{"id":5729,"date":"2014-06-12T16:41:00","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T15:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amateurphotographer.co.uk\/uncategorized\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer-5729"},"modified":"2015-04-27T14:30:02","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T13:30:02","slug":"photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, Texas-based photographer Polly Chandler reportedly<\/a> fell victim to the scam after apparently receiving an email from a prospective buyer, supposedly called \u2018Corbett Bonilla’, a collector based in England.<\/p>\n

The alleged fraudster ordered two of Polly’s limited-edition prints, each priced $1,100 and a cheque was sent to her bank, reports US-based photography website featureshoot.com.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n ‘Fake’ cheque<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

But the cheque turned out to be a fake and, to make matters worse, Polly says her bank allowed her to withdraw on the due funds, resulting in her inadvertently putting her account into deficit and being charged overdraft fees.<\/p>\n

\u2018It’s actually quite humiliating to be scammed to the point in which it
\nwiped out my entire checking account,’ Polly told featureshoot.com. <\/p>\n

This week, Polly – who lives in Austin – is holding a print sale to raise cash, in a bid to help recoup some of her losses.<\/p>\n

However, it seems this sad tale is not an isolated case. <\/p>\n

Scotland-based photographer Stuart Low today told Amateur Photographer<\/em> that he believes he was targeted by the same fraudster earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u2018I thought mine was a one-off until I read about Polly being scammed in the States,’ said Stuart.<\/p>\n

\n Long-running email exchanges<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

Stuart explained that he was engaged with a lot of \u2018to-ing and fro-ing’, via email, with the alleged scammer from last December until the end of February.<\/p>\n

\u2018I received an email order for one of my limited-edition framed prints.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was a fairly expensive order of around \u00a3500.<\/p>\n

\u2018The man asked for an invoice to be sent, then he would send a cheque.<\/p>\n

\u2018I sent the invoice by email, then he said he would send a cheque by return.<\/p>\n

\u2018Then he asked for my PayPal invoice, my address, then bank account details.<\/p>\n

\u2018It all seemed genuine but I was suspicious when he gave me the delivery address, which was to a shop in Manchester…<\/p>\n

\u2018I looked up the shop and called them but they had not heard of the man at all.’<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Stuart did not lose out. He says he contacted police about the suspected scam after the alleged fraudster said he had seen his prints on eBay. <\/p>\n

\u2018I’ve never sold my prints on eBay,’ Stuart told AP.<\/p>\n

Kathleen McMahon, an artist based in San Francisco who publishes the Stop Art Scams blog<\/a>, warns others to beware of receiving an email from \u2018Corbett Bonilla’ (see below). <\/p>\n

It seems this is not the same email sent to all potential victims, however. <\/p>\n

Stuart Low told AP that this was not the email he received from the alleged scammer, and Polly Chandler had yet to comment at the time of writing.<\/p>\n

\n The sample email from ‘Corbett Bonilla’, as published on <\/strong>
\n Kathleen McMahon’s blog<\/a>, is copied below:<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

\n Dear [XXX]<\/p>\n

I have received your email and the information concerning the cost and the method of payment that you choose.<\/p>\n

Concerning the shipping and delivery I will handle the delivery and pay the delivery fees by adding it on the same Cashier’s Cheque which am going to issue.<\/p>\n

My concern about appointing a good secure shipping company for the delivery is because I want the delivery to be save to my destination here in Glasgow England<\/strong> without any damages or lost of art which has already happen in the past by using FedEx and UPS.<\/p>\n

We will need to discuss the sending of the cheque directly to you for the payment of the painting in order for the pickup to take place. We need to appoint a time and date for Skype communication. My Skype id is corbettbonilla add me on your Skype list or send me your Skype id
\nand I will add you.<\/p>\n

Please email me back with the below information for the Cashier’s
\nCheque to be issue..<\/p>\n

