Photography scams are something we all need to watch out for. These scams often come to us in the form of poorly worded emails that we delete immediately. Atlanta wedding photographers Jaimie Dee and her husband Kyle were recently targeted by a rather elaborate variation of a classic photography scam. Luckily, they didn’t fall for scammers. How can you bid if you are targeted by the scam detailed below?
There is a tried and true photography scam that many of us are familiar with. Usually, the scam works on the lines of a potential customer looking to hire a fashion photographer. Clients say it’s their standard practice to ask photographers to select their glamor team. It is the client’s policy to pay the photographer prior to shooting, and that payment includes the glam team fee and that money is given to the photographer’s team.
The scam started when the client said that since it was the client’s first time working with this photographer, the glam team would be chosen by the client. Because standard operating procedure is for the photographer to receive payment for the glam team, the client declares that the photographer will still receive a pre-shoot check, including the payment to the glam team. Since the photographer will not hire the glam team, the photographer will refund a portion of the payment to the client so that the client can pay the glam team. Using a sophisticated fraud technique, the client pays the photographer seemingly legitimate. It was only after the photographer had sent some of the money back to the client that the photographer realized that the payment was not legitimate and that the photographer lost the money sent to the client.
Photographer Jaimie Dee received an email from someone claiming to be Eric Bxxxxxxx from a fashion magazine. Eric wrote that he is the magazine’s creative director and is based in Florida. He said he was impressed with Jaimie’s work and experience and wrote that he wanted to hire her, “to shoot and produce a fashion shoot for our magazine.” Unlike many scam solicitations, this email has perfect grammar, contains industry standard terminology, and has links to previous fashion ads that have appeared in the magazine.
The email was sent via the contact form on Jaimie’s website, so it’s safe to believe that Eric saw Jaimie’s work and wanted to hire her for this shoot. However, Jaimie has some reservations. “The first thing that I think is a bit odd is that we are a wedding photography studio and we are not really fashion photography. You can say we have a fashion vibe to our work but we don’t market ourselves as fashion photographers. But over the years I have received emails from corporate companies that have sought to hire us for corporate events or official photo shoots even though we do not advertise those types of photography on the Internet. its website. So it seems logical that someone might contact us for a fashion shoot even though it’s not something we market,” Jaimie said.
The email says the footage will be featured in the magazine’s October issue. “Having a deadline in the pitch adds to the sense of urgency,” she said. There is also a link to a Google document that provides clearer specifics about the shooting,” she said. Perhaps the first red flag for Jaimie was the initial email indicating that the magazine was willing to pay a sizable amount for the photo shoot. “I also thought it was strange that this guy talked about money so early in the conversation. He threw out the numbers before talking to me. He didn’t take the time to speak out if I was even qualified,” she said.
Instead of blindly trusting the links sent by Eric, Jaimie searched the internet to determine if the magazine was a legitimate publication. “I found a website for the magazine. The logo on the website matches the logo in the attachment I was sent. When I look through the website, I see a lot of content and the quality is good too. My first thought when I received the initial email was that it could be a scam, but after doing a Google search, it looks like it could be legit,” she said.
“The good thing is that they have an introductory page on their website. It has profiles of people who work at the magazine. They have a team of 21 people and each profile has a name, photo and brief bio. What really amazes me are the profiles with links to unique Instagram accounts. I clicked about the first 3 times. They look like active, active IG accounts. I’m thinking, how can they fake this much content? ” she speaks.
The source of information was plentiful and the working connections were convincing, but Jaimie remained unconvinced. “Checking the original email, I noticed that the email address was not from the magazine’s dot-com. It’s from a Gmail account. One thing I noticed is that there is no professional email signature. And it dawned on me that maybe some of this is real and some of it isn’t. I went through the latest Instagram posts of the person who contacted me and there are other photographers who have commented that they have reached out and have not received a response. Some seemed angry or upset that he didn’t call them back,” she said.
This offer shares some of the elements commonly seen in scams sent to photographers. These include suggesting that the magazine will overpay the photographer (and perhaps ask the photographer for a refund of the overpayment). While Jaimie has no solid proof that she has been targeted by a scammer, she believes this is indeed the case despite several links, biographies, social media accounts, and social media accounts. Magazine related websites are hard to fake. “I believe a scammer is impersonating a real person. His supporting documents in his email look legit and probably come from the actual company. He even included a mockup of a full magazine that you can flip through the pages. He attached a document with all the details of the shoot. He even has the magazine’s logo in his correspondence. But I don’t believe the person who contacted me was the real Eric,” she said.
Whether Jaimie was targeted or not, there are some lessons to be learned from this incident. “Check the email address it came from. Is the email address legal? Do they have an official email signature? Is there an alternative means of contacting them? Are they willing to call you on the phone? I always doubt anyone who refuses to answer the phone,” says Jaimie.
Perhaps the most important lesson is to spend time researching anyone who contacts you with a proposal that sounds a bit odd. If the offer involves a large sum of money being paid to you, do extra diligence in doing your research before you provide any personal information. If you receive an offer along these lines, be wary. No matter how legitimate the links in the email may seem, be sure to independently verify as much of the information as possible without using such links. Finally, if you realize you’ve been targeted in a photography scam, spread the word on your social media platforms so others don’t fall victim.
