“Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you.” (lyrics courtesy of Mr. Bob Marley)
International DJs on social networking sites are being targeted by a scammer, or scammers, with a new take on an advance-fee fraud, a.k.a. a 419 scam. (A 419 scam typically pops up disguised as an e-mail from some member of a royal family from a country far away, trying to transfer large amounts of money to you.)
Pretending to be an event organizer from Miami searching for new talent to stand-in for another artist who cancelled a booking on short notice, the scammer reaches out to unsuspecting DJs to offer them a dream come true.
Following the contact message on Facebook, the victims receive a list of documents boosting the seriousness of this offer:
· Flight confirmation
· Five-star hotel reservations
· Signed contract offering approximately $4,250 for playing six nights in Miami’s finest clubs
The catch? The scammer wants a deposit of approximately $1,400 in order to be sure that this newcomer DJ does not bail out at the last minute, too.
You might have guessed it already, but this deposit is to be paid through Western Union to Italy, never to be seen again. After the money changes hands, all of the lies collapse like a house of cards. The flight confirmation is bogus, the booking agency does not exist, and the event organizer is nowhere to be found.
This is just another example that demonstrates how publicly available information in social media networks can help fraudsters to construct very convincing lies. Whenever you are offered a deal in which you have to pay some fees in advance, through unusual ways, your alarm bells should start ringing. Maybe they’ll play this song: “You’ve been struck by a smooth criminal” (lyrics courtesy of Michael Jackson)