studio scam alert

[Mixing Louder]

Hey Everyone. I was just scammed. if you have been scammed by Byron Toppin or Slim Hollis or anyone recently, please contact me. This is recording studio specific scam. The feds wont look at anything under $100k. I am trying to get enough people together to go after this guy. I have alot of info and we can nail him, we need to get together to do it. As embarrassing as this is, it is more important to come forward and go after him. Please contact me.

Thanks!!

[d_fu]

Our studio is being scammed


Were you sent a check and asked to refund (partially) through Western Union? Please describe exactly what happened, so others will be warned...

[Mixing Louder]

Originally Posted by d_fu

Our studio is being scammed


Were you sent a check and asked to refund (partially) through Western Union? Please describe exactly what happened, so others will be warned...

The scam is that the band is from abroad. The manager sends you an international check for the studio deposit plus extra money for an interperpreter. The check will post initially. You then Money Gram / Western Union money out of the check to the interpreter (actually the "manager"), and send all of the wiring info to the manager. They get the cash and the Check is returned as fraudulent.

I am hesitant to put a lot of details in this post. I do not want the names to come up on a google search. This person is still contacting me. I can speak directly to anyone who has been a victim of this. I will include my phone number through correspondence through this site.

[d_fu]

My first post included a link to another thread in which these exact scam patterns and names of scammers have been posted several times. You could have in fact saved yourself that money if you had googled the name "Slim Hollis" - you'd have been referred right to the GS thread I mentioned.

Of course the person is still contacting you - he'll try to get even more money out of you. This whole thing is a variety of the standard "advance fee fraud" or 419 scam. You will most likely find out that most emails you've received can be traced to Nigeria, an adjacent country (sometimes Ghana or South Africa), possibly also to the Netherlands or the UK.
You can contact the police, but you are not likely to get any of your money back... Just stop responding to the scammers (and anyone who might contact you to get your money back - some scammers will raise your hopes that way and scam you out of even more money).
If you wish, I can point you to a few places and persons that know a lot more about these scammers - but they won't be able to get your money back, either.

Daniel

[Taproot]

Post the maggot's email and any other info you may have on him/her. There are plenty of people out there, such as myself, that love to lead these guys on and cost them as much money as they intend to steal from you.

[bwaudio]

Ouch. I get these emails all the time. Luckily I always ignored them.

[otheroom]

I've had an exchange of emails with that guy and it was enough to confirm to me that it was a scam. Since I've got a mastering studio it's a serious red flag when someone wants to book multiple weeks ;)

Just today I got a similar scam email from a "Graham Foster"

Hello,

I am Mr. Graham Foster, I want to have a studio session booked in
your studio from 7th July 2008 to 20th day of the same month
excluding Sundays 8hrs per day. Please get back to me with your
total cost so that we will proceed with booking immediately for our
recording.

Sincere regards,

Graham Foster.

That was very similar to the Byron Toppin message.

It was from the address gfosterinspire@yahoo.co.uk and the To address was not my email. I don't know if I was BCCed or if it was a glitch in the spambot.

I thought it might be worthwhile to put at to this thread.

[Del.Antonio]

I received several e-mails from some Manfred Kerstan.
He want to book a recording session for a group from Suriname in central America in our studio in Athens Greece.
And he ask me if a can give the money to theexpatriate/interpreter .

This is the last e-mail from him.
Hello,
Thanks for the information provided.The group will be arriving on the 11th of August and they are from Suriname.
Regarding the expatriate/interpreter,you do not have to worry.All arrangement has been put in place.
Like I told you in my previous mail, the company sponsoring the group has made out a cheque of Eur 7,000 in your favour that will offset your bill and that of the expatriate whom will assist them.
As soon as payment gets to you ,you are to take the following steps.
1.Deduct the cost of your services Eur 1,920.
2.Send the balance of Eur 5,080 to the expatriate.
Reconfirm this arrangement by sending me the following details again.
1) YOUR FULL NAME
(2) FULL CONTACT ADDRESS
(3) PHONE AND FAX NUMBERS
Manfred
Do you know anything about that?
Please contact me.

[otheroom]

Hi Del,

That is clearly a scam they are attempting. The way those go is that the international payment to you will ultimately be rejected by the bank but you won't find out until after you have paid the "balance" to the other person.

I generally report the email addresses used in these scams to abuse department at the domain they are coming from.

[Kelly644]

The scam is that the band is from abroad. The manager sends you an international check for the studio deposit plus extra money for an interperpreter.

Make sure to post up on the PSW recording forums too. I recall months ago a few posts there about very similar circumstances (Foreign bands & money transfer trickery).

[Yoda117]

Dude, I've been saying this on the other thread, but it's worth mentioning here. Get to know your local infragard folks. Trust me, they'll get the authorities looking into this most ricky tiki.

/protecting our own

[Mark107]

I just received the following email:

<<Hello
I want to have a recording session booked in your studio from 11th to 16th August 2008(7 hours Daily).
We would like to make use of your studio/equipment for that period.
We would like to do recording,mixing and mastering if all is possible.If not inform me which ones you can do.
We will also be needing your studio engineer.

The details of the group are as follows:

Name of the band: EWE Band.
Band group country: Suriname
Number of the Band Group: 5 people.
Music Type: Christian Acappella
Number of days: 6 days from 11th to 16th August 2008(7 hours Daily).
.

Please do reply with the total cost of your services. Feel free to call if you have any questions to ask.

Stefano Sxxx
stefano_sxxx@yahoo.it
+447024044xxx>>

(The "xxx's" are mine)

The is the second such email like this that I have received in the last couple of months. I don't know them, and they definitely don't know me. Yet they want to fly to America (presumably from Italy) to lock out my room. I'm not sure what this is, but it can't be good.

Comments?

[GILFOIL]

i can't believe those buggers are still at it.

search scam you will find very large threads =D

[asylumdigital]

Yep---they are at it. The "Nigerian Scam" doesn't stop! I got this one just the other day:



Dear Producer,

I am Blaknoble by name an hip pop rap artist in Nigeria i have browse you website found out you have some good beat which i would love to use for my music recording.

I and my manager have discuss about me travelling to the State to record all my track we need a good studio that we can do all this track and masterd it.

What i only need from you is for you to send a sample of your hip pop rapping beat to my Producer to convince him that you have all what it take concerning recording

After inspecting you beat then we can sign a recording contract with you so i want you to get back to me on time

waiting
Blaknoble.



Seriously???WTF?

[ToddF]

Originally Posted by Mark107

I just received the following email:

<<Hello
I want to have a recording session booked in your studio from 11th to 16th August 2008(7 hours Daily).
We would like to make use of your studio/equipment for that period.
We would like to do recording,mixing and mastering if all is possible.If not inform me which ones you can do.
We will also be needing your studio engineer.

The details of the group are as follows:

Name of the band: EWE Band.
Band group country: Suriname
Number of the Band Group: 5 people.
Music Type: Christian Acappella
Number of days: 6 days from 11th to 16th August 2008(7 hours Daily).
.

Please do reply with the total cost of your services. Feel free to call if you have any questions to ask.

Stefano Sxxx
stefano_sxxx@yahoo.it
+447024044xxx>>

(The "xxx's" are mine)

The is the second such email like this that I have received in the last couple of months. I don't know them, and they definitely don't know me. Yet they want to fly to America (presumably from Italy) to lock out my room. I'm not sure what this is, but it can't be good.

Comments?

Got this same exact one. Different name though. Guess they don't kno wif they want to record in NY or Minnesota.
Manfred Kerstan
man_kestern@yahoo.com
+447024044710

Feel free to call and bug him people.

Peace, Todd

[Steffmo]

I posted a thread with all the ins and outs regarding this a few months ago. My guys were from Britain....very sophisticated.

they rely largely on the amount of time it takes to find out money orders ar counterfeit. Takes about thirty days. So you think you have been paid....and whammo.

