Possible scam... get a load of this!

paulpippin29 · Jun 7, 2009

Hi all. A couple of days ago, I recieved an email from a person stating that his name is Brian Cole, who works for the Human Resources department of a company called "Mighty Leaf Tea". This is the first email I recieved:

Subject Title > Your Service Is Needed

" Hi ,

My name is BRIAN COLE , we came across your work from the internet search and references ..you are one of the few people chosen out of the screening exercise performed by model photo shoot for us, saying you have got the features we need. I have a pay job for you if you are interested.

My client wants to update her Catalog in the the UK , with her year release newly products and and photos will be used for Advert on Bill boards in the UK too , they deals in coffee and tea products and I'm interested in you for the professional Modeling Photography.

JOB DETAILS

(ALL YOU HAVE TO DO, IS BE THE PHOTOGRAPHER FOR THE SELECTED MODEL THAT WE ARE USING FOR THE CATALOG UPDATE AND BILL BOARD ADVERT)

WE WANT AMERICAN STYLE AND TOUCHES IS THE REASON FOR CHOOSING YOU.

So if you are interested you can get back to me. The shooting will hold at a rented photographers studio in your location.Or if you have a studio.
As the Make up artist will be coming to your location With the rest of the crew on the day of shooting .

All Modeling will be taken cared of, in the studio

There will be different Fashion styles to cover,which means you are
doing The Shooting for different times depending on the next
outfit to be posed with . You will be paid $500.For a Day

Thanks And God Bless.
BRIAN COLE
(Human Rsc.mightyleafteas Company).
+447023072955

+447024095153
http ://www.mightyleafteas.co.uk "

Ok, so I'm thinking to myself that this HAS to be a scam, as the lack of typing, spelling, and grammer skills alone is a huge red flag. Not to mention, why would anyone be willing to travel to ME, in Mississippi of all places for something like this. Surely, there are professional photographers in this company's local area, that could do a much better job than I could.

Well, curiousity got the absolute best of me after I checked out the website. It IS a legitimate company, with retail stores all over the world, and there is an American website, along with a UK based site as well. So, after noticing this, I decided to email this Brian Cole guy back, but rather than agreeing to anything, I simply asked him for some type of verification, or proof that this was legitimate. I was completely honest and told him that I just didn't believe it at all. Well, today, I recieved a reply to that message, as is below:

"

[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]Hello[/FONT],
[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]Thanks for you response and the shooting will be in two week from now, we are trying to sort out most things, so we can send your details to Mightyleafteas Company here in the UK for preview .So if you are interested get back to me today with your details to include;[/FONT]

[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]Full Name,[/FONT]
[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]Address[/FONT]
[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]city;[/FONT]
[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]State;[/FONT]
[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]Zip code;[/FONT]
[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]phone number ;[/FONT]

[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]So that we can arrange your part payment for you to be rest assured($400) The part payment would be mailed directly to you alongside the Model and immediately you have it i will instruct you and give you the Model Information you are to send his/her fees to.[/FONT]

[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]Then you will be paid the balance($100) immediately after the FIRST shooting, I hope this is quite clear.[/FONT]

[FONT=garamond,new york,times,serif]Please I'd like you to check your email on a regular basis, i might have updates for you,[/FONT]

Thanks And God Bless.
BRIAN COLE
(Human Rsc.mightyleafteas Company).
+447023072955

+447024095153
http ://www.mightyleafteas.co.uk

+447024095153

Now if you read that part about the 400 dollar payment that would supposedly be mailed to me, it sounds like I would be the one paying the model's fee's, and would then be payed a balance of 100 dollars. What kind of crap is that? The first email claimed I would be payed 500 dollars, though it sounds more like 100 dollars to me.

I posted this here mainly however, to see if any of you had ever recieved anything like this before? I've recently built a free Shutterfly site, and also was approved for Model Mayhem, so I have a page on there as well. These are the only two sources that I can think of that might have lead to this, though if he found me on Shutterfly, my contact info is already there, so he wouldn't need that information, as he'd already have it. I put my contact info there because I've advertised my potential services on some local free listings here in town, along with alot of "word of mouth" advertising, so I wanted someone to be able to get in touch with me if they actually wanted some photo's done.

I guess there's that small part of me that wishes this was real though. Being a guy who's been laid off for over a month now, with no luck replacing the old job, 500 dollars could go a long way, and would love the exposure as well

I'm not so stupid though to think that some small town, big dreaming ameteur like myself would be selected for a job like this, as I'de personally think that the company would be taking a huge risk. Not to mention, a company of this size should be more than able to hire a well known, fully equipped, experienced professional photographer who could guarantee their satisfaction.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, and the personal ranting, just feeling a bit down today, needed to "type" it out a bit

Take care everyone, have a great day, and can't wait to hear some opinions on this.

adamwilliamking · Jun 7, 2009

They speak and type english in the UK if I'm not mistaken.
FAIL.

paulpippin29 · Jun 7, 2009

Well sure they do, that I'm aware of, but this guy's typing and spelling skills are not that of a Human Resource department level I wouldn't think

I meant NO OFFENSE to anyone from the UK, just gonna get that out there right now. This wasn't about the UK, or any country for that matter, it was about the email and it's subject matter, nothing more.

Adam... if I offended you in any way, I apologize, and that certainly was NOT my intention at all.

UUilliam · Jun 7, 2009

Sounds Legit but ONLY $500 fora photoshoot that they would be wanting full copyright and commercial rights to.. that seems a bit low to me, you would be looking for atleast $2000-5000 at the minimum for this

I really dont understand where a scam would come into play in this situation in all honesty, all i can think of is... well i cant presumably time wasting?

