Scams eh?
Check out these 2 words and see if you can spot the where the flaw is
appIe
paypaI
Hard to tell isn’t it. All i’ve done here is replace the L in both words with a capital i and the difference is very hard to spot. This is called Typo Spoofing.
Scammers take the name of a well known brand and crate a new URL that to the naked eye looks legit. You’ll then be contacted for however they want to conduct the scam.
Being aware of these tricks is imperative in stopping you giving away private info or money to the wrong people.
But aside from this, below are a couple other ones, particularly in the Voiceover industry, to look out for.
I also have a podcast I co-host with another voiceover called The Off Air Voiceover Podcast, and in Season 2 Episode 4, we talk all about scams. Check it out at https://manchestervo.co.uk/off-air-voiceover-podcast/ and find it on your favourite podcast player
In Voiceover the most common scam is related to Overpayment. This is where you’re paid upfront for your services (abit of a red flag straight away, its usually chasing the invoice 3 months later that’s the norm lol) and then the scammer claims you were overpaid and they need the excess back. However, the ‘payment’ they sent you is in the form of a fraudulent transaction that will end up reversing on you, usually a cheque that bounces.
But there are others, so let’s take a look at them……
- The Game Show Host
This scam has almost become right of passage in being a voiceover it’s been around that long, and you’ll often see Voiceovers post online that ‘it was finally their turn’ and mockingly celebrate the achievement.
Here’s how it works…
You get an email saying they’ve got ‘a voiceover assignment for you’ and a fee usually around $800. You’ll be told that even though its a game show, you can do it local to you as they will rent a studio near you and send you the money to pay the engineer.
Clearly this isnt the case and makes little sense logistically and commercially
Next they will then tell you the cheque they sent you was too much and you need to return the excess funds as soon as it clears. The problem is, the cheque is going to bounce. Now with more modern times, it’s likely the money will never be cleared anyway, but even so, total red flag and avoid
2. Claiming to be from a well known company
Currently the one that seems to be going around (Sep 2024) is Whatsapp messages and DM’s from people claiming to be from TransPerfect.
This company is massive. As with all professional companies, there’s a process and professional way of contacting people about work, the most obvious being via a person using their company emails.
As of yet I dont know of anyone that has been fooled by this scam, o I cant say for sure what the method would be. But its likely to be either getting you provide work which you’ll never be paid for, an upfront fee on the promise of work, or another overpayment scam
The main take away is to extra vigilant of someone contacting you promising you lots of work, for an upfront fee that you cant verify. Or maybe their pretending to be someone of influence but using a Gmail adress.
Always just do your homework, because if it seems too good to be true, it really probably is
