Tag: fraud

How to Avoid Film Job Scams – Take Nine

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On the Facebook film page I help manage, we’ve been getting flooded with scam posts again. They sneak into the group answering the group rules and questions, pretending to be real people, and then they post something like this garbage:

In my annotations, I marked in yellow the bad English grammar usage. In Red we see where it is obviously a scam.

For some reason, the scammers love to advertise a weekly payment.

As I see them, or as they are reported by community members, these scammer posts are deleted and the user is banned. Sometimes I’ll post about it on the page immediately after and hopefully catch whoever might have already emailed the scammer. But since it is nearly impossible to keep up with scam posts (I just can’t be on the page 24/7 people. I know.) my main goal is to educate our populace so that we all know what signs to look for.

Check out this similar scam job posted on a Florida film group:

I’ve redacted some identifying info like the full email and the name of the poster for two reasons. 1: the name might belong to a real person who was hacked or is being impersonated. 2. I don’t want someone mistakenly reaching out to this person.

To be fair, there’s not a lot in this particular scam job post to clue you in, but we will note a few things here before we dig deeper:

In Yellow: Things that are suspicious. One, “we are seeking” has been in a lot of scam job posts, but it is not necessarily only used by scammers. Two, the weird email they are using. Doesn’t look professional at all. But a scammer might use gmail or something that looks like a company email and a real person may be using a weird email. So it’s not a huge red flag.

In Blue: Some misunderstanding of how professional film people work. We see them stating their budget – not necessary for a PA or a Set Medic to know. But some folks might post this (see how this gets difficult to tell a scam job post?). We also have them clarifying that Production Assistants are also “PAs.” It’s nitpicky but you shouldn’t see that kind of explanation of film terms in a job post.

In Purple: I redacted part of the name but I’ll tell you that a lot of these scammers have been using weird, backwards names. Like Smith John instead of John Smith. I think it’s because they’re stealing the real John Smith’s info but reversing the name. I’ve seen this before with Jeffery Cooper/Cooper Jeffery, though the jury is still out if there was a real guy being personified or if this was just a fella using every random name he could think of.

Luckily, we can see what happens after you contact this potential job. I’m redacting their info as well, but we will call them Lily.

Lily applied to the job after seeing it on the Florida film group. Lily then received texts very soon after applying:

In Yellow: Bad grammar.

In Blue: This scammer clearly posted this scam elsewhere, because they mistook Lily as being in Pennsylvania, instead of Georgia or Florida (the group where it was posted). The scammer then immediately disregards Lily asking if the production is in Pennsylvania because they are just responding with a copy/pasted response.

In Red: Here’s the hallmarks of the scam. They try to lure you in with a flexible working situation that “won’t interfere with your current job.” That’s not how productions work! At all! They also talk about the weekly rate here, which I’ve pointed out countless times is a scammer tactic.

In Blue: Here we have a weird misunderstanding about how production works. This is continued in the next screenshot below. This person is telling a PA about a meeting and discussing the synopsis of the movie and all that. A PA would not need to be at that meeting or need that information. I don’t know why they think including this makes it seem more legit. It just makes it clear they don’t understand the film industry.

In Blue: Continuation of the weird meeting mumbo jumbo. “You’ll also have the opportunity to meet the crew!” Oh how cute. Typically that’s done on … day one of the production. Like everywhere else.

In Red: More scam red flags. A job offer letter is something a traditional job may give you, but productions are short term. If anything, you should be receiving a deal memo.

If you see a suspicious job post in a Facebook group, make sure you report it to the group admins. And if you start getting suspicious texts like these, check it against the red flags we’ve gone over here and in other installments of “How to Avoid Film Job Scams” in order to best arm yourself against a scam.

Sources:

Federal Trade Commission – Consumer Advice: How To Spot, Avoid, and Report Fake Check Scams

How to Avoid Film Job Scams – Take Seven

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This is the seventh installment of “Bridget gets way too wrapped up in calling out scammers.” You know what to expect.

Let’s look at some new examples:

Turning Off Comments

Scammers have gotten wise to us warning each other via the comments section whether something is amiss. If someone posted a job and imediately turned off the comments, I want you to be wary.

