Suspect Booking?

[blackfoot]

Howdy Gang, I received this email and was wondering if anybody else has been approached by this gentleman

"Hello Studio Manager, My name is Martin Scott I want to book studio session with my group of 5 in your studio. We play english jazz. We have checked and finalize that we will use your studio for 12 days. Hence, we will also edit and master. we will start recording on November 21 2009 and stop on the 2nd of December please do reply with all that it will cost us to handle this project in your studio as our sponsor really want to look into financial espect of this project. Martin Scott Cell: +44 70457 90076 Tel: +44-702-409-3067 Fax: +44-700-596-1818 E-mail: mr.martscott@gmail.com "

I replied

Hello Martin, My name is Jim Blackfoot. I have a studio called Blackfoot Sound in St Peters NSW Australia. You've reached me on an email address that I haven't used for years. How did you get this address? Where are you located? Can you tell me a little more about the band lineup? I can certainly accomadate your session. You can visit my new website www.blackfootsound.com.au for more info . My rates are $XXXX for 12 days incl engineer. I require a 10% deposit to lock out the days booked.
Thanks for your interest Jim Blackfoot

He responded

Hello Jim,

Thanks for your reply. We will be in your country 3 days earlier before the recording session starts. We can then make further arragements before recording proper. This is our first Album and our sponsor have decided we do this in Australia.

I beleive that the numbers of days will be well enough for us. Incase we did not finish we might add more dates.

Your cost is accepted but will appreciate any discount, Good to let you know that our sponsor ready to make the payment for the studio time via credit card You will need to charge your amount and that of the moderator that will be there during the recording.

Our sponsor will send the credit card details to you will charge additional amount on the card that will be send to you. This will cover the cost for the session and the money for the moderator, you will have to keep/send his own part of the money to him once as soon as the money is credited on your account. Do get back to me confirming that you are willing to work with us under this arrangement.
I also hope that our recording in your studio will be made comfortable I also look forward to build a long lasting business relationship.

Best wishes,

Martin Scott


What do youse make of this? According to his phone number he's in the UK. He hasn't answered any of my questions & his payment terms are confusing my head.
Should I follow it up just for fun? I've got a very low fun threshold. thanks jb

[Chinagraf]

Scam. There was one like this doin the round in the US.

[Simon B]

He didnt answer your questions,

some of the wording allmost seems text book, tell him you have a relative in England that wants to meet, and confirm, and ask for an adress, and then look at google maps or google earth and see if it comes up....

[walding]

ONe word

SCAM

Next word

RUN

[NYMo]

Hi there,

That would be Martin Scott the Nigerian ?? ;-)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

[walding]

Hi there,

That would be Martin Scott the Nigerian ?? ;-)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

NO

MR Martin Scott the Nigerian :D

[mfdu]

i got similar via the tape op forum a year ago.

i handballed it to a 'proper' studio which would provide the type of facilities they indicated they required. and that was the end of it.

in retrospect, S.C.A.M.

[chris p]

'cuase people with the money to finance 12 days in a studio have untraceable gmail email addresses, right! Good old "english jazz", that's the sort played with a stiff upper lip, right? I notice english jazz ensembles are flocking to Australia to do their recordings here, 'cause we're such experts that producers regularly fly first album no-namers halfway round the world to get our skills. And without being racist, a "Martin Scott" from the UK would probably have better English skills than is manifest in that email.

Our sponsor will send the credit card details to you will charge additional amount on the card that will be send to you. This will cover the cost for the session and the money for the moderator, you will have to keep/send his own part of the money to him once as soon as the money is credited on your account. Do get back to me confirming that you are willing to work with us under this arrangement.

So they give you credit card details, you then charge the credit card company and (here's the bite) pass some of this money on to the "moderator". When the credit card company comes screaming to you about your charges against a card that is stolen / fake/ whatever, they get their money back from you. Meanwhile, how do you get your money back from the suddenly unavailable "moderator" and convince the card company you're a victim and not part of the scam in the first place?

There's a similar scam doing the rounds of my other life.

[tweakeasy]

Who would ever have thought the internet would be used for anything immoral or underhanded? :P

Must be a few wealthy Nigerians out there considering there's supposedly a sucker born every minute.
(I'd say it's down to more like 12 seconds and counting.) Gumtree is rife with scammers, and GS has its moments...

[rick]

you know i get the weirdest set of emails from countries
that i cannot even find on the map !
i keep playing along and i keep making new good paying clients out of the most badly worded emails

jim my advise is go with your gut on this , if it sounds to good to be true that you get a booking out of nowhere , for a 12 day session , well it is to good to be true :)

but i do get a whole lot of work that it seems u guys would mark as "scam:
when it is actually just a victim of poor english .

i dont run with the usual scams of course
but i am looking at a $250,000 DAC right now that started 2 years ago as a poorly written email asking for a chance to use my services for a large payment seemily out of the blue .

[rob]

immigration scam

they land with documents that show they've booked in for a recording session. Clear customs ... and bugger off into the backblocks.

Then again if you really can get a deposit out of 'em and don't mind if they turn out to be illegal immigrants...go for it

[heathen]

immigration scam

they land with documents that show they've booked in for a recording session. Clear customs ... and bugger off into the backblocks.

