Professional Photographers Beware of SCAMS!!
I have been a professional photographer for many years and occasionally I see fraudulent situations arise. I want to make sure that other professional photographers are on the look out for scams like this one and don’t fall for it.
The general rule of thumb is that if a deal is too good to be true, it usually is.
Like many professional photographers who are coming out of the pandemic, work has been lean, so when a job presents itself, you need to follow it through.
This was all through email - as are most of my customer contact these days - so be aware. The email started as most inquires do, they contact me through the email address I have listed on my web site.
There is a string of emails and I will walk you through how this laid out.
The email was from this guy Curtis Bryan who wanted Aerial Photography of a location in Oakland not far from my location. I’m sure it was a fake name. I followed it back to a simple gmail address. So it could be anyone.
I figured since it was on my website, that I was licensed drone operator and that did commercial drone photography and video, someone could have easily stumbled upon my website and made initial contact.
The first contact was to ask if I did Aerial Photography and I responded with yes, and what was the project he had in mind?
His response:
Thanks for your reply, I will like you to take an aerial photograph of the whole site including the cardinal directions at 200 and 400 feet for an architecture and landscape use because the images will be used to provide an actual budget for the construction and also I will like you to get back with me on how much it will cost me for you to do a video-graphic site inspection for 20 days because there's going to be a fast-track construction on the site as soon as the blueprint is provided by the architect so I will be needing a drone especially for site inspection afterward and i will like to secure my space with you. I should have been there in person to do this inspections or call you,but I'm in the hospital at the moment but due to my present condition I was diagnosed with lung cancer and will undergo a surgery soon.
The red flag here is the “lung cancer” line. Most people don’t lay the ground work with adding personal information unless it will be needed later in the transaction. However, I have to make the bid, just in case it’s a real customer looking for a price.
I asked him what the address of the site was, since I knew it would be a bigger pain to get FAA clearance for a site too close to an airport or some other protected area. As with all aerial shoots, it starts with an address of the site that needs images or video.
His response:
The lot is at: (he gave me a vague address not far from my studio).
The shoot would be a straight consecutive 20 days excluding Sundays. And yes you’d be required to be on site taking overhead video shot and some ground shoot for the inspection. Am also looking for the project to start on the 25th of August.
In other words the breakdown is as follows:
10 still images: Top down 200 and 400 ft Look West 200 and 400 ft Look East 200 and 400 ft Look North 200 and 400 ft Look South 200 and 400 ft and a short video of the site from the top.
As soon as we’re done with this within a week, the second week the blueprint will be out then we shall proceed with the construction and you will be needed on site for 20 days, overhead drone recording the site for inspection and monitoring. And of course a final image and short video when the project is complete,
You’re to make yourself available with the drone for 1 hours daily. We might not spend up to that sometimes .I’ll be available from 9am -5pm daily .Keep me posted when coming in and do get back to me with the cost for 20 days?
The proposal was very precise. Directions and altitudes that I needed to shoot from, and so fourth.
I thought something was strange, but I kind of had no choice but to do the paper work and give him a quote of what it would take to get to the location 20 days in a row to photograph the changes in his construction site. I thought, 20 days is pretty fast, but I don’t do construction so what do I know.
I broke down all the costs and it came to just over $10,000.
His response:
Thanks for the response and I am okay with the estimate and ready to proceed with the upfront payment, i hope you accept the credit card as a method of payment,also I would like you to do me a little favor concerning the architect before i proceed with the payment,thanks.
Ha! Another couple of red flags. First is the poor grammar, likely generating from a foreign country. As the un-capitalized “I” and some run on sentences. Second Red Flag: A “favor” concerning the architect? I asked what the favor was.
Here was his response:
Thank you so much for asking , the favor is regarding the architect I actually met with him to discuss his payment due to my present condition I was diagnosed with lung cancer and will undergo a surgery soon and we had agreed on how he’s going to get his money but i have no means of doing that from here due to limited availability of resources in the hospital so i would like you to please include his commitment fee of $11,000 to the total deposit as soon as payment clears in your account you will help forward portion to him so we can proceed with the project because without the commitment fee he’s not ready to proceed with the project, you know the current situation of the country. I’ll send you my card to charge for the total of $15,800 as soon as the funds clear to your account you help me transfer the rest to the architect .
