I received an email, apparently about a month ago. The other day I noticed it in my Spam folder, and responded to it. It didn't trigger any alarm bells at first, partly because it was so well targeted, the scammer asked for the exact services that I am literally preparing my portfolio to formally offer at this moment. These scams aren't usually quite so Nail on the Head. However I should have noticed the little typos, and also questioned the fact that I had been contacted nearly a month earlier, but after responding, he proposed a job with a deadline at the end of this month. What exactly would his plan be if I hadn't responded, because a month is already pushing it.
When the pictures of his "daughter and her dog" were about 30x30 pixels, I did a reverse image search just hoping to find a blog or something, and instead I found a lot more of his daughter's photos with her dog, on various stock photo websites. Huh. And then Mr. Double First Name asked if a Cashier's Check would be alright. I'm fully aware Cashier's Check scams have been around about as long as Cashier's Checks have been around, so I just started toying with him (after remembering 3 minutes later). He will never get one digit of my information.
I am posting the email exchange so people can be aware, and possibly get some suggestions on how best to fuck, or fuck with this asshole.
I figure as long as I string him along, that may be one less desperate kid or Grandma he scams. Thank you for attending my TED Talk. Emails are below. And if anyone also has a better community to post this to, I will.
Too much of the wording is the same as other scripts, and there is absolutely no reason to ask for a bank name for a banker's check, it's just so they don't use the same one on their counterfeit, and get found out too quickly.
Also there is no way his daughter is a professional child model, but he needs to troll Art Station to get a portrait, and has no other photos, and he says they're supposed to be a "surprise" for his daughter who literally posed for them. Lol wut. And there's plenty more of them online, but he can only give me 3 thumbnails.
He hasn't actually answered one my very logical questions. Don't you think a real dad would say something like "oh good point about lens distortion/facial structure, I'll ask my wife about that" or at least "What's lens distortion"? He's not suspicious, he's going phishing.
And I will report him, thank you. That's certainly a way to bone him.
Yes! Absolutely yes to everything you said! I don’t mean to be nitpicking but he didn’t capitalize the first letter of his name — that just stuck to my head, sorry.
He doesn’t need your name or bank info, either. I did chuckle when I saw the photos, lol.
IIRC, you’ll receive a payment for more than the $600 and then you’ll have to issue a refund. Since everything is done electronically, I think that’s when you get robbed? The link on the bottom is from FTC.
If you have the patience, keep him hanging while you report his phishy scam. That is definitely a child model posing for a photo!
Good luck, my friend. Gonna bookmark this post in case of updates.
FTC
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-report-fake-check-scams
The child is just a stock photo model. https://depositphotos.com/model/254557660.html?offset=300 , https://depositphotos.com/model/254557660.html?offset=100 He's not having anyone pose, he just took a few thumbnail images and sent them. What's funny though, is he could have taken a bunch of these and given me the different angles and shots I asked for, and a lot of them look more natural and candid. But he's not even that smart.