What other details can we see here? I marked a lot of stuff in blue in this screenshot.

  • Mixing up Production Assistant/Personal Assistant
  • Saying this production, which they haven’t filmed yet, will air next month. As if!
  • Veles Productions (I covered a similar one in another blog also pretending to be Veles Productions.
  • The Day rate. Oh boy we have to dig into that one.
  • Bad grammar, improper use of English: “driver’s license in effect,” “be conversant with terminology.”
  • Incorrect job duties: Asking a PA to “guard the set” and help with lighting, props and more miscellaneous stuff.
  • Calling the crew “staff.” I’ve never heard that used on a film set. Ever.
  • Claiming these are 3 hour shoot days. Even the jobs that claimed to me they’d be a few hours ended up being like 13 hours.

Veles Productions is a real production company. They’re based in Poland. But they’re not the ones behind this. Scammers steal real production company names, director names and more to pretend to be someone else in order to trick you.

That Day Rate:

$125.21 for 3 hours.

First off, a “day rate” is usually going to be for a larger chunk of time, like 10 or 12 hours, and after that there’s overtime. Occasionally you’ll see a live event job or a corporate gig that’s only a few hours.

But this fake job post is trying to lure you in with the promise of high return with little effort. They claim you’re working 3 hours a day, total of 12 hours in the week, for $1503.

Let’s not forget that this “day rate” of 125.21 for 3 hours equals about $42/hr. Which is astoundingly high for a PA. That is like a camera operator rate on some gigs. Then if you do the math, $42/hr x 12 hrs = $504. Again, like I’ve pointed out in a previous blog post, the math just isn’t mathing.

Say hi! Cutesy weekly payment scam

Here’s another one pretending to be a well known company.

This is the type of post that’s way too conversational and cutesy. I’ve seen this “Say hi!” post format a million times. Productions are not going to care if you “say hi.” Sorry not sorry.

Other red flags:

  • “is seeking for a production assistant” bad grammar
  • weekly payment
  • Say Hi + emoji
  • gives a clearly international-leaning number. The +1 is the US country code, but it’s possible this scam is meant to scam anyone in the world. And they could just buy a spoof number.

Scamming Models

This was one that graced the Atlanta Film Production Group for 4 hours before I was able to delete and ban the poster. First, I commented on the post, asking for clarification. Why were they asking for models to act? Wouldn’t you want actors? The poster claimed they wanted models and actors. it still didn’t make sense. Finally a community member came into the comments and said it was a scam. It had been posted in another city with the same dates and details. I did a quick search on Facebook to confirm, and deleted it.

Also look at the comments. The poster’s English is awkward. Saying for the other guy to “go to bed” and “Don’t rubbish another persons project and dream”. That last part feels like British English but even that seems wrong.

Would you like to PAY to WORK on a movie!?

This one is astounding. I covered a similar one in January with another Christian film who wants extras to pay to appear in the movie.


You want me to pay to work on your movie? I’m sorry hun, that’s not how this works!

  • Look at that AI generated image! They don’t have anything real to show.
  • claiming this is a hands on learning experience, hoping to take advantage of newbies.
  • Angling the post at teenagers. Wow that’s like extra illegal?

This screenshot was re-posted to Crew Stories (a pretty fun Facebook group if you haven’t seen it) and the comments have torn it apart. Apparently this Aaron guy has been trying to fund and make this film for like 10 years. Other commenters had personal experiences with the individual and presented their misgivings.

So, what did we learn?

The same old, same old. Look for weird numbers and unreal rates and job positions. Look for incorrect film terminology or a misunderstanding of job titles. Google search names or posts to see if it has been posted or called out elsewhere.

Stay safe out there folks.

How to Avoid Film Job Scams – Take Five

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It would be a full time job for me to update this blog everytime I find a scam posted or someone I know shares a scam they found with me. There’s no way to keep up. My overall goal is to equip you with the know-how to see the red flags and avoid being scammed at all costs.

