Warning because of Google Fonts

Currently, a widespread scam with the umbrella term "Google Fonts" is causing quite a stir in the Internet world. Not heard of it yet? Don't worry, we'll explain everything you need to know in this article!

For some time now, many website operators have been receiving messages claiming that they are violating data protection laws by using certain Google Fonts on their website. This is followed by a request for payment for a settlement. This is a scam that recently made negative headlines when Berlin-based warning lawyer Kilian Lenard, together with a partner, collected sums in the six-figure range. 

With its "Google Fonts" service, Google provides website operators and other online services with over 1400 fonts for free use. One advantage of the service is that fonts can be downloaded directly from Google via the Internet and no longer have to be installed locally on the servers of the operators, as is otherwise customary. 

However, the Google service came under fire following a controversial ruling by the Munich Regional Court in January last year (Az.: 3 O 17493/20), which found that data protection had been breached and granted the plaintiff claims for damages. The reasoning behind this: When a web page using Google Fonts is called up, the visitor's IP address is transmitted to Google for downloading and displaying the respective fonts without the visitor's knowledge or clear consent.

The aforementioned ruling then formed the basis for Kilian Lenard's scam. Websites that used the Google Fonts service were tracked down and a wave of mass warnings were sent to the respective operators in the hope of making fast money with settlement payments. 

Also from our staffitpro community we received more and more inquiries about this topic. Unlike many other providers, staffitpro was not affected by this scam. As part of our strict and comprehensive privacy and information security policies, we have included all Google fonts in our software in the "traditional" sense, as locally installed fonts. 

Over the past few months, we have been able to provide our customers with our expertise in an advisory capacity, successfully averting a number of fraud attempts. I am always pleased to see that our customers do not "only" see us as the manufacturer of their everyday software, but also have great confidence in our expertise and close cooperation!

At this point it should be stressed once again to critically deal with dubious offers or demands and not to immediately respond to them.

Under the following link you can read the whole article again for yourself:

Betrugsmasche „Google-Fonts“: Razzia bei Berliner Abmahnanwalt Kilian Lenard (tagesspiegel.de) 

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