Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:14 pm Posts: 640 Location: Hohe Tauern N.P., Austria
Mikko,
The more I think about my suggestion, the more I see I was wrong. I was just feeling myself into the position of the people that are beeing stolen their property. And, although I call myself a "pacifist", the warrior inside everyones mind has spoken out of me writing this, and I feel sorry to have done so. Was not aware of the ISP having to correct such an assault on a thief´s site. Do you have to restore childporn sites too if hacked?
_________________ Gemstones are everywhere. You just have to dig deep enough to reach them.
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 5:00 am Posts: 344 Location: Finland
Agreement terms are there so we can act when there is doubt about it.
I've been there, shutting down a normal commercial site when their competitor wrote clever email to me. Nothing is easier than finding new web hoster. Lesson learned.
Of course i feel sorry because i have seen they are not willing to correct their behavior. But, if they want to make money they should be able to cut em too. I have a used camera or two to donate...
there are sites where you find people ip´s ,i used this to find stone dealers ip, from places like nigeria where scamers are well known.
since sometime i saw those guys site to and see that some cuts are from jeff graham.
hack theyr site , put theyr site selling somethyng less legal,like drugs, human organs and other nasty things.
if someone hurts you, if you can destroy him.
amethyst sith are cool
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:19 pm Posts: 914 Location: California, USA
selous wrote:
Thanks for the link,I intend to follow up,they have a lot of Jeff Graham's work on there as well.I spoke with him about it long before he passed and he said that he had "had it out" with another bunch of these jerks and nothing came of it because of their location but I like the ISP and Google route ,that will hit them where it hurts hopefully.
Selous,
I have filed a complaint against Sithy Gems & Lapidary to them and a few of respectable websites that have a link to them. Sithy may not be going to change a thing on their website, since they don't seem to realize their business practice is fraudulent. I want more people to know what they have done. I am hoping that affects them.
_________________ Best regards, Mitch
I am a slave to cutting a stone completely free of chips and very much enjoying it.
Joined: Sun May 04, 2008 11:17 pm Posts: 440 Location: florida
Thanks to all the members who have responded to this crooked business practice.So far I have drafted a letter to Google and emailed Sicko gems again. They apparently think that because they purchased some of Jeff's design books that this also gives them the right to use pictures of gems that he himself cut.They claim that they had his permission what a joke! They also claim that the rest of the photo's(mine) were taken by a "customer" of theirs. They have a few different pages of photos and I pointed out to them that the ones of mine they are using on their "artist cut" page are copyrighted and that they even had the nerve to reproduce the chrome tourmaline in the middle of my website front page.
of course I do not expect that emailing them will have any effect even after I pointed out to them that I hold all the original files of the pictures!
I intend to keep on pursuing this matter and will keep contacting anyone who is linked to their site.Of course help from anyone else who feels like chipping in is always welcome.Thanks again.
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2009 12:19 pm Posts: 914 Location: California, USA
I want to point out another deceitful practice Sithy has done. Their business is basically production of colored topaz by various treatments. They do it on both their own rough and customers’ rough. They offer the cutting service along with the colored topaz. Then they show these images of top natural gemstones cut by American faceters implying their colored topaz are like the images. That is another overt misrepresentation!
_________________ Best regards, Mitch
I am a slave to cutting a stone completely free of chips and very much enjoying it.
Last edited by mhuynh on Thu Dec 31, 2009 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: Sun May 04, 2008 11:17 pm Posts: 440 Location: florida
Latest update on Sicko gems.
I just received a letter of apology from the owner and they have removed my pictures from their website (due to the flood of emails no doubt) but he still insists that Jeff Graham gave him written permission and refuses to remove Jeff's pictures. I find it unbelievable that Jeff would give permission,in fact I know he did not because as previously mentioned I discussed this exact company with him prior to his passing. I feel obligated to keep on with this until he either provides proof that Jeff gave him permission or removes Jeff's photos as well. My gut feeling is that they know that Jeff is no longer with us and they can make whatever false claims they like because no one can prove otherwise.Their problem with me is that I am still on this physical plane and can defend myself.
Thanks again for the support.
Lloyd
hope you are doing great and will be back full-time on the forum soon!!
i wanted to post a link from the lapidary section that one of our forum members posted about jeff's website. i think you could contact shaun starr about jeff's photographs being used on the sicko site. forum member, yogiman, listed contact information.
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 6:14 pm Posts: 640 Location: Hohe Tauern N.P., Austria
This is good news.
And now it´s proven that if someone is having a problem of this magnitude, it is not a bad idea to describe the matter on the forum. There will probably come a solution when a few more people join forces with the one. And, in this case, my malicious "last resort" proposal proved to be wrong, too. It just needed attention, time and tipping fingers.....
_________________ Gemstones are everywhere. You just have to dig deep enough to reach them.
Post subject: Re: Sithy gems plagiarism and theft!
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 7:11 pm
New to the Forum or The Quiet Type
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2013 4:39 pm Posts: 2
As a recent customer of Sithy Gems in Sri Lanka I can testify to their theft of more than photos.
I think people should stay far away from Sithy Gems in Sri Lanka. I have mined for opals in Nevada for the last (15) years and have some great ones to get cut and polished. The Sithy Gems web site seemed reasonable and I didn’t find negative reviews when I searched the web to check them out (other than these comments on the photos), so I decided to take a chance. Here is a warning for other people that Sithy Gems is a dishonest place, and you will probably get robbed by them if you send them nice stones.
The emails with Sainul Mohamed (he also goes by Sainul M.) at Sithy Gems in Sri Lanka sounded good and I was promised excellent work at a good price. I sent 190 carats of opal, with 70 carats in three stones of solid grade A fire. The other stones had a face of grade A fire attached to lesser quality material. He said there was 55 carats of completed opals and charged me about $85 dollars for the lapidary work. When I received the final stones they had kept all of the grade A stones and sent me the polished junk that was left over. They know how to use the PayPal system by waiting close to 45 days to get the stones to me after I paid them. I objected to them taking the stones and asked for them back in many emails over several days. Mr. Mohamed finally replied and said I was an ignorant old man, and they have so many opals available they would not want to take mine. This didn’t make an impression on me since (1) I don’t believe I am either ignorant or especially old, and (2) I have helped grade opals at the Bonanza Mine in Nevada for sale and I know the opals they took are the very bright opals that sell easily. My goal had been to gift these to my family after they were polished, but I know they were worth a couple thousand dollars at least as finished stones, probably much more. I expected one or two stones might go missing, but they took every stone of strong fire.
Lesson learned and passed on to others. I believe stealing your top stones is a way of business for Sithy Gems in Sri Lanka.
Post subject: Re: Sithy gems plagiarism and theft!
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2013 11:53 am
Site Admin
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 12:22 pm Posts: 21602 Location: San Francisco
You allegations may be correct, but it certainly wouldn't stand up in court. Unless you had documented what you were sending with extensive photos and weights, it would be hard (impossible) to prove.
There are many cutters in the US. Cabbing is not expensive. Why would you choose to send fine material overseas?
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