Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[springman]

Dear Forum Folks- I've had a couple email interactions with a producer named Evans Jones, who claims to be representing a band from Ivory Coast named Ozone band International.  They want to book 22 days at my studio in late March and early April.  I laid out some pretty stringent requirements for advance payment, checks clearing etc, and they're still nibbling. Here's one of the emails he sent me-

"acknowledge the receipt of your mail. My clients are to come from Coted 'Ivoire and the name of the band is Ozone Band International. They are now on a music programmed outside their country and cannot be able to contact you now but you will have to discuss any other thing with them directly when they return from the live show. For now, you can call me for any relevant question that you have regarding this issue.   They will be recording 6 days in a week.

They will also come with their own producer and engineer but I believe your studio engineer can all the same be of assistance to them. More so, they have to present their DEMO to you when they come over so you can listen and make other necessary arrangements together with them. Let me know the total cost of this 22 days that I booked in your studio so we can proceed with any further arrangement. You can book other clients for any of the evenings within the specified time frame.

Do you have accommodation in your studio? If so, get back to me with the daily rate of the rooms so I can make the reservation too instead of contacting any other hotel. Do you have Credit Card Terminal in your studio? Note that I can only make payment by Credit Card or Cheque. Regarding to this arrangement, you can email me for further explanation on this issue if you have further questions".


So what do you think of the odds of this being a scam?  The band has no web site, no hits on google, yet he claims they're on the road and can't be reached... Am I about the most naive studio owner since the Beatles hired Magic Alex?

Your stories/experiences are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Eric Kilburn
Wellspring Sound

[J-Texas]

Man... if the checks clear, it's not a scam.  

Payment up front and have them email you their flight itineraries.

[Barry Hufker]

All of them, without exception, are scams.

[J-Texas]

But if a few African dudes show up at the studio looking for a place
to jam and crash... it wasn't a scam!  

[Halfway Competent]

I won't pass judgment that "they're all scams," but this one sounds suspect.  I'm particularly curious as to why they picked your facility, in the US, instead of a local one.  I don't know much about the economy or technology status of Ivory Coast (read:  I know nothing   ), but the last interaction I had with a touring band, their tour manager was easily reachable by cell phone.  

I worked for an equipment retailer a few years ago, and twice fielded relay calls from someone seeking a large quantity of big-ticket items (such as 10 Denon DJ CD players) to be shipped to Nigeria.  One of the other guys at the shop had heard of such scams; I'd thought it was legit (but strange).  Consider my ears drier now.  

But who knows...  Maybe it's legit.

[KB_S1]

We get about 2 of these emails every month, not always African sometimes American in origin (allegedly).

For example

"Message:   Hello Sir,

Eight of our Artist wants to spend their vacation in your country and at the same time record 9 Hip-Hop Tracks and your studio has been chosen for the recordings.

The date of arrival 5thJanuary 2008 while departure is 14th January  2008. We chose your place because of highly recommendation made by one of our promotion agent.

The Artist shall be using about 10 recording Session, Kindly get back to me with total cost of the Session and Engineering fee and other logistics.
Await your urgent response.

Thanks"

I assume they are scams, we sometimes reply asking for project details etc.
Never hear any more.

[Fletcher]

The next step is they'll send you a cashier's check for 15, 20,000 more than the price of the gig  and want you to return the "overage".  We've acutally been down this path... they tried to hit for $45k more than the agreed upon amount ... they then wanted us to wire the "overage" to another account.

The best way to treat this is to tell them that the only acceptable form of payment is wire transfer in advance... well in advance, like a month in advance [use a low dollar account or one that isn't crucial to your main business].

If they wire the funds, immediately shift them to another account.  If there is an overage when the funds appear explain to them that no refund will be accomplished until 10 days AFTER the session has concluded.  

If they go to do the gig... do the gig... but make sure you have alarms and "panic buttons" all over the building as there is another scam where an "artist" books time... gets everybody in the facility to "love" them... so when they get relaxed and comfortable with the client... and it's only them and the assistant... that's when the duct tape comes out and the truck rolls in and all the equipment in the building gets moved out in 4-5 hours... oh, and they're not careful abour "de-installation"... they pretty much do it with bolt cutters to the snake lines.

If your assistant has a direct line [you know like the "I've fallen and can't get up" kinda worn around the neck panic button kinda thing... then you'll be OK.

In the meanwhile, watch how it plays out.  Go in skeptical but watch them unfold the scam.  After all... you've built a pretty solid reputation for your studio, it could be real.  I'd say it probably has a 5, maybe 6% chance of being real... but it could be real so play it like it is... all the while expecting that it isn't.

Best of luck with it!!  ...and please let us know how it plays out and which of the scams they're really trying to play.

Peace.

[graemeduffin]

Hi.
I've just joined the forum after researching the legitimacy of the 'Ozone Band International' and a character calling himself  Evans Jones. From the email it's obvious he's clearly not Welsh! Very similar bizarre communication to that described in some of the other postings.

Got exactly the same email yesterday as 'springman' recieved. He's not reading or responding, just re-gurgitating.

Clearly a scam then, and we'll blank it from here on.

[Jean Taxis]

I had some similar mails, saying they want to record in France, etc.
I noticed that just making it clear that the studio does NOT supply any visa, passport, etc.. seems to be enough for stop any interest  

[compasspnt]

Barry Hufker wrote on Wed, 30 January 2008 01:04

All of them, without exception, are scams.

Yes.

The Ebola Monkey Man makes a CD.

http://www.ebolamonkeyman.com/

Absolutely have nothing to do with these people.

They are only contacting you to get your money.

One recently wanted us to pay their "arranger" out of funds they would wire, because the "arranger" was from another country, and they "couldn't pay him directly."

[Barry Hufker]

If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

[Chris Taylor]

I own a studio in Ely Cambs UK and had the exact same message.

I smelt a massive rat and politely told him no.

They obviously can't be in 2 countries at once so it must be a scam.

The wording throughout has had that total "hello I  am housemaid called Maria and my master has left million dollar I can't get, please help?' vibe.

I hope they don't succeed in their evil ways.

[Mike Troolines]

I have gotten similar emails it's really to bad that things like this go on. At least there bad at it.

[rankus]

I would say they are prolly scams at least 99.99999% of the time... I get these emails frequently and ignore them.

The scam is they will pay with a fraudulent CC or bank draft and have you forward the "arrangers" money or something similar.  Then, a week or so later, your bank bounces the the fraudulent payment and your on the hook for the funds....

I never considered the angle that Fletcher mentions... (robbery) thats a scary thought!

[Tomas Danko]

It seems it's not always a money-scam, but a way to get an official invitation which helps them getting a visa to enter the country of choice.

I guess the grass IS greener on the other side, sometimes.