various scams via email that are targeting photographers
Photographers are more and more becoming the target for scammers and con artists. They come in all kinds of ways. Really, it’s the Wild West out there!
Here is an example that crops up regularly, where a domain with important keywords are offered.
The best advice I can give here, is that you do your homework first and find out who actually owns the domain name!

The most prevalent scam is where the photographer is asked if they are available for a date … and they just want to throw money at you and book you, without even finding out details.
The scamming method here is that they want to book the photographer for a certain date, and then pay via bank guaranteed check or via credit card. The scam comes into play in that they over-pay, and then ask for a refund of that portion of the money. The bank guaranteed check of course is fake, or the credit card they used is stolen. And the end result is that the photographer who is naive enough to fall for this, is out of pocket by whatever amount they refunded to the scammers.
One of the things that reveal them, is the phrasing. For example, if they say “your city”, then it is 100% guaranteed to be a scam. Other vague descriptions like that should also start the alarm bells.
Here are some other examples …
Here’s an example (in Comic Sans font):
Greetings,
Do you have indoor or outdoor session availability for any of this date 16,17 and 18 of october.Let me know your charges for Family Portraits per session for immediate booking.
Do you have a website?<
Await your reply.
Andrew Miller
(redacted: UK phone nr)
Um … they don’t know my website? So how did they hear about me? Of course, I’m still waiting for a reply to that question.
And is often the case, the poor use of language is a tell-tale sign.
With this next scammer, I played along for a while, to see what twists and turns they would take.
From: mike steel
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 12:06 PM
Subject: PHOTOGRAPHER NEEDEDHello
i will like to Make an enquiry Concerning my Wedding Which would be Coming up on the 5th of september 2008 ,i need a Good Photographer/videographer who will be Covering all the event(5 hours).Please let me know if you are Available and if you have facilities to accept Credit Card Payments.
Hope to hear from you in other to know your Prices
Warmest Regards
Mark
Again, the poor spelling and grammar are usually good clues.
Then the next clue is that they aren’t specific about what they want … they just want to give you money. No matter whether you are a photographer or videographer.
Then there’s another clue in the inconsistent info, or the lack of info. And when you ask for more details, they will supply some details but will usually remain vague. Or the details won’t match up. Note how the email is from ‘Mike’ but the email is signed by ‘Mark’.
I played along with them for a while, trading emails, but they finally lost interest when I asked whether he is Mike (the “groom”), or Mark (who signed the first email), since I wasn’t sure who I am actually responding to. Here’s their reply.
lol. i see its my twin brother!
sorry!
Riiiiiiiight!!
It seems like the scammers have come up against photographers who are wise to this, and insist on speaking to them over the phone, because the emails have changed slightly now. Now the emails are from the bride’s mother, who happens to be deaf now. However, the rest of the wording remains the same.
Hello
My name is Rose Winans, I Live in Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075, but presenlt in North Corolina for the sake of the Wedding, I will be back soon I am deaf if not i would love to call about this enquiry, I will like to Make an enquiry Concerning my Son’s Wedding which would be Coming up on the 29th of August 2008 , I need a Good photographer/videographer who will be Covering all the event (5 hours) In NJ. Please let me know if you are Available and if you have facilities to accept Credit Card Payments (No Paypal, i dont have a paypal acc).
Hope to hear from you in other to know your Prices.
Regards
ROS
And again, note the bad spelling and grammar, and lack of details.
She even misspells her own name.
You know, we might actually be in trouble the day that these scammers become more articulate. ;)
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LOL! This is funny that you brought it up because I think every photographer has gotten these emails. I noticed they were scams when they were sending these emails to my personal email (not sure how they got that) instead of my wedding email. LOL!
Comment by Caroline Ghetes — July 15, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
I received a bunch of these mails from Nigerian royalty (Honest!). When I looked into it further I came across this site http://www.419eater.com/
These guys have turned getting spam into a hobby :)
Comment by Steve — July 15, 2008 @ 3:06 pm
Comment by Neil — July 15, 2008 @ 5:06 pm
Hi Neil:
I had one of these a few months ago, from a bloke claiming to be a doctor from England and getting married in California, he offered to pay all expenses, I never even met the bloke!
