Scam or not??

[Rappinghood]

Hello all

I'm aware there was another thread similar to this recently but I just need a couple of opinions on whether it's worth replying to an email that could bring possible work or equally, a big headache.

I'm willing to receive work from any country, I'm not fussy. However, having received innumerable 'I'm a Nigerian princess and I need $40k of your hard earned money so I can escape the dreadful tyranny of this regime and all the awful suitors that daddy keeps setting on me...' emails, I am a little skeptical of anything coming from Nigeria due to the possibility of being scammed.

I'd feel a little judgemental if I don't reply to the guy incase it leads to a million further emails that never lead anywhere (kind of like some threads involving certain slutz...). But not having done any work to my knowledge for Nigerian clients in the past, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and get back to him, but as he seems fairly unclear on the whole process I'm not holding my breath.

Has anyone had similar experiences where emails seem reasonably innocent but end up being more trouble than they're worth? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Cheers!

[Taproot]

99.99999% chance it's a scam. I used to get these weekly. I play along with these maggots. Make them spend some money on shipping and re-shipping bogus checks. String 'em along at their own game. Better yet, post their email address on this forum.

[NorseHorse]

NIGERIA = scam

[Rappinghood]

The trouble is he seems to have looked at my website as he's mentioned a few things off there - doesn't guarantee it's not a scam but it's not in my nature to immediately turn work away : )

[kjg]

maybe just tell him what your hesitation is: lots of scams from nigeria, also in your field. nothing personal, but just how it is. ask him to pay (half of the amount) up front?

[psycho_monkey]

As soon as they mention paying for translators, shipping companies or anything that involves you taking a cheque and passing money on - it's a scam. Ditto with when they ask to book 2 weeks or something ridiculous like that.

If you do want to persist, take paypal in advance, take the money out of your paypal account before sending out any masters.

[24-96 Mastering]

Originally Posted by psycho_monkey

As soon as they mention paying for translators, shipping companies or anything that involves you taking a cheque and passing money on - it's a scam. Ditto with when they ask to book 2 weeks or something ridiculous like that.

If you do want to persist, take paypal in advance, take the money out of your paypal account before sending out any masters.

Is paypal completely refund-free? (I'm Asking because my account is automatically linked to my credit cards, so that I can pay bquickly even with a 0 balance on it, so the momentary balance and the transfers, at least in my case, aren't interdependant.)

If in doubt, I'd play their game and say that payment is only possible through western union cash payout.

[Radioman]

As you can see on some shop: "Scam since 1994"

www.attivissimo.net - money from nigeria

[Rappinghood]

Hi guys

Cheers for the responses. After careful consideration I decided to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, I'm pretty sure he was my first prospective client from Nigeria.
Deciding to pursue his enquiry has lead to a lot of emails, some of them not really making any sense, but eventually we got somewhere, and despite his opening gambit of 'we have big problems with credit cards here in Nigeria' he made a bank transfer and sent me his file. I mastered it, he was very happy and all being well I'm going to get more work out of it.

It's taught me a couple of things:

- I should be wary but not judgemental of work coming from less developed countries
- I shouldn't assume the whole job is going to go wrong just because the guy is Nigerian - there are obviously serious musicians in that country as much as any other place, and the mix was pretty good. Any the guy is very polite.
- Replying to emails never hurts - even if most look like scams - you can still have a little fun with those - and sometimes you'll get paid at the end!

Has anyone else had any similar experience when an email that looks like a possible scam turns out to be a perfectly normal job?

[Sunbreak Music]

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

Is paypal completely refund-free? (I'm Asking because my account is automatically linked to my credit cards, so that I can pay bquickly even with a 0 balance on it, so the momentary balance and the transfers, at least in my case, aren't interdependant.)

If in doubt, I'd play their game and say that payment is only possible through western union cash payout.

As an FYI, PayPal has initiated a "pending" status that WILL NOT allow you to withdraw your funds until certain criteria are met. You might have a pending balance of $2000, but can't get a penny of it.

Seriously--look into it. You have little power in this situation.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by Sunbreak Music

As an FYI, PayPal has initiated a "pending" status that WILL NOT allow you to withdraw your funds until certain criteria are met. You might have a pending balance of $2000, but can't get a penny of it.

Seriously--look into it. You have little power in this situation.

We ran into this "problem" last summer when we sold an album on line in EBAY and the record took 6 weeks to get from here to England. The person in England put a hold on our whole PayPal account which was a mess. He finally go the album and we got paid. How it can take 6 weeks to go to London England by air is completely beyond my understanding but I guess, based on this experience, that is sometimes does take that long.

[Sunbreak Music]

Originally Posted by Thomas W. Bethe

We ran into this "problem" last summer when we sold an album on line in EBAY and the record took 6 weeks to get from here to England. The person in England put a hold on our whole PayPal account which was a mess. He finally go the album and we got paid. How it can take 6 weeks to go to London England by air is completely beyond my understanding but I guess, based on this experience, that is sometimes does take that long.

Customs, probably.

[Ecktronic]

You cant go wrong with the UK. :D
But Nigeria Im not too sure of!!

Eck

[24-96 Mastering]

Originally Posted by Thomas W. Bethe

We ran into this "problem" last summer when we sold an album on line in EBAY and the record took 6 weeks to get from here to England. The person in England put a hold on our whole PayPal account which was a mess. He finally go the album and we got paid. How it can take 6 weeks to go to London England by air is completely beyond my understanding but I guess, based on this experience, that is sometimes does take that long.

Ime both the US postal servcie, but especially UK Royal Mail are sluggish and unreliable.

[mischa janisch]

I've heard about a scam where they book 2 weeks of your studio - pay everything in advance via credit card or check, including flights (which you are supposed to book for some reason) but they never show up and somehow manage to get their money back - I believe this is only possible with European consumer laws. This way they get free flights...

Another version includes paying the musicians and their hotels as well. This one I find a little hard to believe though.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by mischa janisch

I've heard about a scam where they book 2 weeks of your studio - pay everything in advance via credit card or check, including flights (which you are supposed to book for some reason) but they never show up and somehow manage to get their money back - I believe this is only possible with European consumer laws. This way they get free flights...

Another version includes paying the musicians and their hotels as well. This one I find a little hard to believe though.

Most of the ones that I see in my email are for a booking of studio time and even though they say they have seen my website they send their request asking for time to do recording which we do not do. A couple of times I have written back and told them that we are not a recording studio and are a mastering and post production facility and then I get further emails from the band only now they are asking for mastering services. Most times they want to pay in advance and they want to sent additional monies for the band's travel, or security guards or hotel fees or car rental. When I say that I do not accept pre payments and that I would be happy to do their mastering but that I need to be paid in full in cash before they take possession of the masters I don't hear any thing from them. One time after a lot of emails went back a forth I was starting to think that this was legit and not scam but then came the email which said that they wanted to send me a $10,000 check and I could cash the check and then they wanted me to send the difference between our fees and the $10,000 to a post office box in New York City and keep an additional $100 for my troubles I knew it was a BIG scam.

The way most of these scams are run is that they want to pay you up front for services rendered but they want to include additional monies for some other activity and have you send your check minus your fees to a PO box usually in New York or New Jersey and of course their check bounces and so you would be out the whole amount. They other scam is that they want you to "write a letter to an an official in their country" telling them that you are going to be doing some work together so they can get a entry visa from the US government . The scam here is that they want the entry visa and you will probably never see them once they hit the US. Some of these scams come from Africa, some from England and I got one from Holland but they are all the same scam.

What looks to good to be true usually is.