Then again if you really can get a deposit out of 'em and don't mind if they turn out to be illegal immigrants...go for it

:) :) :)

[mfdu]

awwww guys 'm starting to think we all might be getting a bit jaded? rick made me regret my initial cynicism

[ChrisW]

you know i get the weirdest set of emails from countries
that i cannot even find on the map !
i keep playing along and i keep making new good paying clients out of the most badly worded emails
.

I agree with you.
I was going along with the idea until I read about the credit card this and that.
The simple fact is, no one is going to pay a UK based ensemble to make their first album in Australia.
The travel expenses, accommodation and equipment hire alone would eclipse the budget of a decent UK studio, let alone the studio expenses here.
It would be cheaper and logistically easier to work in the UK (for a UK based act making their first album).
On top of that you would expect the 'sponsor' to wire transfer money to your bank account, at least a sizable deposit.
None of it adds up with normal UK music biz practices.

[ChrisW]

Confirmed scam IMHO:

Telephone number will often be 0702, 0703 etc, 0870 or one of the personal number system numbers which then links to a mobile. This is invariably overseas. (try calling it when it’s 3am in Nigeria).

http://www.bupmsa.org.uk/pages/accreditation.htm

[Mark Bassett]

awwww guys 'm starting to think we all might be getting a bit jaded? rick made me regret my initial cynicism

"If you're not cynical, you haven't been paying attention" Chomsky.

[DwaneHollands]

I'd be running with totally shonky. We almost got done with a scam last year I believe it was.

I have a printing company, and we get a scam whereby the 'scammer' asks 80,000 leaflets printed and shipped to some location in africa. (think horrendous freight costs - triple the print costs!).

We think OK, perhaps it's legit. We ask for 100% payment upfront. They give us two credit card numbers. We run them - they fail. They say "we'll give you more credit cards" and prompted supply another 2.

RED FLAG.

Hmm, he's probably got a bag of credit cards and is sitting in an internet kiosk somewhere.

I 'Google' some of the email text. I find a list of posts with "SCAM" headers talking about how the scam works. They'll pay you for the printing, but want you to use their shipping agent and they want payment by .....Western Union Money Transfer...

We emailed them back and said we know you are a scam and have notified the authorities...

they never responded....

When reading your email, it smelt and tasted the same...

[Bent my VU]

Anything that involves you having to make a payment to someone, from another persons credit card is just asking for trouble.

[chris p]

but i am looking at a $250,000 DAC right now

... and you don't think anyone is scamming you?

I'd be jealous but that's so far out of my league that I'm beyond even envy. You've got to spill more beans about this DA.

[Chinagraf]

Is it that new one I've been hearing about from Nigerian Audio? :)

[musikwerks]

It's a Rupert Lord-Massenberg signature model. Very hush hush but I'm certain Waves will have an emulation in the near future with all the important signatures on it.

[rick]

WEISS/MAYA signature model :)

very real- very heavy
i followed my nose on a very curious email once , i thought .. ahh what the hell

and .. well if you came along to integrate 09 you would have seen one these WEISS/MAYA beasts
actually two of them ( there are only 6 worldwide !)

mine was still in switzerland getting sorted out but it turned up here at last thursday night under the cover of darkness .

did i say it was heavy ( like 140 kg ! with the power supply) yeah its heavy :)

on or two guys on the forum know lots about them , but nobodies talking well untill the press wagon rolls out :)
stay tuned

[Text_Edifice]

140kg isn't a little overweight that's one obese converter you've got there.

What on earth's in it that makes it so heavy?

[rick]

metal , heavy metal ..
lots of gold , silver and copper and billit aluminium
probably some magic beans as well but they are harder to weigh :)

[heathen]

I hope you got more than 3% better for the extra 243 grand!

[heathen]

I hope you got more than 3% better for the extra 243 grand!

[heathen]

"With my pair of heeeavy duuuuuty gold encrusted converters in my hand all the other mastering wranglers would say I'm pretty grand". :)

What are you using these for Rick, you're new monitoring system?

[rick]

I hope you got more than 3% better for the extra 243 grand!

i dont think its more then a few percent better , but it is better then anything else ever made .
plus there are a few tricks inside that make it all worth while .
of coarse $250,000 is RRP
i got mine direct :)

i am putting all that heavy stuff inline in the Mastering chain

not part of the DA , but the speakers are finally moving along in the right direction again

[HA_DA_JA]

Wow thats got to be some cool looking cardboard box that it comes in. Can we TRM auction the box?

[Adam Dempsey]

"I want to book studio session with my group of 5 in your studio. We play english jazz. We have checked and finalize that we will use your studio for 12 days. Hence, we will also edit and master."

Hmm... 12 days to record + mix + edit + master (in the same studio, without even living with the mixes for a bit?) already reeks of over-ambitious disaster, or at the very least, cost blow outs. Then again, I've mastered many a jazz album recorded in a day and mixed in another day.
As mentioned, their expenses would negate any savings benefits. The over-complicated payment method seals the non-deal.
Still, I like to give seemingly strange emails the benefit of the doubt. There's the odd time waster, for which responding directly, politely, then letting go is the best course of action. A query from NZ requesting a quote repeatedly refused to tell me any specifics about their project, then included a response to me of nothing other than "I am just a straight forward person"...