Sometimes I can’t name names. There’s a few reasons for this:

  • scammers can also be identity thieves who stole someone’s picture and name. You don’t want the real person to get in trouble.
  • It’s just a fake made-up name that will evaporate anyway. Like one I covered, Jake Smith became Jeffery Cooper became Ethan Snith.
  • Maybe I’m wrong. Or maybe the poster is just inexperienced and went about things the wrong way.

I do however want to bring the following items to light, and also reinforce the red flags you should look out for when vetting a scam job post.

Red flags to look out for when vetting a scam:

  • bad grammar/spelling
  • incorrect film terminology. (I.E. Production Assistance instead of Assistant.)
  • unusually high rate or weird weekly rates/hourly rates for usually a day rate job
  • Job poster turned off commenting on the post. That’s usually because people started getting suspicious and asking the right questions.
  • large blocks of text that ramble on about the proposed job.

You can also do your due diligence by briefly looking into the job poster. Do they have no Facebook friends? Did they recently make an account, or change their name and profile pic? Did they post a very similar job in multiple groups with different dates?

Now these things don’t guarantee a scammer, but if you checked a few of them off a list, that’s a real good indicator.

Kevin – But Not Really

An Atlanta makeup artist was contact by a legit enough sounding job poster. They used a real person’s name who is in no way connected to the resulting attempted scam, so I deleted the last name.

It uses a familiar format: Fake Kev contacted the makeup artist saying they found their info on “Georgia Production website.” Sometimes it’s called a film directory or similar, but a lot of scams used this “I found you on (something that doesn’t exist).”

They also said “Kindly,” “regards,” and “send over your resume/credits.” which are all things I’ve seen a hundred times in these scam emails.

Although our makeup artist was excited at the opportunity to department head on a project, they kept a cool head and did their due diligence. They asked for a deal memo, tax docs and contact info for the additional makeup artist. This is all normal, good stuff to check on if you’re offered a job.

Then this mystery job poster sent a $3000 check to the makeup artist’s home….from an electrical company.

Folks, never, ever receive payment before a job. It is a check phishing scam. After that check goes in your bank and you immediately withdraw the funds for some equipment they ask you to pay for or, in this case, hiring an additional makeup artist, the bank finds out a day or two later that the check is fake and now you’ve sent your own money right back to the scammer.

“It’s me Kevin the film guy” said the scammer

Our makeup artist did not get scammed because they knew when things weren’t adding up.

The scammer tries to guilt the makeup artist by saying they already confirmed (they didn’t) and trying to place blame on them for not stipulating a lack of deal memo was a deal breaker. And the scammer clearly didn’t know what a deal memo was because they proceed to call it a “demo” a couple times.

Sometimes these scammers know just enough about film to get by, but their story falls apart very quickly when a professional digs in.

Also note the poor grammar that indicates a non-native English speaker. “The payment was unable to be deliver,” “I will hand over to you meeting,” “You should have tell me this.” Look, I get it scammer, using past tense is hard. But if you want to make the Duolingo owl happy, you have to at least try.

Cinebyte

This one is posting a lot so I wanted to bring it to everyone’s attention.

Another crew member in a Facebook group called out Cinebyte Productions as a scam, even posting the highly suspect email he received from the company.

The email is full of bad grammar and is just a huge block of text. I’ll reiterate what I’ve said in the past. When you are a professional in the film industry and someone offers you a job, it usually starts. “Hey, so-and-so recommended you. Are you available to cam op a scripted series in May?” And then you proceed to get more details on further communication.

The Cinebyte job postings are posted by several different people (or the same person using different names, isn’t this fun?). They also use multiple emails. So far I’ve seen: cbytefilm@gmail, lanawilson496@gmail, cinebyteproduction3, etc.

The postings are fake but the company is real. Someone stole David’s name and pic and the company name to seem legit.

I wanted this entry to end here. Guys, I’m tired of chasing these scams. I just want to catch non-Pokemon branded creatures in Palworld and relax for once. But there’s one more I’ve got to cover.

The Music Video Scammer

I’ve covered another shapeshifter before. He went by Jake Smith, Ethan Smith, Jeffery Cooper and every version of those names. Now we’ve got this guy.

Someone named “Eric” (but not really, follow along) posted this job for a PA on a music video. Responsibilities included driving talent and “on-set assistance” (groan).