[malaclypse]

is this the old western union scam?

[T_R_S]

Yeah I heard there are no studios in Italy so they have to leave to go elsewhere.

[malaclypse]

so i'm thinking i'm gonna call this guy. what should i say?
"is your refrigerator running?"
"do you have prince albert in a can?"

[Yago]

Do the phone jacker gag ," you are winnings a cash prize , just tell me your account details and sort code" :P

[StuartMac]

Anyone else received an email like this?


"RICHGRAY AGENCY,
50 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON
ENGLAND, WC1R 4LR UK.
ATTN:
I am Richard Gray, I want to have a studio session booked in your studio from 21th July 2008 to 3rd day of August excluding Sundays (8hrs per day).
Please get back to me with your total cost so that we will proceed with the booking for our recording at once.

Sincere regards,
Jude Brown"

Looks extremely dodgy to me - and the address is something else entirely.

Any thoughts?

[terminal3]

Our studio is being scammed

[Alp Turac]

I have just received a $9000 check from Slim Hollis. But my bank said that the check might be a fraud and it will clear in three weeks. So I google'd him. And now I am here.

I haven't lost anything yet. But I wanted you guys to know he is still using the same name and the same story.

Thanks for the warning.

[Musiclab]

Originally Posted by Alp Turac

I have just received a $9000 check from Slim Hollis. But my bank said that the check might be a fraud and it will clear in three weeks. So I google'd him. And now I am here.

I haven't lost anything yet. But I wanted you guys to know he is still using the same name and the same story.

Thanks for the warning.

Tell him you won't pay any money until your bank confirms that the check has cleared
and then wait 2 weeks after that.

[Harris Johns]

Originally Posted by ToddF

Got this same exact one. Different name though. Guess they don't kno wif they want to record in NY or Minnesota.
Manfred Kerstan
man_kestern@yahoo.com
+447024044710

Feel free to call and bug him people.

Peace, Todd

They changed their mind and want to record in Germany now....

[leaper]

Wow!
I had a similar thing happen more than 15 years ago!
Got a phone call from a guy representing a band that was based in Nigeria.
They needed a studio contract, guarantee of medical insurance and accommodation. At the time the studio was quite heavily involved in African music productions, and i was a lot more carefree than i am now.. so i just assumed everything would be okay and made the contracts and included a clause about initially footing medical expenses but any expenses would be added to studio bill as extras (absolutely no idea what i was doing there!)
and adding standard studio accommodation rates.
After a million faxes backwards and forwards, everything was set.
Some time later the Foreign Police called my studio asking about this visa application for a 12 piece band. I told them everything was cool and that we were booked to record them for 3 weeks.
Some days before the recording the guy calls and says that the band has had a fight, the recording dates need to be booked again and the contracts rewritten with 10 new band member's names....SCAM!!
I think i got off quite lightly. The idea of counterfeit money orders sounds like shit.

[leaper]

I'm guessing that in this case, it was just a scam to get visa applications accepted.

[mm-pro]

Typically the way the scam works is they send you a bad international check which can take as long as three weeks to bounce. In the meantime, you are expected to pay a "translator", an "Equipment Rental House", or some kind of housing or transportation expense from the check. These are the funds which they are scamming from you.

Keep your guard up out there!

Regards,

MM

[AshleySmith06]

Hi guys,

Hmm... Reading this has made me a tad worried about a chap I've been in contact with recently.

Have you any info on this?

"Producer seeks programmer/engineer with studio setup in Birmingham/Manchester for arranging/mixing Dancehall /Hip Hop tracks. email: qualityrecs@xxxxx.xxx
Phone +07xxxxxxxxx (Birmingham) 16/04/08"

Readers' Adverts

**Removed mail and tel number

Thanks

[nukmusic]

please dont tell me you guys are falling for such fake emails???