Dagwood56 · Jun 7, 2009

I think what Adam meant was if this person was actually from the UK he would be far better skilled in his knowledge of the English language. This seems very much a scam to me.

Dagwood56 · Jun 7, 2009

UUilliam said:
Sounds Legit but ONLY $500 fora photoshoot that they would be wanting full copyright and commercial rights to.. that seems a bit low to me, you would be looking for atleast $2000-5000 at the minimum for this

I really dont understand where a scam would come into play in this situation in all honesty, all i can think of is... well i cant presumably time wasting?

Whoever sent the email would have paulpippin29's address and phone number for one thing!

paulpippin29 · Jun 7, 2009

Yeah Dagwood, I'm really reluctant to give that info to this guy, though another small part of me is just so curious about it, that I'm tempted to give the info out, just to see what the next step would be. I'm still trying to figure out the part about the model's fee... that's what's got me more stumped than anything.

Oh, and it's weird that I didn't pick up on Adam's comment there any better then I did. Jeez, feel stupid now, but, oh well

Overread · Jun 7, 2009

Generally what happens is they offer you money - a agreed amount - in advance. Then what tends to happen is they mail you way too much money by accident and then ask for you to refund it back. The truth is that they don't have the money and pay by a method which allows them to pay more than they have (like issuing a cheque that would bounce). Then when you refund (and of course its all a big accident and they really need that money very fast) they take the few $100s from you direct (since you do have the money in your account).

Because they are overseas its a nightmare to try and claim anything back or take legal action = though normally they offer a lot more in pay.

Clawed · Jun 7, 2009

Overread said:
Generally what happens is they offer you money - a agreed amount - in advance. Then what tends to happen is they mail you way too much money by accident and then ask for you to refund it back. The truth is that they don't have the money and pay by a method which allows them to pay more than they have (like issuing a cheque that would bounce). Then when you refund (and of course its all a big accident and they really need that money very fast) they take the few $100s from you direct (since you do have the money in your account).

Because they are overseas its a nightmare to try and claim anything back or take legal action = though normally they offer a lot more in pay.

Overread is probably right on here. I am in banking and see this type of thing all the time.

paulpippin29 · Jun 7, 2009

If that be the case then, and this were to be somewhat legit, and I actually did recieve money, would I actually make any money to keep?

Have you been through this before OverRead? You sound very knowledgable about this.

Ah, Clawd... I missed your post there. It's starting to sound like I should just stay away from this shouldn't I? Especially since you say you see this all the time.

Overread · Jun 7, 2009

Paul not been through it but seen quite a few simialr messages all over the place. Honestly it takes all of one evening to putup a website to look legit and such - heck it takes all of 2 seconds to steal someone elses company name in an email - I get a few emails from different banks asking me to update details and such - even from banks I don't bank at.
The key is that eventually they will strick lucky and get someone who is a photographer and who is after money. Its not worth the hastle for you and all it will do if you do try to follow things up is cost you far more.
If they were a legit firm looking for your work then 2 things would be different:

1) they would write in correct english.
2) when you sent your first email questioning things they didin't respond to that - they just auto sent out the reply stating to hurry things up so you would get your money,

They prey on those who need money and need if fast - then people don't think and take risks.

paulpippin29 · Jun 7, 2009

Very well put OverRead, I appreciate it, really do. I was fairly sure that I wasn't going to pursue this thing at all, but as I mentioned, I had that small part of me that really wanted this to be the real thing, but, I already knew it wasn't for the most part.

I think the website is what really got my curiousity going, thinking that just maybe it could happen, but, oh well.

I'm off to delete these two emails from OutLook now. Thanks again

table1349 · Jun 7, 2009

Give this a try and see what happens.

Dear Mr. Cole,

I am flattered that you have found my work to be suitable for one of your clients needs, however my rates for an assignment such as this are $2,500.00 a day with a one day minimum booking. Payment is up front at least 10 days in advance by wire transferred to my bank or sent to my post office box in the form of a certified check. All booking fees are non refundable.

All subjects, models and desired props to be provided by your company and at my disposal at least 5 days in advance of the shooting date. All images provided are for a single use publication. The cost for additional use of any images is available at your request, pricing is dependent upon type of publication/use.

If these conditions meet your approval please feel free to contact me and my attorney will provide your company with a contract for review.

Sincerely,

Call me a skeptic, but me thinks that you will not get a favorable response to such a communication. Not unless they are legit.

UUilliam · Jun 7, 2009

wouldn't you just be able to say, sorry i dont give refunds if you need the money refunded back i will hand it to you in person on the day of the shoot?

^^^^^^^great post 100% recommend it i mean gosh! evben wedding photographers get more than $500 a day...
i've heard of some charging £500+ for copyright alone (roughly $800) and another £300 or more above that just for taking the pictures (roughly $480)
whcih gives them roughly £800 ($1,280) for a wedding, now these people want to use your images for profit and marketing therefore should cost allot more, Hire you as the photographer = $1000-2000 - Hire your studio = $1000+ - Purchase copyright = up to you but i would recommend +$5000 coming to a total of $7000 but these prices are customizable to your own preferance as it would be YOUR prices

paulpippin29 · Jun 7, 2009

Dang, missed those last two posting's while doing my own reply to OverRead.

Ok, I'm gonna send that message to this guy, it's really well-written, defined, and to the point, and I love the mentioning of an attorney and a contract

I shall post the reply I get as soon as it arrives. Thanks GryphonSlair99