Email Scam targeting Photographers

Most photographers who shoot weddings, myself included, ask for a non-returnable booking fee up front.
If the cheque doesn’t clear, then they don’t get their wedding photographed, end of story.
The only details a person booking needs are who to make the cheque payable to and how much,(in my case, the booking fee is half of the cost of the wedding package).

I get quite a few of these scamming idiots, and they are getting better at the job. No venue other than a geographic location, strange wording, mis-spelling and weird names are always the give-away.
Also when they want me to cover a wedding in outer mongolia and offer a large cheque to cover the cost so that they can then ask for the overpay to be returned,(while their cheque bounces).

They will mail you a cashier’s check for several thousand dollars extra. “Oh, we sent you the caterer’s/florist’s fee as well by mistake. Could you forward the balance to them?”

The check will initially clear, so you forward a few thousand to the other person and then a week or two later, the bank informs you that the cashier’s check was fake and you are out whatever you sent on…

Go ahead and tell them you’ll do the job and when they send you the check, don’t bother depositing it, just keep it as a souvenir.

I got scam from photoshelter. take a read of our mailing:

… she wrote me directly from photoshelter asking if
I was able to render service for her. so i answered:

寄件人: dana z de luca <danazd@mac.com>
主題: dana de luca
收件人: julie_johnson63@yahoo.com.hk
日期: 2010年8月25日,星期三,下午12:42

Hi Mrs. Julie Johnson Cook, I just read your message from photoshelter. You’re asking me if I am available to render service for you…

a kind of intriguing message, actually, but yes … I am available to hear your requests, therefore please let me know as soon
as you might.

So while awaiting to hear from you soon, please accept my best regards.
Sincerely,
Dana De Luca
-———————————————————————-
… and she answered:

Hello,

It is my pleasure to find your profile as a bonafide photographer, kindly let me know if
you could be able to get any photograph of any kind of indigenous animal in your country .
let me know the cost for doing this and the shipping cost to send it to London

Johnson

---

indigenous animal in italy? mmmmhhh … but i went on:

Dear Mrs Johnson,

I am Very very sorry to delude you and not being
able to accomplish with your request, but
unfortunately I have serious problems with animals,
from a simple fly or ant to a dinosaur in a museum:
they fright me, I am terribly afraid of, and I end
up having panic attack. Let me tell you that I wish
a natural catastrophe could eliminate animals from the
earth, I would feel much better.
And then, Dear Madam, I confess you, that in this time
of economic crisis and especially in photography, I am
selling away all my equipments in order to get the basic
sustain for living, leaving for me just a simple basic
camera, so I would not be able to shoot anything for you
by now, unless I win a lottery :))

That’s all. Please accept my best regards and
God bless you and protect you in this fake world.

Dana De Luca
-—————————————————-

her response:

Il giorno 27/ago/10, alle 11:58, Johnson julie ha scritto:
what such of art do you have available presently , can you send me pictures so I can select out of them and include their prices
>
> Johnson

---

寄件人: dana z de luca <danazd@mac.com>
主題: Re: your price
收件人: “Johnson julie” <julie_johnson63@yahoo.com.hk>
日期: 2010年8月27日,星期五,上午10:01

i am not an artist anymore

---

but she went on:

ok let do it this way make the picture of any domestic animal like dog or cat and print it in 16×24 watted size so with this you would understand the kind service I needed andwhat is the price for doing it plus the shipping cost to London

Johnson

---

me:

I am sorry but it seems you don’t get my point:
as I already told you I hate animals!!! even
rational animals very often …so please you
better find another photographer that can accomplish
what you need, that, bytheway, is still not very
clear.

p.s. bytheway, do you earn money in what you are doing now?
why don’t you teach me how to do it, or how can I
join someone here in Italy to learn … I need money!!!

---

she:

ok let start from here first , firstly let me know how much it cost for what I requested for . so when I am through with this first project I promise I will link you up on how to make money with your art work okay

Let me know the price and the shipping cost to London

Johnson

---

i got bored and cut ….

---

http://www.419eater.com/index.php

What you’re doing is called scam baiting, Dana. You got tired of it and stopped, but there are people out there who love doing this sort of thing to the scam artists. I think it’s easier just to ignore them, but tastes vary.

Well thanks Akaky: i learned a new term :)) … and found out there are few sites on this topic. i usually ignore them but since the message was from photoshelter i answered but then from her second response i got it was scam and i played a while …. ciaooo

This is a classic email scam that’s been around for ages — the fraudulent cashier’s check scam — and frankly, I’m always surprised when I read posts like this where the OP says it “seemed suspicious”. Email scam artists just love the fact that, despite many years of awareness and publicity about scams like this, there are still people dumb enough (not Sean, I’m just saying the public in general) to be taken in by them.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, smells like a duck — it’s a duck.