Tuesday, December 26, 2006

best spam mail yet

Unless you're a wedding photographer, you probably don't already know that there are a lot of email scams directed towards us... it's weird. I've tried to figure out if other service-oriented professionals are doing this, but I really don't know. I do know it's something all of us wedding photographers have to put up with, and (like the Nigerian princes that try to send us all millions of dollars, and dying children who want you to forward their email, and other such scams) usually they are very transparent and easy to ignore.

The scam is basically that they send you a check for more than the contracted amount; then you cash it and it appears to clear into your bank account; the scammer asks you to return the overage to them; it takes your bank a few days to realize it's a bad check; you are then out whatever you have been foolish enough to refund to the "client". Gross all around, but they do occasionally make for some entertaining reading (please note: I'm not trying to make fun of people who don't speak English as their first language... just at email spammers in general):

"hello, how do you do?
My name is angela,I am 26 years old female and I work full time, Monday through Friday. I was born in canada. toronto, but I was brought up in England,I work in Mildmay HIV/AID cure, so we travel alot through this because am one of the perfect workers of the company , now i am now in Africa i will be coming over to the states soon to start my new job with my company branch, and i'll be getting married just before then to my lovely guy named andarson in the states.....So i need a wedding photographer for my hotel reception.
I will like to find out what your plans are for the month of january, jan-27 which is the date of my wedding. Please kindly let me know your availability for this date and also the cost/pricing of your service to be rendered. I will need to know as much information needed so as to futher with the wedding arrangements.I am not really a sports person, BUT I do love Hockey Games. I am a very out going person and fun to be with,like bike ridding, swimming, and I love to travel. I am presently in LAGOS SATE IN WEST AFRICA Waiting to read from you soon.
Thanks and God bless you.

angela jones"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't take pictures, rather I'm renting a room. I got this email which is similar. Both your Angela and my Brithney work for the same company "Mildmay HIV/AID" and both clearly need to work on their english:

"Hello,

My name is Brithney brown,I am mailing just to confirm if you still have the place available for rent. Here is all I can say about my self for now. I am 28 years old female and I work full time, Monday through Friday. I was born in UK WODGREEN , but I was brought u in. I work in Mildmay HIV/AID cure, so we travel alot through this because am one of the perfect workers of the hospital , now i am now in westafrica, what we do is to give medicine and to advice those with HIV/AIDS possitive , now our next contract is at the state , so i need to move back to the state, so today when i was on the computer i saw your ad on the site that you have an APT/PLACE to rent which is near to where my next contract in the state is being available , then i decided to email you to know if the place is still available , And to know more about the place ok ,i will like you to email me back if you think i will be the best person to rent the APT/PLACE . I am not really
a sports person, BUT I do love Hockey Games. I am a very out going person and fun to be with. I do play the organ and piano, and I do have BOTH piano and organ here at my house.I am not a drinker and I don't smoke and I don't do drugs. like bike ridding, swimming, and I love to travel. I am presently at the westafrica and I will be moving to the state to fully start a new life and get my own business after 8 years of service in the HIV/AIDS home in africa... I will be staying in the Apt/Room for some months even may be up to a year depending on how the lease is draw I will be arriving to the states within some weeks if possible...... ,i will like you to email me back to my personal yahoomail if you think i will be a good ladie to you , send back to me a message ok You can also meet me on my yahoomesanger my screen ambrithneybrown@yahoo.com online now
Waiting to hear from you.
Warmest Regards,
Brithney"

Anonymous said...

Wow!

I just received that same Brithney brown email for an ad that I placed (subletting) on Craig's List. Very strange!!!

Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing! I just received a smiliar message while subletting on Craig's list. Apperantly this spam email is still out there. It's people like this site owner help the web community fight with spam. Thumbs up!! BTW, I wasn't surfing for pictures but really enjoying them on this site.I wish I could have my wedding pictures done here:)

Anonymous said...

How odd! I got a similar message in response to an ad I posted on Craig's list. Good to know that it is false!