Name on Check:
\nFull Address:
\nPhone Number:<\/p>\n

If you don’t have Skype id kindly go to www.skype.com and register
\nwith them and download Skype. I will be available on Skype tonight
\nnight from 8:30 pm England time.<\/p>\n

Note: I will handle and appoint a good secure shipping company that
\nwill come for the pickup and the shipping fees will be added.<\/p>\n

Best Regards
\nCorbett Bonilla<\/em>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A UK photographer says he has been targeted by the same internet fraudster who reportedly conned a US photographer a month ago, and has alerted others to be on their guard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"product-category":[],"class_list":["post-5729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPhotographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019 - Amateur Photographer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A UK photographer says he has been targeted by the same internet fraudster who reportedly conned a US photographer a month ago, and has alerted others to be on their guard.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A UK photographer says he has been targeted by the same internet fraudster who reportedly conned a US photographer a month ago, and has alerted others to be on their guard.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amateur Photographer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Amateur.photographer.magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-12T15:41:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-04-27T13:30:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Graye\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AP_Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AP_Magazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Graye\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Megan Graye\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1\"},\"headline\":\"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-12T15:41:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-27T13:30:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/\"},\"wordCount\":702,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Latest news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/\",\"name\":\"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019 - Amateur Photographer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-12T15:41:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-27T13:30:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1\"},\"description\":\"A UK photographer says he has been targeted by the same internet fraudster who reportedly conned a US photographer a month ago, and has alerted others to be on their guard.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Latest\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Latest news\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/\",\"name\":\"Amateur Photographer\",\"description\":\"The world's number 1 weekly photo magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1\",\"name\":\"Megan Graye\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b95161d530e5765e0f73ca7fe2460cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b95161d530e5765e0f73ca7fe2460cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Megan Graye\"},\"description\":\"Megan Graye is a freelance journalist and content producer. On top of having written for publications such as The Independent, The V&A and Cosmopolitan, she has also founded her own non-profit organisation - VOCAL GIRLS - which promotes artists of marginalised genders in music.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/megan-graye-9a7791152\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/author\/mgraye\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019 - Amateur Photographer","description":"A UK photographer says he has been targeted by the same internet fraudster who reportedly conned a US photographer a month ago, and has alerted others to be on their guard.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019","og_description":"A UK photographer says he has been targeted by the same internet fraudster who reportedly conned a US photographer a month ago, and has alerted others to be on their guard.","og_url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/","og_site_name":"Amateur Photographer","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Amateur.photographer.magazine","article_published_time":"2014-06-12T15:41:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-04-27T13:30:02+00:00","author":"Megan Graye","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AP_Magazine","twitter_site":"@AP_Magazine","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan Graye","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/"},"author":{"name":"Megan Graye","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1"},"headline":"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019","datePublished":"2014-06-12T15:41:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-04-27T13:30:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/"},"wordCount":702,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Latest news"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/","name":"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019 - Amateur Photographer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-12T15:41:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-04-27T13:30:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1"},"description":"A UK photographer says he has been targeted by the same internet fraudster who reportedly conned a US photographer a month ago, and has alerted others to be on their guard.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/photographers-warned-about-internet-scammer\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Latest","item":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Latest news","item":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/latest\/photo-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Photographers warned about \u2018internet scammer\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#website","url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/","name":"Amateur Photographer","description":"The world's number 1 weekly photo magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/09a37c0ec6db00d983eb2045e99ff2f1","name":"Megan Graye","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b95161d530e5765e0f73ca7fe2460cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0b95161d530e5765e0f73ca7fe2460cf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Megan Graye"},"description":"Megan Graye is a freelance journalist and content producer. On top of having written for publications such as The Independent, The V&A and Cosmopolitan, she has also founded her own non-profit organisation - VOCAL GIRLS - which promotes artists of marginalised genders in music.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/megan-graye-9a7791152\/"],"url":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/author\/mgraye\/"}]}},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-28 13:09:38","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5730,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions\/5730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5729"},{"taxonomy":"product-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product-category?post=5729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}