Saturday, December 12, 2015

Photographers Beware!!! Credit Card Scammers Could Be Targeting You. A must read on my recent experience...


So, last night I received an email from a gentleman by the name of David Steele.  "David" told me the following in his email message:

"I am David,am hearing impaired. i will like to know if you are available for photography for an event and do you accept credit card for payment . And are you the owner ?.

Regards.

David steele"

Now, being the person that I am, I immediately took note of the poor use of capitalization in his sentences and his misuse of punctuation and improper English use.  This made me raise an eyebrow, but I decided to inquire further.  Not everyone proofreads when they shoot out an email, so this may very well have been the case.  

I responded to "David" with the following:

"Yes, I am the owner. I do accept credit card payments, currently through PayPal. For event coverage I'll require a 50% deposit up front, and the balance will be due upon delivery of the images.

Can you give me some details about your event?  Type of event, location, date, and what you are looking for?  This will give me a better idea of your expectations and what we can do for you.?"

I received a response from "David" with details of the event that he wants coverage of.  I'm feeling a bit better about things because he came forward with more details, named a local business, had a date and time and just the right amount of details to keep my interest.

"Sounds Good to hear can you please book me for December 18th 2pm are you available for that date? What would be your accurate cost for 5 hours service ? 
Venue: Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center.
Address: 1 S Water St, Mobile, AL 36602
will be held here in the state. i hope you can handle this for the family? i wanted coverage of the reunion dinner with brief portrait sessions of the 5 families. We have 5 families so you will make 5 portrait to the 5 families. Please figure out an estimation. I will make full payment upfront with my credit card once i have book everything with you. And please you will be meeting my private event planner he will explain everything to you when you get to the event venue alright?"

Okay... I'm still on board at this point.  Broken English, language skills lacking, but the gentleman could have English as a second language...  I haven't ruled him our YET~  Our email banter went back and forth for quite a while... I will spare you all the details, but here is the kicker and what finally validated my suspicions of this being a scam... "David" had a favor to ask of me... and here it is:

"Due to the event planner don't  accept credit card as form of payment except cash and there's no way for me to make the payment with them with my card. Then my current illness situation does not permit me. 

the favor is that I will be making full upfront payment  for the event and i want you to add the sum of $2,520.00 to the invoice plus 3% Cc company charges, you will send the$2,520.00 to the event planner  that will handle the event. so once he receive the fund, he would be able to make planning on how the event will be, so that every thing can work fine. 
   Really like setting up good things for my Family. I will appriciate if you can do your best for me that day."


Say what???? You want me to charge you an additional 2520.00 on top of my charges and for me to give cash to the event planner??? Of course, I immediately knew that what I suspected was going on right in front of my very eyes was exactly as it appeared.  I shut down his hopes and dreams, no longer carrying on any conversation with this person, and he continued to bombard my email for the next hour with one liners, asking for my cell number, telling me that he needed for me to help him receive a code, asking if I will help him...

Looking at the internet I find that this is a common scam.  Apparently pretty much the same story line is used, and there are people that get sucked into the scam for thousands of  dollars.  The scammer apparently does a chargeback and you get caught in the middle, after money is delivered to the person who can't accept credit cards, and you are the one that is out of money... from what I have read.

Be wary of these types of offers from people.  No legitimate customer would ever ask you to bill him hundreds or thousands of dollars over what you are charging to cover an event, and then ask you to give that money to someone who can't accept credit cards.  

Scammers are everywhere, and with the holidays in full swing they are eager to cash in...

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