I've been receiving an increasing number of emails lately that look like legitimate job offers but are a new spin on the Nigerian letter scams that have been around for years. Most of you are probably aware of these types of letters, but I know that many of you are just starting out and may not have seen one of these letters yet. I just wanted to post a little information here to be sure that none of you falls prey to these criminals.
The letters typically come from someone outside of your area and state that they will be visiting your area, for whatever reason. Usually the letters are quite vague and may not even mention exactly which services they hope that you can provide, but the scammers have been getting smarter and are trying to tailor their letters to seem more legitimate. Most scam letters are poorly written with spelling and grammatical errors.
The scam happens when the "client" sends you payment in the form of a cashier's check or a money order. The check is always for more than what you were going to charge and they want you to send the remainder to another service provider for the event...like a caterer or a photographer. The checks that they send look so legitimate that banks happily cash them for you, but then realize (perhaps even several weeks later) that the check was fraudulent. Then they take the funds back out of your bank account. By this time, you have already sent some of your own funds to the scammers or their partners. You'll never see the "clients" or your money again.
Here is a copy of a recent email that I received. If you are ever in doubt, send a copy to a colleague to get an opinion before responding to a suspect email.
Hello,
My name is Scott Hamilton,you are one of the few people chosen out of the screening exercise performed by our agent for us saying your work got the features we need for our catalogue update,I have a pay Fashion job for you if you are interested,My client wants to update her
Catalog with her new year release Fashion outfits and i'm interested in you for the professional shooting as Tattoo Artist. so if you are interested you can get back to me.
The shooting will hold at a rented photographers studio in your location,so you don't have to worry about traveling,the name and address of the studio will be froward to you before the date of the
shooting, all make up will be taken cared of in the studio you can come along with any body of your choice on the day of the shooting,your mum,dad,friend,body-guard anybody you wish to come with just for you to feel comfortable .
Get back to me ASAP for me details about the job.
