I have gotten several inquiries for more information about the scam. Unfortunately not all my posts yesterday had the link to my blog where I gave more information. On LinkedIn the author is limited with how much she/he can write.
Here are more details: On October 2012 I received the following email:
“Hello my name is Isabella and am on contract as an editor in Phillpines. I would need some nice landscape and wildlife pictures for the next issue of our magazine here. I will like to know if you have some pictures to liscence and if yes how much and if I can see them so I can pick the ones that suit what I want.”
I should have been alerted because of the typos in the email, but since English is not my native language, I am tolerant about this. Here is my reply:
“Hi Isabella,
I have thousands of landscape and wildlife images. Do you know what region you are interested in? You can search on my website for images. It is good to be specific. As for the price, what magazine is it. Do you have an online version or some PDF’s you could send me? Thanks for contacting me. How did you hear about me?”
Her reply:
“Torres del Paine National Park ©Wolfgang Kaehler AND Torres del Paine ©Wolfgang Kaehler on http://wkaehlerphoto.com/photoTourTitles/2012%20Unique%20Patagonia%20and%20Atacama%20Desert.pdf They will be inside the magazine a 1/2 page.”
We had a few email exchanges and I was trying to figure out which magazine it is and how much they pay. Here is her reply:
“I will need them by 5 nov, 2012. Metro Magazine, 10 project road, Imus Cavite, Cavite, Phillipine. The rate I can afford for both is $350”
I uploaded the two files she wanted and including the invoice and submittal memo. Last week I followed up and resend the invoice because I have not heard anything. No reply. I did a search for her email address and found out that she is scamming other people. Do a search yourself for:
Lesson learned: if you don’t recognize an email address, it might help to search for it.