Like you, I played along, he got nasty because I wouldn’t give him my PayPal account, I replied that all correspondence is being forwarded to the lawyers at the PPA, I never heard a thing from the “quack’ again, the PPA thanked me for forwarding the emails, I carried on with my life. The PPA have sent me number of warnings about these scams :-))
Comment by Bob Pendleton — July 15, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
Yes, it looks like the Nigerians are trying different markets. I can’t believe that anyone would fall for this, especially with the bad grammar. I always meet my clients in person, as do most photographers I would imagine.
Comment by Christian — July 15, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
I have sold a few things on ebay and also a different hi-fi site in the UK and got similar e-mails there too.
The concerning thing is, even after a cheque HAS been cashed, it can still be re-voked up to 6 months after the event.
luckily i’ve not been stung this way (touch wood)
Comment by geoff — July 17, 2008 @ 5:36 am
Last year I received a poorly constructed e-mail from a fellow who indicated that he wanted a wedding shot in Bakersfield, CA. I gave him a quote for the shoot and he sent me a CC for $1000 over.
I’ve recieved a few others from the Nigerians as well . . LOL
Comment by Jim White — July 18, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
I hadn’t heard about these scams before but where I live clients normally don’t pay with Visa. I also meet clients in person.
Comment by Serge — July 22, 2008 @ 7:38 am
Just got the Rose one.
Comment by Ryan Brenizer — July 23, 2008 @ 10:58 am
God bless google. I was just getting ready to clear my calendar and I decided to google her name. The email was from employ.ceramics@gmail.com. It started off with this “gem:”
Hello, My name is Rose Winans, I Live in Austin Texas, but presenlt in Tennesse for the sake of the my Son’s Wedding, I will be back soon I am deaf if not i would love to call about this enquiry.
Stay diligent. It’s hard enough finding those who actually want your services.
Comment by Patrick Zeinert — July 25, 2008 @ 9:26 am
Hi, I was reading this and it seems that they are going through so many means to get money of us honest working people. There was this time when my work mate asked me to take some pics of his motorbike for the autotrader webite for sale. We then got numerous emails form this guy saying he wants to buy the bike and eventually ent us a cheque for £6,000 (keeping in mind my mate only wanted 3k for it) stating that after 3 days when the cheque clears send him £3000 back to him through Western Union money transfer, at our local travel agents. He even got his cusins (note the spelling) to email me details of him. After about 3 weeks of playing funny games with him we turned a bit nasty with our emails (funny but very nasty). Then we got an email saying he was sending some heavies down and called us nincompoops. We was shaking in our boots lol.
The bank told us the cheque was for an imaginary bank in Ireland and would have shown up only 4 days after deposit, which is why they are so eager for you to send them the money back after 3 days because it shows up in your bank after 3 days as cleared but will only bounce after 4.
Stay alert for the low lifes as they are getting around everywhere.
Keep well
Comment by Dave Owens — July 26, 2008 @ 6:54 pm
lol, my dad was selling second hand car parts over the internet (in Belgium) several years ago. And he also got a cheque from Afrika with a much greater amount on. And they also asked him to pay a part back. But he’s clever so he didn’t. This is not a new phenomenon so.. don’t be eager to give money or codes to anyone out there!
Comment by ALisha — July 27, 2008 @ 4:44 am
I Got one for a Church revieal in north New Jersey . I called the Church just to see if it was for real it was not the Church was happey I gave them a heads up on the scam they did have professional photographers showup on the Date given.
I wish I had a Group Photo of them
Comment by Richard Brandstetter — August 21, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
I know of a photographer who fell for this scam a few years ago. This person was very new to the industry and the email she got-which I got to read- was not like the ones you usually get. It was clean, gave location and times, names of people, what they were looking for- everything.
She was offered a ton of money for a start-up. Something like $4000. Then via the big deposit/ refund trick she lost over half of that money. It was so sad.
Another friend almost got scammed trying to buy a expensive car- only to realize it was a scam just before the deal happened.
Point is- the emails are not always filled with bad grammar and spelling mistakes. Watch out!
Comment by sherry — August 22, 2008 @ 1:24 am
the strangest thing is, why can’t these scammers spend 5 more minutes to correct their spelling, grammar, punctuations and have it proof-read. With that they might just get more people fooled.
Comment by tzywen — September 28, 2008 @ 5:32 am
Here is the most recent scam email:
Comment by Neil — October 4, 2009 @ 10:22 pm
And another I received this morning:
Sure, Mr Lewis Raymon. I will get right on that.
