419 Photography
Nov. 12th, 2011 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zesty_pintoI thought I received a request to take photos for a big job, but I later realized it was a 419 scam. This one was pretty convincing for a bit too, so I give them credit for it.
So I found this email in my spam folder. To be fair, my business account doesn't receive enough traffic to justify a lot of spam, but I keep a heavy filter on anyway just because I know these things tend to snowball. All the same, this read harmlessly enough.
I replied to it and received a response not long after. My response is on the end of the image.
Simple enough. It sounds like they want a professional job, so I think up what needs to be done, estimate parts and supplies, and how much it will cost to get a second shooter to get all this running at the quality that they're suggesting. I figure $1,500 is enough, so I throw that in. A day later, I get a response.
Now, I should note at this point that the one thing that I found suspicious is the word "confide." It's a very common 419 buzzword. Still, I didn't really think that much on it since I figured it was because the guy was from Singapore anyway and for the most part, it was fairly legible English. I send details, and then figure out the parts I will need to get the ball rolling and costs involved. I then get this:
I know a 419 when I see it, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I am not going to deposit any check that looks like this, so I offer an alternative instead.
...and I have not heard from them since.
In a way, I'm glad that this was a scam, only because the costs for some of the equipment I needed meant I had to take an early investment and I'd have to live with debts to pay again since I'm really not equipped to do a full-scale video setup yet. Still, I'm impressed that they tried to play me out like this. Offering a job on Black Friday may have been an attempt to see if I was really desperate and thus that much more willing to go along with it. Still, this is just another thing to watch out for when you do business on the internet.
So I found this email in my spam folder. To be fair, my business account doesn't receive enough traffic to justify a lot of spam, but I keep a heavy filter on anyway just because I know these things tend to snowball. All the same, this read harmlessly enough.
I replied to it and received a response not long after. My response is on the end of the image.
Simple enough. It sounds like they want a professional job, so I think up what needs to be done, estimate parts and supplies, and how much it will cost to get a second shooter to get all this running at the quality that they're suggesting. I figure $1,500 is enough, so I throw that in. A day later, I get a response.
Now, I should note at this point that the one thing that I found suspicious is the word "confide." It's a very common 419 buzzword. Still, I didn't really think that much on it since I figured it was because the guy was from Singapore anyway and for the most part, it was fairly legible English. I send details, and then figure out the parts I will need to get the ball rolling and costs involved. I then get this:
I know a 419 when I see it, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I am not going to deposit any check that looks like this, so I offer an alternative instead.
...and I have not heard from them since.
In a way, I'm glad that this was a scam, only because the costs for some of the equipment I needed meant I had to take an early investment and I'd have to live with debts to pay again since I'm really not equipped to do a full-scale video setup yet. Still, I'm impressed that they tried to play me out like this. Offering a job on Black Friday may have been an attempt to see if I was really desperate and thus that much more willing to go along with it. Still, this is just another thing to watch out for when you do business on the internet.