Total Breakdown
Total Charges: $15,800
Deposit: $4,000
The Architect fee: $11,000
Card processing fee: $300
Tips for the stress;$500
So that was it. Not only are his number whacky, he over pays me, I take a “fraudulent’ Credit card, then I am suppose to deposit money into the account of some architect who obviously doesn’t take credit cards. After I give the architect the $11 grand, the credit card fails and I’m stuck holding the bag.
And he’s going to through in an extra $500 for all my stress!
I knew this was a scam so I decided to waste his time, like he did me.
I sent him back:
You mentioned the surgery. I hope that goes well for you.
Let me get back with an invoice. What is your company name so I can fill out the invoice.
Good luck, thanks.
(This is me trying to sound compassionate for his usual problem of being stuck in a hospital and needing someone he doesn’t even know to handle his banking).
His response:
Name ; Curtis Bryan
Company Name ;DIAMODUS.COM
Phone number;(480) 867-9087
Go ahead and send me the invoice,Thank you.
I did a little checking and saw that Diamodus.com is just a site where you can buy domain names not a construction company and the number was from Mesa, Arizona. I didn’t call it.
I led him on some more:
Thanks for the info, can I get the street address for your company so I can put that on the invoice? My credit card company makes me have that. Please include the zip code, too.
He then asked me what was the merchant that I use to process credit cards, I ignored that request all together.
Finally he gave me his business address :
Business address ;120 N Washington Square, Lansing MI 48933
So, I looked up where that was on google maps and saw that is was downtown Lansing, and thought I need to mess with the guy a bit more. He likely wasn’t at that address but I thought it would be more fun to do it this way.
I wrote:
Wow, what small world.
That’s not too far from where my wife’s sister works at the Michigan State Capitol. She’s the assistant to the AG, (Attorney General ) Dana Nessel herself. Do you know her?
My sister-in-law’s name is Diane Winston (made up name). I’ve only met Dana a couple of times. (As if I am on a first name basis with the Attorney General of Michigan.)
Curtis writes back:
No i don't know her, I am patiently waiting for the invoice so i can proceed with the payment.asap.
I wrote back:
Yeah, I thought it might be a long shot that you would know her. I know she goes down to the Lucky Steak (made up restaurant name) for lunch sometimes, didn’t know if you have run into her around town.
She also goes to some bar in downtown after work….um...I can’t think of the name of it but I think its pretty popular though. Boy, you get a few drinks in her and she’s a real hoot!
Anyway, What is the name and address of the architect that you will need me to pay?
I’ll need all of his/her information to go to my book keeper, she’s stickler for details. She wants their social security number, Federal tax ID, etc.
Thanks!
Curtis writes back:
I will send you the Architect Banking Details once you charge my card through and funds deposited into your Account for you to do his deposit.
Of course he has the banking details, but he can’t pay him himself, he NEEDS me to take his bogus credit card, probably a stolen credit card and deposit cash into a soon to be mentioned account.
So I ignore his last email and write this: (like I have been racking my brain to come up with the name of the bar, my sister-in-law goes to, found a popular bar on Yelp in that area):
Stobers Bar!
I knew I’d remember it. Its over on E. Michigan Ave.
Once I was there with my sister-in-law and they had an apple dunking night. They took this huge vat, must have been 400 gallons of water in it and then they floated apples in it.
The girls would go in after the apples, and I’m telling you that was something to watch. Whew!
Have you ever been to Stobers? Do they still have apple night?
Sadly, he never responded to me after that. Oh well.
This is a warning for other professionals that are looking for work. Yes, you have to treat every contact, be it email or DM or phone call, like it is a real customer. However, be aware of the scams out there.
I had a Postal Money order scam that was attempted on me several years ago, you can read about that here: Postal Money Order Fraud.