Comment by Neil vN — June 7, 2010 @ 10:52 am
Here is the latest Nigerian scam. Quite unique in its phrasing.
But, it’s got all the markings of a scam.
Note the return email address. Very official.
Comment by Neil vN — July 13, 2010 @ 12:04 am
Another scam email doing the rounds.
Note the awkward language. Also note “my town” and the vagueness of it all.
Comment by Neil vN — July 10, 2012 @ 3:39 pm
…and they are ALWAYS out of state/country. Returning just in time for the event !
Comment by Steven Mackie — September 16, 2012 @ 6:27 pm
Take the check and when they want a refund, state “sorry we give no refunds”, and offer to give credit for future work.
Just dont take credit cards or paypal deposits or payments.
Comment by Jon — September 16, 2012 @ 9:29 pm
Comment by Neil vN — September 16, 2012 @ 9:42 pm
If you own domains, watch out for Domain Registry of America. They go through the trouble of snail mailing a bill for domain registry. Basically, they get your info off your domain’s whois info and send you a statement a few months out from when your domain expires. The “statement” is an agreement to transfer your domain to their registry. I warn people about this one because our office manager paid the statement one time and I had some unpleasant telephone calls with the company.
As far as Nigerian scammers go, if you get really bored and have the urge to pull one over on scammers, there are sites devoted to scam baiting like 419 Eater. The photos are pretty entertaining.
Comment by Pen — September 16, 2012 @ 9:47 pm
Comment by Neil vN — September 16, 2012 @ 10:13 pm
Haha, omg. The Mike/Mark/twin brother thing is pretty awesome!
Comment by Ann Steward — September 17, 2012 @ 1:44 am
Pen, I have to take you to task. I just spent the last fours hours [although enjoyable, but no work getting done by me] read the 419Eater scammers pages…
What a laugh! Thanks for the link. Sadly back to work now.
Comment by Trev — September 17, 2012 @ 2:41 am
Be always alert and vigilant guys!
Comment by Dino — September 17, 2012 @ 5:11 am
I’ve had lots of these, and most of them are obvious scams. Very occasionally, though, I’ll get one that’s borderline. One such was from a Chinese couple, married in Hong Kong but wanting some post-wedding photos in Scotland. I decided to be polite but firm about payment – it had to be an international bank transfer and it had to clear in our account at least 14 days before the shoot. I explained that was our policy for all overseas clients.
That couple turned out to be genuine: http://goo.gl/fdwf4
In other words, most – but not all – of these poorly articulated emails are scams. So the best response, I think, is to write a generic email that includes, up-front and politely, your payment terms. Then simply copy that same email to every suspect enquiry.
Comment by Steven Seymour — September 17, 2012 @ 7:22 am
For those who ask “why these people don’t try to send a better worded e-mail”, here is the answer-read this:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/06/far-fetched_sca.html
here is an abstract:
Finally, this approach suggests an answer to the question in the title. Far-fetched tales of West African riches strike most as comical. Our analysis suggests that is an advantage to the attacker, not a disadvantage. Since his attack has a low density of victims the Nigerian scammer has an over-riding need to reduce false positives. By sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select, and tilts the true to false positive ratio in his favor.
Comment by Costas — September 17, 2012 @ 5:28 pm
Comment by Neil vN — September 17, 2012 @ 6:17 pm
Yep, tried it on me as well. Saying that they will pay £4000 for 3 days of fashion shooting. Turned out they were some Nigerians that tried scamming my a few other people on model mayhem as well.
Comment by Adi Tanase — September 18, 2012 @ 1:10 am
I’ve gotten emails from a Charlotte, Melissa and Rose with the exact email wordings but only the dates and names have changed. The location is always the same… Central Park Boathouse…situation’s the same too “hearing impaired and currently out of the country”.
Comment by William Eng — September 18, 2012 @ 3:56 pm
Neil,
Your article was very timely. I just got one of these two days before you posted this and I was totally sold on it. I did some research and found that it most certainly is a scam. Do you have any suggestions for how to report these things? If/when I do receive a bad check, can I forward it on to authorities? How can we use these similarly worded emails to trace it to the root of the issue? Instead of batting away a pesky bee that might sting you, why not get rid of the hive?
Comment by Adam — September 18, 2012 @ 4:45 pm
Comment by Neil vN — September 18, 2012 @ 5:10 pm
How frustrating! Thanks for the information though. I guess information is the best weapon at this point.
