Author Topic: Mail contact from buyer ?? Legit or not ? (Read 7946 times)

thewhiteview · « **on:** August 14, 2009, 05:17 »

Hi All .. i am pretty new to all this and am really more interested in the learning process then the sales - at this point in time .. although any sales are of course very welcome

... my portfolios are very small and certainly not extraordinary by any means, which maybe why i am little suspicious of the following ....

i received the following message from "sokona77" (who appears to have a buyer account with MP) and am wondering if i this is normal practice ? I am also looking for some advice as to whether to reply or not ? Can anyone tell me if my actual email address will be provided if reply through the MP mail ....

"Nice to meet you, how is everything, hope all is well with you. My name is miss Sokona Nnam, I found your contact after reading your profile I picked interest to contact you. I've something very important which I would love to share with you privately, therefore, would advise you to kindly write me back on:( newbielink:mailto:[email protected] [nonactive]) so that I'll give you details. Waiting anxiously for your anticipated corporation"

anyones thoughts appreciated

Whiteview.

micke · « **Reply #1 on:** August 14, 2009, 05:20 »

Quote from: thewhiteview on August 14, 2009, 05:17

Hi All .. i am pretty new to all this and am really more interested in the learning process then the sales - at this point in time .. although any sales are of course very welcome ... my portfolios are very small and certainly not extraordinary by any means, which maybe why i am little suspicious of the following ....

i received the following message from "sokona77" (who appears to have a buyer account with MP) and am wondering if i this is normal practice ? I am also looking for some advice as to whether to reply or not ? Can anyone tell me if my actual email address will be provided if reply through the MP mail ....

"Nice to meet you, how is everything, hope all is well with you. My name is miss Sokona Nnam, I found your contact after reading your profile I picked interest to contact you. I've something very important which I would love to share with you privately, therefore, would advise you to kindly write me back on:([email protected]) so that I'll give you details. Waiting anxiously for your anticipated corporation"

anyones thoughts appreciated

Whiteview.

Your real email will not be visibile to any member so you can respond using the internal mail system if you want.

epantha · « **Reply #2 on:** August 14, 2009, 05:25 »

Sounds like a set up for a scam. If they really wanted to tell you something important they would have included it in the original email.

thewhiteview · « **Reply #3 on:** August 14, 2009, 05:35 »

thanks for the info Micke

epantha - my thoughts were heading there as well.

Thanks.

Maui · « **Reply #4 on:** August 14, 2009, 05:42 »

A scam, that's obvious.

cathyslife · « **Reply #5 on:** August 14, 2009, 07:42 »

I think its a scam. If you can verify that, you should then report it to the admins so they can stop it.

Sometimes buyers want to purchase photos outside of the system, which isn't kosher either.

Gannet77 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 14, 2009, 07:45 »

This might be a clue... http://www.salamspace.com/blog/view/id_3/title_Help-me-save-my-late-husband%E2%80%99s-millions-and-I/

Just delete it.

If it was sitemail, forward it to admin, they should take appropriate action.

thewhiteview · « **Reply #7 on:** August 14, 2009, 07:53 »

Thanks everyone .. will contact admin and let them know

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #8 on:** August 14, 2009, 08:28 »

On the other hand.... and I wonder how many others of you this has happened to?

Several months ago, I was contacted by a subscriber on IS thru my profile contact wanting to buy two images privately, I was under the impression that they wanted to buy the rights to the pix...
I never responded.

Anyone else have this happen anywhere?

=tom

kaycee · « **Reply #9 on:** August 14, 2009, 10:22 »

Quote from: a.k.a.-tom on August 14, 2009, 08:28

On the other hand.... and I wonder how many others of you this has happened to?

Several months ago, I was contacted by a subscriber on IS thru my profile contact wanting to buy two images privately, I was under the impression that they wanted to buy the rights to the pix...
I never responded.

Anyone else have this happen anywhere? =tom

Yes with me.
Some one wanted to buy exclusive rights for one of my pictures and were aware that it sold already several times.
After nice e-mail conversations we made a deal.
I like those deals it's gonna get me closer to buy my new camera gear.

b79 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 14, 2009, 10:58 »

i got the same private message last night, and forwarded it MP support.
I don't know how many photo buyers may be in Nigeria or Cote d'Ivoire (these are the places that came up when googling her name and email) or how many of them have problems getting the money of their dead husband's will (yes, that cames out in google too).... but if she has something to say she can say it directly in the private message, no need to ask me to email her to tell me what is it about.

micke · « **Reply #11 on:** August 14, 2009, 11:05 »

The account has been suspended and we will look in to adding new methods to filter out spam.
Thanks all for reporting this incident.

lisafx · « **Reply #12 on:** August 14, 2009, 12:06 »

Quote from: epantha on August 14, 2009, 05:25

Sounds like a set up for a scam. If they really wanted to tell you something important they would have included it in the original email.

Absolutely! That sitemail has scam written all over it. I would report it to the site.

Like with all other spam, I would not respond to it. You don't want them to know they have a "live one".

madelaide · « **Reply #13 on:** August 14, 2009, 21:08 »

I got this too tonight.

Phil · « **Reply #14 on:** August 14, 2009, 21:13 »

I got it too, just deleted. 2nd person I've had try on most. I have had them on IS, 123rf and StockXpert as well

ComfortEagle2095 · « **Reply #15 on:** August 14, 2009, 22:35 »

That one sounds fishy, all right.

However, I did get a buyer contact last year. A buyer wanted more photos of a particular subject they saw on one of the microstock sites, googled my name and found my website which they used to contact me. After exchaning a few emails, they purchased additional photos in the same series that were not available in the microstock portfolio. Then, they contracted me to do some custom shooting too. Altogether I ended up making over $2000 from that one contact. It's happened two other times (but not for so much money). So it does happen.

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #16 on:** August 15, 2009, 08:51 »

Thanks to Kaycee & ComfortEagle for the feedback.

=tom

NancyCWalker · « **Reply #17 on:** August 15, 2009, 09:50 »

I've had a contact made similar to this. He found my personal website through my profile on IS. We talked and I made up a very specific contract. After it was signed he was able to view images with large watermarks online. After I received the payment, via paypal, and it cleared I mailed the disk with the images.

He wanted specific images that he couldn't find on the stock sites - and he needed a complete series to illustrate a book.

If the deal is legitimate then they will give you some specifics in the first contact email and will usually say how they found you. You can then use your head to request further details and proof that they are for real and not just dragging you along. Also be aware of anyone who "accidentally" over pays you. Particularly on a deposit.

That's another variation of a scam that's been going around for years.

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Author Topic: Mail contact from buyer ?? Legit or not ? (Read 7946 times)

thewhiteview

micke

epantha

thewhiteview

Maui

cathyslife

Gannet77

thewhiteview

a.k.a.-tom

kaycee

b79

micke

lisafx

madelaide

Phil

ComfortEagle2095

a.k.a.-tom

NancyCWalker

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