The phone calls began around Valentine’s Day. Messages left on The Logo Factory studio voice mail, complaining that we hadn’t sent flowers to girlfriends and wives in time for Cupid’s day, and if we could refund the credit cards used that “would be just great”. Pretty strange stuff - why did so many people think we sold flowers?

As anyone reading this blog should know, we aren’t a flower shop - never have been. We’re a logo design studio - one would have thought the name would have indicated as much - and despite some pretty caustic phone messages (I had no idea that one could fit the items mentioned, into the places I was directed to fit them into) we couldn’t figure out what was up.

I wasn’t unsympathetic to the callers’ plight - stiffing the Mrs. on Valentine’s Day is certainly one way to end up in the dog house. Considering that the husbands and boyfriends had made an honest effort to come through - only to get let down by some unscrupulous flower shop - I really felt bad. Truly. Unfortunately, no-one left a return number, and after a few days the calls stopped. On to other things, I let it pass.

Then, a few weeks later, the phone messages began again, with some more anatomy lessons, complaining that not only had we failed to send the original batch of flowers, but we’d dinged these poor folks’ credit cards. Again. Most of the messages hailed from California - the time zone difference explained why the messages were left after hours - and despite my sympathy for these obviously distressed consumers, I still didn’t have a clue what was going on, nor a way to help. Despite their situation, and probably due to the nastiness of the messages, nobody that contacted us thought it worthwhile to leave a return number.

Then, the FBI called. Got your interest now, huh?

A really nice lady (considering the circumstances) from some FBI divisional fraud department wanted to know why there were a ton of complaints sitting on her desk, outlining how a whole bunch of people from California had been allegedly ripped off by some flower shop - TLF Flowers or something similar. Not only were folks claiming that they had been charged for flowers not delivered on Valentine’s Day, but similarly charged a second time a few weeks later.

As fascinating as the tale was, I explained that The Logo Factory, other than the occasional logo for a flower shop, had nothing to do with delivering roses, pansies or potted plants. After that clarification, she then went on to explain where the confusion had come from and how she had ultimately found us. Like 99% of the population, via a Google search. Apparently, the outfit in question (and listed on credit card receipts) goes by the name TLF Flowers. A Google search for TLF Flowers brings up a page from our website (TLF is the acronym I often use in place of The Logo Factory) and a flower logo from one of our galleries (featured above). Apparently, that’s what the ticked-off consumers had done too, when their credit card bills had arrived. Funny stuff - though I had thought that FBI investigation techniques would involve more than running a few keywords through a Google search.

Not that we’re immune to this sort of things ourselves. It is, unfortunately, a built-in risk when delivering online logo design services, and offering remote project submission via our website. While I dare say obtaining purloined logos isn’t high on the ‘top ten internet crimes’ list, I guess it was only a matter of time before The Logo Factory got stung by credit card shenanigans. And so, we did.

A few months ago, we received a request for a casino logo. A neat little project for which we developed a nifty little angel character, using our typical illustrative logo style. Then the ‘client’ submitted a second project for a more conventional casino mark. Couple of playing cards, some text. Nothing to raise alarms just yet - casino website owners tend to develop multiple portals, all featuring the same gambling software, in order to maximize their internet profile. Multiple, and simultaneous casino logo projects are not that uncommon. From my experience in designing logos for casinos, folks that run them, despite a sketchy rap, are pretty well like any other client. No reason to be suspicious - just another day at the shop.

Alas, unbenownst to us, this ‘client’ was actually from Serbia - filling out project briefs for the projects via a proxy in Columbus, Ohio - and then submitting retainer payments using stolen credit cards. By the time our credit card company had caught up with the fraud, we had completed one of the projects and sent the complete source files on their way. Another, the angel motif - partially revealed here - was halted just before we sent the ever-so-valuable Adobe Illustrator files.

We were originally going to add the design to our free logo Morgue Files, or sell it as a stock logo via Logos in a Box, but we figured a public service announcement would be more fitting. Also, we didn’t want to give anyone the opportunity to claim they had purchased, or downloaded, the artwork legitimately from our site. Selling the design to a legit client was out of the question - couldn’t have them getting involved with a logo with a shady history, and a potentially shady future. Unfortunately, the little casino angel logo will have to remain in the ‘cannot be used forever’ bin. Too bad really - it is a sweet little design. Here’s the serious stuff - if you run into an online casino using anything like the logos above, it’s probably not a good idea to send them any credit card info (probably how they got the hot card numbers in the first place).

Funny thing though - a few weeks after we’d sorted out the credit card mess, the culprit contacted the shop via e-mail again, wondering how much it would cost to add the very same angel logo to artwork that they’d created for their website. And gambling software interface. And some business cards. Seems they were planning to use the logo after all - pinching the concept jpgs off their client page - even though the ruse was up. He wanted a quote, and wanted to proceed quickly (poor lad was under the gun in bringing his casino software to market). And oh yeah, he was willing to Pay. By. Credit. Card.

Either a large case of chutzpah, or these dudes were using so many different hot credit cards to buy design services, they’ve forgotten who’s who. Jeez, Mom was right - it really is a jungle out there.

Update: After a little detective work and some keen Google-Fu, we’ve posted a follow-up on The Mysterious Case of the Stolen Logo.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Opinion & Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.