Comment by Adam — September 18, 2012 @ 5:52 pm
Gee…….this email looks very similar to the one you posted! Go figure! I was suspicious right off the bat especially since they didn’t know my website. I am very careful to make sure not is my contact info readily available but my website as well. I just cut and pasted the email into Google and found your page. Thank you for confirming what I thought already!
Do you have indoor or outdoor session availability for any of this date 16,17 and 18 of october.Let me know your charges for Family Portraits per session for immediate booking.
Do you have a website?
Await your reply.
Andrew Miller
+447031855658
Comment by Heather — September 21, 2012 @ 1:37 am
Lately I received a few of those emails written in Polish… I wonder when they will realize Bogdan is a name common throughout all Eastern Europe… (nothing in Romanian thus far :-) )
Comment by Bogdan — September 22, 2012 @ 11:13 pm
Not just photographers…I’m a pet sitter, and here is what I just received from Mr. Millerr with two “r”s. Don’t know how he found my e-mail, and had he found my website, it wouldn’t be on there, either:
From:Andrew Millerr
To:undisclosed-recipients:;
Received-On:Today 1:32 PM
Subject:PET SERVICE !!!
More…
–
Greetings,
I will like to know if you offer Daily check up/walk,cleaning of the dog environs and feeding service.I’ve 12 weeks german shepard,all vaccines are up to date and they are registered with the kennel club papers.
I need 5days of your service,Therefore do you have availability for any of this date 21,22,23,24,25,26 and 27 of October.let me know your charges per hr and details about your service.
Do you have a website?
Best Regard
Andrew
+447031855658
Comment by Ellen — September 27, 2012 @ 3:18 pm
“in your city”
Comment by Neil vN — December 8, 2012 @ 10:19 am
Then there is this time-waster:
Comment by Neil vN — December 8, 2012 @ 10:20 am
And another:
Comment by Neil vN — December 8, 2012 @ 10:21 am
Neil, thanks so much for this post! I am also tired of these email scams with their poor grammar and spelling and gibberish. I received that latest one last night and actually considered replying to it for, like, a minute, before I realized it may just be another one of those.
I’m glad you confirmed this for me! Keep up the good work helping out other fellow photographers, Neil!
Warm regards,
Jesse
Comment by Jesse Hernandez — December 8, 2012 @ 11:53 am
All in different font types and sizes, with no punctuation.
Comment by Neil vN — December 15, 2012 @ 4:45 pm
That looks like a ‘McGyver’ attempt at the written intercourse. :)
Comment by Trev — December 15, 2012 @ 10:24 pm
The original email from “Steve”:
No details or anything. Just asking if I am available. No date.
So, either a very clueless groom … or a scammer.
So I asked for a date, and here’s the reply:
It had all the trademarks of a scam email already, so I asked where the wedding was being held. It’s another give-away that they didn’t mention a specific place.
Scammers need to cast a wide net, so they rarely give a city or venue upfront.
Here is their follow-up reply – a canned email response.
My reply was … “You do realize I know you’re a scammer?”
Let’s see what canned response that will get!
Comment by Neil vN — January 12, 2013 @ 11:46 pm
Comment by Neil vN — January 13, 2013 @ 12:26 am
Neil, how do they get to scam?
I have had a couple of what seemed to be bogus inquiries, but I don’t understand how they can gain from it requesting information, mine seemed to be competitors wanting to know my pricing structure.
Seems to be a large waste of time on their part and I may be naive but don’t comprehend the end game they are after.
Trev
Comment by Trev — January 13, 2013 @ 12:48 am
Comment by Neil vN — January 13, 2013 @ 12:58 am
ahhh, I see. Thanks for the info.
Comment by Trev — January 13, 2013 @ 6:21 am
Hi Neil,
I found your blog after typing “Steven McCurry & Jennifer Ronald” into google. I also recieved that email and was checking into it. With all my previous transactions I’ve used Paypal without meeting the couple and it has worked out. Is this something they can do with Paypal? Pay you too much and then ask for a refund?
Thanks,
Christine
Comment by Christine — January 15, 2013 @ 2:29 pm
Comment by Neil vN — January 16, 2013 @ 1:22 am
A new one just rolled in. Notice that you have to give them your zip code.
Comment by Neil vN — May 22, 2013 @ 12:00 am