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February 12th, 2011, 03:53 PM
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#1 |
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Slash Rules!
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 5,472
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scam/spam?
This has the wording of some of the scams you guys have posted about recently. Anyone else gotten this:
I am James -------,a consultant/events organizer.I need your service as a videographer for an event coming up very soon.I would appreciate if you would tell me your exact location since the project is taking place simultaneously within the states of the federation. The project will hold at a rented studio in your location,so you don't have to worry about traveling,the name and address of the studio will be forwarded to you before the date.please if interested you can contact me via email --------------- Regards. |
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February 12th, 2011, 04:59 PM
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#2 |
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Obstreperous Rex
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I usually delete those without responding.
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February 12th, 2011, 05:29 PM
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#3 |
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Inner Circle
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Woodinville, WA USA
Posts: 3,467
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As we've noted before, the punctuation and grammatical errors are a dead giveaway. Chris is right; delete it and don't look back.
__________________
"It can only be attributable to human error... This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error." |
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February 12th, 2011, 09:07 PM
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#4 |
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Slash Rules!
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 5,472
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Damn.
But it means I'm moving up in the world that I get these now right? And I don't know what you mean by "language is a dead giveaway." I always refer to my home country as "the states of the federation". :-) |
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February 12th, 2011, 10:00 PM
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#5 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 895
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Warning: the states of the federation usually implies a Starship is involved.
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February 13th, 2011, 05:41 PM
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#6 |
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Inner Circle
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Posts: 3,841
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I will say over the years a couple of inquires like that turned out to be real jobs.
In one case the email with grammatical mistakes came from someone who was German and staying in a local hotel. He had also asked for me to shoot an event locally. The even turned out to be, video tape couple getting into a limo, video tape a wedding ceremony under a tree in the park. The ceremony consisted of me, the client, the couple, a reverend, video tape the couple getting back into a limo. The entire job took me one hour. In addition travel to/from my home took another hour. I charged him $300 minimum and he paid me cash at the ceremony. Turns out he ran a business called Travel Weddings. He would fly into NY and stay at a hotel. He arranged sight seeing itinerary for the couple and a wedding ceremony with no guests in a park. The rest of the job, which I did not take (he couldn't meet my rate for the time and work involved) would have been video taping the couple at various landmarks and creating a 10-15 minutes highlight video. Apparently, as odd as this sounds, it was quite popular and he'd been written up in several international travel magazines. Apparently there are lots of couples in Europe that would rather spend money on travel then a wedding ceremony so this was sort of a honeymoon with a small ceremony worked in. Apparently the family and friends of the couple treasured these videos. Another was from someone who was a Russian immigrant who had set up a wedding business in an Russian immigrant community near me. The business target market were couples new to the country (hence very unfamiliar with local surroundings). Apparently he noted that I had a wedding video on my website which was Russian Orthodox and wanted to hire someone who was familiar with the ceremony and that it would be in Russian. The moral of these stories is that there are people who are new to this country, who's mastery of English sounds like it came from Babelfish, who's understanding of American culture is limited. If you are in an area which attracts tourists or has tight immigrant communities, it may be worth responding to feel them out. |
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February 13th, 2011, 06:01 PM
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#7 |
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Slash Rules!
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 5,472
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The fact the email doesn't acknowledge that I'm in Houston, or even Texas, is a little suspect.
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February 13th, 2011, 06:32 PM
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#8 | |
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Inner Circle
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Posts: 3,841
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Quote:
I followed up asking for specifics. That's when he emailed me the Hotel address and name of a specific location in a specific park for the wedding, a cell phone number to reach him. He apologized because he could tell I was suspicious. He followed up with a link to his website in German, an English translation, links to several magazine articles written about his business, said he would pay me cash in full on the day of the shoot. Ask for details such type of event and specific time and location. Don't give any details about you or your business. If he's really investigated you (he found your email) he'll know what city your located in and his reason for contacting you is because he has a specific location near you in mind. If he doesn't respond back with Event X, Location Y, Time Z you know something's amiss at that point. If he offers anything other than cash payment you know something's amiss. |
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February 13th, 2011, 11:53 PM
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#9 |
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Slash Rules!
