Victim Location 33140
Type of a scam Employment
here is the text of the e-mail received after applying to numerous different jobs, this one found on Linkedin:
Hello (my full name here),
We are pleased to let you know that your application and your resume for the post of Assistant Photographer were received and reviewed. We are having a project for Alexander McQueen for their upcoming line of designed to unfold November and this shoot will be held in Dallas, TX between October 1st – 3rd. This is an All-expense paid job. You will be paid $400.00 daily for 3 days work. Please confirm your availability for those dates and further details will be sent to you.
—
Angelo R. Reyes
Executive Producer/Photographer
wettstudios® LLC
(469) 309-7075
I then replied positively and got this answer:
Hello (my first name here),
We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as an ideal candidate that is skilled, motivated, and energetic to work with us. Wettstudios will be having a photoshoot this October for our client Alexander McQueen for their upcoming line of designed to be unfolded. You will be working directly with the production crew throughout the production. This is a highly professional, creative, and collaborative project.
Job Duties:
Assisting in everything from administration to the shoot.
Challenge and introduce new and innovative methods of creative execute
You will be required to do whatever is necessary to ensure that a photographic shoot runs smoothly. Usually, this involves preparing sets, checking that all equipment is functioning properly, and setting up lighting and accessories, taking meter readings, uploading files.
Strategically identifying project deliverable, thinking before designing, while diligently exceeding the project and business goals
Project details: It is a 3 days photo shoot that will be held at 8360 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy, Dallas, TX 75243 from October 1st – 3rd. You will be required to sign a contract for this 3 days project which will be emailed to you after acknowledging this email.
Pay: You will be paid $400.00/day which will amount to $1,200.00 for the 3 days. You will also receive a check next week via FedEx/USPS and this check will cover your personal expenses which includes travel/lodging and will be handled via our sponsor’s designated travel agent. You get a daily update via email feel free to email for any information and we will get back to you ASAP. Further procedure and contract document will be emailed after you acknowledge this email, please acknowledge this email right away.
I got suspicious, looked up the address on google, found out it was not a very nice area, right by a highway interchange. I then called the number and asked for Angelo. A sleepy sort of man answered claiming to be him. He seemed to know what I was talking about and and I told him I had a few quesitons. I told him I had called the Alexander McQueen company and that they had never heard of this photo shoot in Dallas, and told him I contacted the address that reported no one booked any space for the photo shoot. So I told him I was just calling for further details since I wasn’t able to get satisfactory answers at those two places mentioned above. He immediately got defensive and asked me to write my questions on an e-mail. I declined and told him I wanted some answers on the phone and that this felt like a scam to me. He immediately hung up.
They try to lure people in by promising to send checks and money as well as a way above industry standard salary. Not sure exactly how it unfolds, but absolutely positive this is a scam.
Victim Location 70601
Type of a scam Fake Check/Money Order
SCAM………………………..
We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as an ideal candidate that is skilled, motivated, and energetic to work with us. Wettstudios will be having a photoshoot this September for our client Alexander McQueen for their upcoming line of designed to be unfolded. You will be working directly with the production crew throughout the production. This is a highly professional, creative, and collaborative project.
Job Duties:
• Assisting in everything from administration to the shoot.
• Challenge and introduce new and innovative methods of creative execute
• You will be required to do whatever is necessary to ensure that a photographic shoot runs smoothly. Usually, this involves preparing sets, checking that all equipment is functioning properly, and setting up lighting and accessories, taking meter readings, uploading files.
• Strategically identifying project deliverable, thinking before designing, while diligently exceeding the project and business goals
Project details: It is a 3 days photo shoot that will be held at 8360 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy, Dallas, TX 75243 from September 17th – 19th. You will be required to sign a contract for this 3 days project which will be emailed to you after acknowledging this email.
Pay: You will be paid $400.00/day which will amount to $1,200.00 for the 3 days. You will also receive a check next week via FedEx/USPS and this check will cover your personal expenses which includes travel/lodging and will be handled via our sponsor’s designated travel agent. You get a daily update via email feel free to email your concerns and we will get back to you ASAP. Further procedure and contract document will be emailed after you acknowledge this email, please acknowledge this email right away.
Angelo R. Reyes
Executive Producer/Photographer
wettstudios® LLC
(469)
309-7075
Victim Location 34772
Type of a scam Employment
This scam is becoming more and more apparent recently. I’m a photographer and I’ve seen this exact scam probably 3 separate times. They will get in touch with you through a fake job posting, either on craigslist, indeed, linkedin, whatever it may be, these job postings look legitimate but end up not being so. They’ll tell you they want you to do something on a photoshoot, it could be assisting, running the shoot, anything really. They usually tell you they’ll pay you a decent amount for either one day of work or multiple days of work, the big thing is that they’ll keep reiterating either how important the client is (usually a big name like a big fashion brand or a big name in fashion), and how much they’re going to pay you. This is used to kind of blind you into doing whatever they ask cause the payout will be so big. They’ll then send you a check for a designated amount, but they’ll require you to either rent equipment or do some sort of purchasing with part of the money. The check is obviously fake, but they’ll want you to deposit it, and as the check PRE clears, they’ll want you to deposit money into a bank account, usually for "equipment rentals" or anything else really. Beware of these jobs that seem too good to be true and as a creative, NEVER spend any of your own money on a job before you know it’s legit. Stay safe, creatives.
Victim Location 60134
Type of a scam Sweepstakes/Lottery/Prizes
Wett Studios scammer contacted me saying my application had been accepted for an all expenses paid freelance photography gig in Texas for Alexander Mcqueen. Sounded great! But then they send you a contract and procedure page to review, within it there is a part that says you will receive money in advance to pay their provided travel agent and that’s when the red flags went up! I’ve heard of these scams to get your banking info or its a phony check and they hope you pay the agent before the check bounces. After some digging the address on the companies website has no tenant named Wettstudios, nobody answers the phone numbers provided and the "head photographer" Angelo R. Reyes has no photographic work on the internet that I can find. I’m really lucky I didn’t follow through with this!
Victim Location 85016
Type of a scam Fake Check/Money Order
I had received a notification from Linkdn about a photo assistant job. I casually applied and to my surprise was selected. It started to sound fishy when the studio that was hiring posted a job in Phoenix, AZ for a shoot in Dallas, TX. Then, it just got worse from there. The grammar and punctuation was off and they wanted to send me a check for me to use as travel money. I went with it for a few days because the information for the shoot seemed legit. However, once I received the check I called the bank to verify and it was indeed fraudulent. I confronted the individual via text message and he insisted that I give him the bank’s number and that I had to deposit the money due to a binding contract. I then informed him that I had reported him to the bank, the studio he was pretending to be, and now the BBB.
Victim Location 84606
Type of a scam Employment
Solomon Kumar is claiming to be "WettStudios" (a knockoff of WetStudios) to hire assistant photographers and scam them for money and bank account information. The emails he’s using are: [email protected], and [email protected] I even spoke with him on the phone at both of these numbers: (607) 241-9152 and (607)-533-6010. You can visit his website at wettstudios.com. He’s noticeably foreign, though I can’t tell where he’s from just by his (super thick) accent. He made it sound like he was hiring me to be an assistant photographer for a photo shoot, and he’d be paying $400/day for three days plus travel expenses. Supposedly he’s sending me a check that I’ll need to deposit into my account and then book my own travel, but that’s an instant red flag in this industry. It’s obviously a scam, and I’m worried about other hopeful photographers trying to break into the business that might fall for this guy’s nonsense.