A number of PA’s hungry for work fell into this supposed job. I learned they did do some driving around, but it became apparent that things were not on the up-and-up. PA’s were expected to pay for lunch, pay for an iPhone SE and headphones. They picked up Ken, a man who was supposedly in a car accident and couldn’t drive himself around. I suppose Ken, who claimed to be the rapper’s manager, the contact they were driving around, hair/makeup artist who, on closer inspection, might not have been an actual HMU. The driver/PA did three days of pickups/drop off’s to such places as a park in a seedy neighborhood, Cookout and, amazingly, Dave n Busters.

Every PA who responded to and did this job (it must have been more than the 3 days, as multiple people were scammed), did not get paid and were ghosted by Ken/Eric.

So Ken/Eric got called out on Facebook, and not long after he changed his name and profile picture to Chris, copying another real filmmaker’s profile pic and image, and posted this job:

I wasn’t ready to post the blog when this went up, so I immediately posted right after this that “Chris” was the same guy who scammed the music video PA’s. Within minutes, “Chris” deleted or changed his Facebook again. Whatever identity he picks next, I’m sure he and many others are out there ready to scam again.

A lot of our scammers are overseas, trying to steal your account information or get you to send them equipment and you’re out the money. But some scammers do this up close and personal. Let’s keep our community safe and keep each other informed.

Previous posts on this topic:

New Year, Same Old Film Job Scams

How to Avoid Film Job Scams – Take Four

The Artist’s Achilles Heel: Imposter Syndrome

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“I’m not good enough for this job. At some point, someone will find out that I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t deserve this.”

If you’ve found yourself saying something like the above to yourself, you may be suffering from Imposter Syndrome, a rather nasty form of self doubt that plagues anyone… including writers, actors and filmmakers.

“The imposter syndrome is a psychological term referring to a pattern of behavior where people doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent, often internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud,” Megan Dalla-Camina writes in an article for Psychology Today.

This also presents itself as social anxiety, valuing your work less and frankly just believing you’ve only gotten where you are as an artist by luck.

Imposter Syndrome is present in people who consider themselves perfectionists, who strive to know every detail on a topic before they feel they can be an expert, or those who try above and beyond to make up for perceived shortcomings.

Famous people you would never expect have suffered from self doubt and full blown imposter syndrome. This massive list includes the likes of Serena Williams, David Bowie, Tina Fey, Lady Gaga and Tom freakin’ Hanks.

Maya Angelou said, “I have written 11 books, but each time I think, ‘uh oh, they’re going to find me out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.’ ”

Natalie Portman said in a 2015 Harvard commencement speech, “Today, I feel much like I did when I came to Harvard Yard as a freshman in 1999. I felt like there had been some mistake, that I wasn’t smart enough to be in this company, and that every time I opened my mouth I would have to prove that I wasn’t just a dumb actress.”

How to Deal with Imposter Syndrome

As an artist, you can start by more openly sharing your work, and keeping track of personal accomplishments. Did you win an award for a piece of writing, or learn a new technique during your last film production? Know that art is a continuing education. If you practice it, you get better. And so will your feelings of self doubt, as long as you don’t let those feelings control you. 

Acknowledge the existence of imposter syndrome when it rears its ugly head, then find a way to reframe it. Knowing that other people in your position are no more capable than you helps. It’s also important to value constructive criticism and not take it too personally. Someone who can learn and grow from constructive criticism becomes a better artist, especially when they know who is a good judge for that sort of thing.

If you feel lacking in some area then practice that skill, study that subject and get legitimately better at what you want to be good at. The point is not to overcompensate and obsess, but to level up your skills and eliminate doubt.

You can also talk over these feelings with a trusted friend. Friends are great at reminding you of your best traits when you can’t see them yourself. Just know that if you need to delve deeper, it’s time to explore that with a psychologist.

 

Sources:

The Reality of Imposter Syndrome – Psychology Today

Yes, Imposter Syndrome is Real. Here’s How to Deal with it – Time.com

8 Ways to Overcome Imposter Syndrome as an Artist – Artwork Archive

12 Leaders, Celebrities and Entrepreneurs Who Have Struggled with Imposter Syndrome