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 5,472
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Alright, skeptical as I am, I will take your advice. Thanks. I'll let you guys know.
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February 14th, 2011, 08:28 AM
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#10 |
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Slash Rules!
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 5,472
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his response to my inquiry:
"Thanks for responding to my email.I would love to meet up with you to talk about this job but I am currently away on business trip in United Kingdom so there will be no interview for now.The project involves auditioning for models across the United State of Amarica for huntmodelz and fashionmag.The Snapshots and video will be used for the cover page of their magazine and on their web site. PROJECT DETAILS: This project will be organize by my company and it's strictly to display latest fashions designers and hair style for commercial purpose.This exposition is going to be a two days project starting from 1st to 2nd of March or 4th to 5th of March 2011, 4 hours per day.The date depends on the date you will be available out of the two dates stated above.The audition will hold at a rented studio in your location,so you don'thave to worry about traveling,the name and address of the studio will be forwarded to you before the date of the shooting. (PAYMENT INFORMATION) Please be notified that your job payment will be paid in two installments.An advance payment of your service would be arranged for you as soon as you agree to the terms.We will send you a check payment for your first part payment so i advise you get back to me with your charges in your next email for the two days. (PAYMENT DETAILS) kindly fill out the Questionnaire below: Name to be written on check: Current Residential address in full[Not PO BOX]: Current City: Current State: Zip-code: Phone number(cell and home): Age: Ethnicity: E-mail: Charges... Years of Experiences: References Contact Details: Nearest airport: Health condition: Other occupations: Please can you get back to me with your charges in your next email.Thanking you in anticipation of your prompt response. Do have a nice day. Regards, James _{____ for HuntModelz.com & www.fashionmag.com" Bass out! |
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February 14th, 2011, 08:47 AM
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#11 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 895
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February 14th, 2011, 08:55 AM
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#12 |
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Obstreperous Rex
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It has the earmarks of the most typical fraud attempt: send
us a bill and we will send you payment in advance, in the form of a check. The check arrives for *more* than the contracted amount. You are then urgently instructed to wire back the difference right away. Whatever that amount is, that's how much money you've just lost, because the check they sent you turns out to be bogus. -- you send them a contract for, say, $1800 -- they send you a check for $2800 -- they say oops, we made a mistake, we overpaid -- they say we need you to wire back $1000 to make it right -- they express urgency and that wire transfer is the only way -- meanwhile the bank tells you their check was bad -- you've just been scammed out of $1000 |
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February 14th, 2011, 09:05 AM
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#13 | |
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Obstreperous Rex
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Quote:
Obviously, this instance is 100% total scam -- there should be no question at this point. |
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February 14th, 2011, 12:55 PM
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#14 |
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Inner Circle
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Woodinville, WA USA
Posts: 3,467
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But if you want to play with him a little bit, tell him you only accept PayPal from Verified Members and/or certified checks/money orders, and that your terms of service dictate that all funds are held in escrow for thirty days and in the case of overpayments, they can only be applied to credits towards future balances. And make sure you only give him a Business address, not residential or any other personal details.
You'll never hear from him again. I'm actually surprised there is a real venture behind this, no matter how shady and illegitimate it may be. The lack of spaces after the periods and commas says to me it's a scam written by a bad software translator. Of course some of our most valuable contributors here speak English as a second language, so we of course overlook minor typos, misspellings and grammatical errors, but there's no Western Language I know of that doesn't require those. "Amarica"?
__________________
"It can only be attributable to human error... This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error." |
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February 14th, 2011, 01:28 PM
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#15 |
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Inner Circle
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA
Posts: 3,841
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It may be more elaborate than people are speculating.
Given what he's requesting he may have no job for you up front. The info he's asking for may be exactly the kind of info he'd add to his website. He may list you as an available photographer/videographer. Some of those questions are extremely odd. Health condition? "Dead and decomposing" Ethnicity? Vulcan |
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