Strange Request - Possible Scam???

that was amazing max
 
That was beautiful, Max! But.. what happened to Jeff?!
 
I would love to see how the details of this scam can be played out. There must be a few methods to scam the scammer :D
 
There's no way to "scam the scammer" since they will never actually send you a valid check or money order.

They'll send you something that looks perfectly legitimate. The bank will cash it, but it will never clear, and then the bank will come back to you looking for their money.

The best thing to do (in the USA) is to report each incident to the FBI via the Internet Crime Complaint Center (http://www.ic3.gov/).

Another link with lots of useful information is: http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/how-to-report-scams.html
 
Got the email too here's how it works..

He sends you a check drawn to look very very real and immediately liquid. He then cancels and asks for refund. some photographer make the refund then find out his check wont clear after all/

thats what I was told anyway.
 
There's no way to "scam the scammer" since they will never actually send you a valid check or money order.

They'll send you something that looks perfectly legitimate. The bank will cash it, but it will never clear, and then the bank will come back to you looking for their money.

The best thing to do (in the USA) is to report each incident to the FBI via the Internet Crime Complaint Center (http://www.ic3.gov/).

Another link with lots of useful information is: http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/how-to-report-scams.html

Scamming scammers happens more often than you think.
WWW.419eater.com details numerous stories where the scammers have sent money to facilitate a transfer or transaction thinking they were about to receive many times that in return.
 
There are several businesses which make their money by selling books to those who will be listed in them. Along with the photo book noted above, there's the 'Star Registry' and 'Who's Who.' In each case, the goal of the business is to sell books at a profit. There is not necessarily anything illegal in the promotion and sale. There may be questions as to whether what is offered is really of significant value, though.
 
I'd keep going with it. the more info you can get to prove its a scam the more you have to turn into the FBI. Just whatever you do, do not do anything that is involved with money. They probably want to send you a check, you cash it and they say they sent extra to pay for the ticket. You go to buy the ticket and realize the check was bogus, and now you are out the price of air fair. Or they send you too much, as you to send the extra back. Well you cash their check, send back the extra... check is bad and you're out whatever you sent them.

oh and you can get the email through BCC (blind carbon copy) in the email, which means he probably had dozens of other photographers included in the BCC to scam as many as possible.

EDIT: Nice one MAX, though I am a little concerned with what happend to Jeff. The man is a hero.
 
There are several businesses which make their money by selling books to those who will be listed in them. Along with the photo book noted above, there's the 'Star Registry' and 'Who's Who.' In each case, the goal of the business is to sell books at a profit. There is not necessarily anything illegal in the promotion and sale. There may be questions as to whether what is offered is really of significant value, though.

WOW they do that for photos too? It's HUGE in the poetry/writing world from which I came.

As a joke I wrote a short poem about how they are scamming, and it was selected as a "possible poem of the year"... lol (oddly enough a real poem I entered did not).

Anyway they print you for free on a website, and then if you're "selected" as a candidate for poem of the year, you spend like 600 dollars on tickets to the event. Ive been told the event is REAL, and they sell the books to everyone for anywhere from 60 - 90 dollars, but you don't get put into it until you pay for the book. lol Certainly not illegal, but a scam none-of-the-less.
 
used to be a scam around before the internet.... If you advertised as a photographer in the yellow pages, you got this letter in the mail. Something like one of your customers entered you in the Professional Photographers of the Universe Guild photo contest. Of course you won second place.

You could only claim your prize if you were a member of the guild. Five hundred bucks I think. The prize was a plaque to hang on your wall along with your name inscribed on a rocketship or some such nonsense. The plaque was a sales tool they explained. Of course the local trophy maker would do one for twenty bucks.

I didn't join or get my plaque. I was reminded of Groucho Marks... "I would never belong to a club who would have me as a memeber." That seems to have stood me in good sted so far.
 

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