Thread: New phishing scam: work related opp for dancers. Be Wary.

Ladies, I received the following mail today. I am the second SA dancer I know of who received it. Hers was slightly different in details, but it is clearely a central source. Please be careful.

Phishing schemes are effectivly a money scam. You would be sent a cheque higher then your quoted amount, which you would deposit. They will request a refund on the difference, which you will offer in good faith as you have the money. Very likely, it will not then clear and you will have lost the money.

A common one of these used to be for an internationally traveling son or daughter- looks like they have moved on to a different cover story. The hallmarks of these are similar, however-
International travel, justifying Email communication and slow responses on enquiries.
Rather vague details- note the 'over there' rather then specifiying SA. Excessive tuition amounts- a week of intensive classes, long hours or something similar. IE big money earners.
Genre indecision- these are often catch alls for several types of dance/art/whatever- note my 'client' here is rather uncertain as to what I teach. How, then, can they be intermediate students in ALL of these arts?
An air of vague probability- these often seem ok on the surface, and arrangments will appear genuine until the point you lose the cheque. These are never as blatentley stupid as the notorious Nigerian scam rings.

By all means, if you receive similar enquireies, persue them. You may receive genuine enquiries which, at first glance, are strangely worded, and let us not lose work! But never, ever let go of money- even if you THINK you have been overpaid- until you are certain that that money has cleared and it is in your account, clearly present and bank ratified.

In the meantime, stay safe and keep dancing.

A.

p.S Please note that the other lady receiving this enquiry responded asking for a phone number. The purported Mr Alvin declined to respond. I highly doubt the veracity of this email and I , for one, will be treating it as a Phishy one.

Greetings,

My name is Baird Alvin,from United Kingdom.I believe you are a dance
teacher/instructor that LOVES teaching dance, reliable with a good
teaching experience. I would like to book for 2 weeks dance classes
for 3 hours each day Monday to Saturday (morning hours) for a group of
10. We are asking for 3 hours per day for 2 weeks - Monday - Saturday.
A total of 36 hrs.

We want to entertain the guests as well as family members that would
be attending the 50th wedding anniversary of my

parents. The dancers are all in INTERMEDIATE level. What kind of
dances do you teach? We need dance classes/private

lessons like Belly,Tango,Latin,Ballet as well as Salsa, Swing and
Ballroom.ANY of the above can serve.

Do you have a training studio/facility where you conduct the classes?

DATE: 1ST August TO 15TH August 2009

The group would be performing for a group of family members over
there. I would love you to get back to me with the

Grand total cost or a quote/estimate. What are your charges and
payment options? Do you accept credit cards?

I would be grateful if you will be willing to do the work to teach
quality classes and make us happy.

Please send a confirmation to this email IN THE BODY OF THE.

EMAIL (NOT as an attachment please)



Best Regards,
Baird Alvin

Yeah, this one's making the rounds. I've received at least a dozen copies/versions of it in the last two weeks.

I got that one just today! Yuck!!!

I don't know if this is the same one but I got one of those e-mails about a supposed fortune I inherited in some third world country, and this one was supposedly from the FBI!!! Now that's creative!!

I got a very similar one. The spelling is getting better in these scammed mails