraser]

I get them daily.
I keep blocking them but they keep coming back.

ive used that email account since i first needed one, it was my first.
After 20 years i get a fair number of annoying emails lol

 

[tap4154]

I get them daily.
I keep blocking them but they keep coming back.

ive used that email account since i first needed one, it was my first.
After 20 years i get a fair number of annoying emails lol

If you block them and they keep coming, this just might be a phishing scam. I haven't blocked them yet, or looked to see if they're coming from the same email address. If they're coming from different addresses, it might well be a phishing scam.

 

[stxrus]

I haven’t had a photobucket account in probably 15 years. They had some kind of change that sounds like this and I didn’t agree and lost some stuff. Nothing super important but it was an irritant. That’s why I don’t have a hosting service anymore
I’m not getting anything from them.

 

[RodeoTex]

They were once the premier photo hosting service. But then suddenly they went from free to $400 per year.
I doubt many people went along with that.
Then they realized they'd killed the golden goose.

 

[esseff]

Photobucket even kept sending me warning emails after I'd closed my account with them. Like others, I'm annoyed that they deleted links to images that had been posted on websites years before they stopped free membership.

+1 for imgur. Really easy to use.

 

[scottser]

do they have a line in that letter to say if you don't pay up they consider your photos to be their property? if so, i'd delete the lot first.

 

[netgear69]

They thought they were so important that they could just drop a free service for a extortionate paid service in one failed swoop the arrogance of them was laughable
The money they could of made with a small donation fee could of been massive instead they decided to commit commercial suicide

 

[Alex_C]

Yep. I lack the 'nostalgia gene', they can delete my old photos.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Anyone else getting incessant ransom letters from Photobucket? They're hitting me almost every other day with emails saying my account is over storage and I need to either delete it or pay the ransom LOL!

Probably. But I have several email accounts that I use for stuff like this (signing up for websites, corresponding with car salesmen, etc.), and unless I need to go back and look for a specific email, I almost never look at it again.

 

[schmee]

I downloaded my pics before the end of PB. Still have that file here somewhere. Hated that service anyway. Glad they are gone.
I dont get anything from them...?

 

[magicfingers99]

photobucket is that the adobe program that lets you edit and save pictures?

I used to use that to add filters to pictures I took with a thing called a camera that used to be popular back in the aughts.
can't say they ever sent me a letter, but how could my computer send me a letter, most of my programs don't even know how to automatically save stuff, let alone create a letter and mail it to someone?

how do they get the postage to mail the letters?

this photobucket thing is confusing, why did adobe make that kind of program? is this that Hey/Eye that they say is so dangerous on the news shows?