National Geographic Email

ThornleyGroves · Sep 25, 2010

Hi guys, i just received this email through my website.... however i don't know what to make of it as i don't think it is that legit...

what do you lot think?

'Dear Mr Thomas Groves
Hello, one of my work associates linked me to your website for we are looking to recruit new young members into our National Geographic teen magazine, which if successful we will release a series of. So we where wondering if your would like to send us more of your work we are considering using you as one of our photographers, images should include of social life as we can see you already have experience with. Yes, you will be getting a payment for each of your photos which can be up to two hundred pounds pre photo.
So if you are interested please contact us at this email and thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely,
John Lopes
- Deputy Head Editor of National Geographic, London, UK'

it doesn't seem to make sense to me yet i want more views... Also it was recieved from a natgeo gmail address :/ rather than an official national geographic address...

misstwinklytoes · Sep 25, 2010

If it has the typo "pre photo" it's probably not legit. Just MHO.

ThornleyGroves · Sep 25, 2010

misstwinklytoes said:
If it has the typo "pre photo" it's probably not legit. Just MHO.

yeah that's what i was thinking :/

ababysean · Sep 25, 2010

I doubt they use gmail...

ThornleyGroves · Sep 25, 2010

ababysean said:
I doubt they use gmail...

what i thought too... although after googling it a few of the people involved do have gmail accounts :/

Should i just leave it? or enquire my suspicions to them!

Overread · Sep 25, 2010

There are UK Nat Geo contact details here:
National Geographic - Contact Us

As well as customer support contact details here:
Site Index, Customer Service -- National Geographic

Contact them through one of those channels instead of the one the email directs you to. You can then assertain if the person who contacted you does work for NatGeo and if so acquire their proper contact details. Further if your email turns out to be a haox I'm sure they would want to be made aware of it (if they are not already)

ThornleyGroves · Sep 25, 2010

Overread said:
There are UK Nat Geo contact details here:
National Geographic - Contact Us

As well as customer support contact details here:
Site Index, Customer Service -- National Geographic

Contact them through one of those channels instead of the one the email directs you to. You can then assertain if the person who contacted you does work for NatGeo and if so acquire their proper contact details. Further if your email turns out to be a haox I'm sure they would want to be made aware of it (if they are not already)

thank you very very much! will look into it, and will probs do what you said! appreciate it!

Infidel · Sep 25, 2010

ThornleyGroves said:
Hi guys, i just received this email through my website.... however i don't know what to make of it as i don't think it is that legit...

what do you lot think?

'Dear Mr Thomas Groves
Hello, one of my work associates linked me to your website for we are looking to recruit new young members into our National Geographic teen magazine, which if successful we will release a series of. So we where wondering if your would like to send us more of your work we are considering using you as one of our photographers, images should include of social life as we can see you already have experience with. Yes, you will be getting a payment for each of your photos which can be up to two hundred pounds pre photo.
So if you are interested please contact us at this email and thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely,
John Lopes
- Deputy Head Editor of National Geographic, London, UK'

it doesn't seem to make sense to me yet i want more views... Also it was recieved from a natgeo gmail address :/ rather than an official national geographic address...

Assuming you copied and pasted this verbatim, the overall poor grammar usage, as well as the number of typos, raise a red flag, especially coming from someone with the title of "Deputy Head Editor'. I think it's a scam...an odd scam.

Overread · Sep 25, 2010

If it was spell checked with word it wouldn't show any red underlines - pre is a word - so it could be a natural slip of the keyboard (even editors get things wrong

). The personal titling also adds some credibility since most scams don't address a person by name - however it is an unusual communication and they do start talking about payment very early on - often a sign of a hook to reel in someone for a scam.

oldmacman · Sep 25, 2010

Overread said:
If it was spell checked with word it wouldn't show any red underlines - pre is a word - so it could be a natural slip of the keyboard (even editors get things wrong). The personal titling also adds some credibility since most scams don't address a person by name - however it is an unusual communication and they do start talking about payment very early on - often a sign of a hook to reel in someone for a scam.

There is more than just the use of the word "pre". Aside from ending the first sentence with a preposition, there is missed punctuation and overall awkwardness of phrasing; like someone who wants to sound official but cannot. In the second sentence they mix "where" with "were" and "your" with "you" as well as creating another awkward run on sentence. Sorry to the OP, but these are not the type of mistakes an editor of a respected magazine is going to make.

misstwinklytoes · Sep 25, 2010

National Geographic teen magazine

Maybe Deputy means the teenage editor?

creisinger · Sep 25, 2010

Fake, spam, trash. Don't bother responding nor trying to get in touch with NG.

Once you get an email from such a powerhouse you WILL know!

This one is loaded with so many errors including a Gmail address - that's just a joke.

Infidel · Sep 25, 2010

oldmacman said:
There is more than just the use of the word "pre". Aside from ending the first sentence with a preposition, there is missed punctuation and overall awkwardness of phrasing; like someone who wants to sound official but cannot. In the second sentence they mix "where" with "were" and "your" with "you" as well as creating another awkward run on sentence. Sorry to the OP, but these are not the type of mistakes an editor of a respected magazine is going to make.

Thanks...this is what I was getting at.