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– Quincy News from Quincy Quarry News.
Perry Jameson
Quincy Quarry’s Assistant Publisher and Acting Publisher
Scam of the Week: “I am a qualified photographer!”
Ya, right …
Quincy Quarry’s technical staff, fully experienced with frauds and scams, brings this story to our readers’ attention as a public service message as well as as the Quarry’s inaugural scam of the week exposé.
As the Quincy Quarry is only available online, one can thus only reasonably assume that its ever growing legions of loyal readers have internet access and so become unwitting victims of internet fraudsters.
This week’s featured email scam involves a purported woman who calls herself “Mellie,” “Mel,” or “Melisha” via emails telling you that she is either a “licensed” and sometimes also a “qualified” photographer (whatever that is), you have stolen her photographs, and are using them on your website.
She further claims “It’s illicitly (sic) to use stolen images and it’s so mean!” and “(I)t’s a disruption (sic) to my rights!” She also claims: “You have no any (sic) rights to use my images for your domen!”
Whatever a “domen” is, but it sure sounds bad!
Mel and Melisha would also appear to love using exclamation marks.
Then again, it appears that exclamation marks are the hallmark of email scammers. Have a look at this video!!!
Melisha also seems to get around quickly.
Scam Central
An Alamy image
Her first email to Quincy Quarry was sent from South Africa and in her second email to the Quarry she claims to be in Toronto – so what if her email was sent from an IP address in Chile.
She also claims her website is shutterstock.com. Yeah, right – trust me, shutterstock.com would sic its attorneys on you over the unauthorized use of its copyrighted images.
She goes on to insists you click on the very long link she includes in the email to see her photos.
Whatever you do – do NOT click on that link as it will give you a virus.
Want to learn more about Internet-related scams? Visit: SCAM of the Week
She visited me today. She filled out a contact form, but nothing made sense and her email was bogus. I didn’t click on the link. If it smells like a rat…
Thank you for this public service feature story.
I haven’t had the experiences identified but I frequently get phone calls from people with either an Indian or Pakistani accent who offer me all kinds of services — healthcare, internet , credit services , insurance. I start right in on them and begin to ask questions about the sexual habits of their family members. Dogs? Pigs” You get my drift.
They seem to lose interest in continuing the scam and hang up. Or I’ll just start laughing at them Be careful.
Edit:
Or I’ll just start laughing at them . . . and I’ll hang up.
Asterisk ,
Do you also inquire about goats? Asking for a friend.
Thanks for the idea — I’ll give it a shot next time!
On a local note, my credit card got skimmed at Napoli Pizza. Ironically, my card was used in Turkey, the owner’s home country! Also, calls and emails to Napoli Pizza have been unanswered.
The latest iteration of this scammer. She now has a website with photos, an Instagram account, and a Facebook page. Didn’t click the link of course, but a Google search of “Mel Photography” turned her up. What can we do to shut people like this down?