DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

PSA: Miami Vibes Magazine doesn’t want your photos, it’s a scam

Aug 22, 2022 by Bill Cramer 4 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Miami Vibes scam

We recently heard from several photographers who received an email from someone claiming to be the creative director of Miami Vibes Magazine, offering to hire them for a fashion shoot. While the detailed creative brief made the project seem legitimate at first glance, my conversation with the real editor-in-chief of Miami Vibes confirmed that it was indeed a hoax. Let’s take a look at the scammer’s pitch and the warning signs to look out for.

The “Assignment”

Annick Donkers was kind enough to pass along this email that looked suspicious to her:

On 18 Jul 2022, at 12:06, Eric Bonhomme <ericbon@vivaldi.net> wrote:

Hello Annick,

Thanks for responding to my inquiry. Please see the attachment for the full job description. I believe the document attached says pretty much everything about the photo shoot. The concept/theme is an outdoor or indoor-urban-business casual fashion photo shoot, shot in a day, edited, and delivered on or before August 26th.

This is a remote gig so you don’t have to make the trip to Florida; we expect you to shoot at your preferred location. The date, time, and planning of the shoot will be determined by you and the talent’s availability. The location is preferably urban outdoors-indoors like the side of buildings, car parks, pathways, etc. and you can use any type of backdrop.

The talent (2 models, MUA, and wardrobe stylist) will be handled by a talent management agency recommended by the sponsor. I already had a chat with her and she quoted $3000 for the 2 models, HMUA, transportation, parking, and refreshments.

The total budget is $7000; you will be paid $4000 and the talent team gets $3000. Usually, we’ll give you the full budget to hire your own team but as this is our first engagement together, we’re recommending the team you’ll be working with.

Here’s how our booking works: You will be paid an advance of $5000 via company check.  The advance covers 50% of your fee ($2000) and the talents’ fee ($3000). Your balance ($2000) will be paid within 4 days of completing the shoot.

If you’re okay with that, I can send you a contract today and start working on the budget and the products. Kindly email your name, address, and phone number for the contract.

The modeling agency handling the models and the hairstylist is Gorge Models. You can contact Alyce Barton via email at alyce.barton@gorgemodels.com.

Kindly let me know if you would like to discuss this further,

Eric Bonhomme

Here’s the creative brief that accompanied that email:

The Red Flags

  • Your first clue that this is fishy is that the email came from a Vivaldi.net address (and without a branded email signature). If it were a real assignment, it would likely come from a Miami Vibes Magazine email address with a proper email signature.
  • The second thing that should give you pause is that Eric doesn’t provide his phone number and only wants to communicate via email. This would be very unusual for a $7000 assignment where the photographer and client have never worked together before.
  • The third speed bump is that the client wants to front you money that you need to send to their preferred vendor (in this case, a talent agency). It’s not super-unusual to get advance payments from magazines where you have a lot of expenses, but if the client has a preferred vendor, they would normally pay them directly.
  • http://gorgemodels.com/ doesn’t have a staff list or phone number, they don’t appear to have a LinkedIn or Instagram. I emailed Alyce and she did reply, saying that she is not part of any scam.
  • There are a few other little things that are inconsequential, but none the less odd. The creative brief specifies that the photographer needs 1 year experience. Photographers are hired based on their portfolio, their reputation, and their relationships, not based on years of experience.
  • The creative brief specifies that the models should show up 1 hour before the shoot and they should take a 30 minute break after 2-3 hours. It would be very unusual for a client to get that involved in the scheduling with an experienced photographer, especially when they’re not attending the shoot.

How The Scam Works

  • The imposter sends the photographer a fake advance check.
  • The photographer deposits the fake check into their bank account.
  • The bank initially credits the photographer’s account, making it seem as though there is real money there.
  • The photographer sends real money to someone who they think is the model agency.
  • The photographer’s bank eventually realizes that the check is fake and debits the amount from the photographer’s account.
  • The imposter stops responding to the photographer’s emails.

About the Author

Prior to dreaming up Wonderful Machine, Bill Cramer spent 20 years working as a commercial photographer – first as a photojournalist, then later doing conceptual portraits for magazines, corporations, and institutions. When he isn’t busy working with his staff or talking with photographers and clients, you can find him at the creek with Tilly, reading historical biographies, or relaxing with his wife Adrienne and their daughters Helen and Sarah. You can find Bill’s work on his website and connect with him via LinkedIn. This article was also published here and shared with permission.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

PSA: Beware of this highly believable Instagram scam Photographers, beware of this magazine photoshoot scam American Airlines Crew Spotted Drone While Approaching Miami International Airport; Expect Repercussions Miami Beach Police bust out the blimp to get around surveillance drone ban

Filed Under: news Tagged With: scam

Guest Author: from diyphotography.net

About Guest Author

We love it when our readers get in touch with us to share their stories. This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.

« Annie Leibovitz under fire for “poorly lit” photos of Black skin… Again
Scam “photographer” extorts money from famous satirist Bryan Dawe »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • AstrHori new 28mm f/13 2x Macro Periscope lens sees round corners
  • Sony World Photography Awards under fire for age limitations in Student contest
  • 5 ways to find inspiration when the weather is sad and grey
  • Photographers, keep an eye out for auroras around the world this weekend
  • How to make beautiful frozen soap bubble photos this winter

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy