VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Stormtrooper 7]

Hey everybody!

I know I don’t get to participate here very much and I apologize before I post, (I wish I had more time) so for those that don’t know me: I’m Roger, I’m a Capricorn and I love Star Wars and doing VO and here’s some chocolate. Enjoy!

So now that’s out of the way…

I just wanted to bring something up to all of you here and this is something you all may already know, and if so, I’m glad. If not, you may want to take a read. Sorry for the length in advance.

I know some of you are not fans of the P2P’s, but most of my work does come from them as have most my regular clients. But I recently had an experience that you all may want to be aware of. I was recently contacted outside of the P2P’s by a client that found me on there. They liked my voice and wanted me to do some small :30’s for their Christian organization. Now I do work at times for churches whether it is a pro bono thing or pay either way, but I love to help out in doing the work they do, as I share the same ideals.

This seeker was from a large organization in Africa. And we all know where this is probably going, but bear with me. After a couple of exchanges in emails he explained to me what they wanted. To be honest, the pay was going to be really good for the small amount of work they needed. It was a monthly retainer for a certain amount of work each month, and if there was to be more, they would adjust it accordingly. So I decided to look into it more.

I did a Google search on the seeker, the organization, the pastor and everything. They have a strong internet presence, all social media, tons of videos, production companies and everything, and for the most part…. Things seem to be legit with them. And even their correspondence was everything you would expect. But I really still couldn’t then and can’t now be sure. Anyway after I said yes, we began working on how to get me paid before I got rolling.

He didn’t know any options from Africa, so I suggested PayPal. He was fine with that and asked how to set an account up, but later said they couldn’t use PayPal there. Well, I gave him the benefit on this as one company I do work for, they can’t pay me through PayPal. I get a check from them. So I’m like ok. Then I say well we can wire transfer, and actually I brought it up, not him. So the next day we talked about setting this up. Again, I did more searching, contacted the P2P, and they had done previous projects with them, although small pay I wouldn’t have done, but after searching in 3 different places, they couldn’t find anything on them at all. No complaints. So I thought I would move one more step.

I called my bank. They said that I could do it if I wanted, but the amount of fraud that comes out of that area, as we all know, it was probably best to be cautious. She explained to me how it all worked and if I did it, not to touch any of the funds for a minimum of 2 weeks in case they came back and tried to make me pay some kind of fee. They sent me all of the info I needed to have money wired to me, but still I was thinking about opening a different account just for this.

So I got to thinking, Western Union. I looked it up on the internet and I said we could do it that way. At this point, it had been about a week since this all began. But still, I had this nagging feeling to try something. Something I don’t usually do. They had sent me the first three scripts for the month that were a total of maybe 2 minutes, 10 minutes out of my life. So I did them and sent them on just to see what would happen, as there was some pretty tough pronunciations. He said he was humbled by my generosity in going ahead, and it was fine, they would work with the way I said it for now, and they would send along mp3 pronunciation guides in the future. I thought, how strange you would not want it right for what you needed it for, after all for what it was for. Well… Ok. This helped me find flag number 1. Still no response on the Western Union thing.

The next day I get 2 emails from him. One from one address that I was copied on by a bunch of other people. The other just from him, which ended up being flagged as spam. Basically the same message, although the one he sent that was spam, stated that in Nigeria… they could not send money through Western Union, but could receive it, and we are awaiting your banking details…. Yeah I was born yesterday. Flag number 2.

So… I replied to the email that was copied to the others instead of his, short version; I called Western Union. You do have 3 agents in your area. And yes you CAN send me money through them from your area, the agent will be happy to walk you through the process, so I wasn’t sure what the issue was. I told them I had searched them out, did some investigating, and that they seemed to be legit, but unless we could work something out in a different way outside of you needing my banking info, due to the fact that a lot of fraud and ID theft comes to the states from your area, I would not be available until something safe for me could be arranged.

I have not heard back from them.

I think the sad thing here is, that someone is willing to use the cloak of religion to do this. Not just Christianity, but any religion. But the world is what it is now. Though, I still have to wonder, has someone stolen the real guy’s identity and using it as a front? Honestly after dealing with churches and other organizations, someone with that sort of internet presence and the work they do, I’m still finding it hard to believe the guy I was talking to was part of these people… I still can’t be sure.

Sometimes I wonder if this was a test for me. Are you doing it for the money, or are you doing it because you love it? Since I am making most of my income through VO now, I think it was to test me to see where I would go and how I would handle it. I think I made the right decision.

But I could have been wrong and just made them mad. The pay was really good for what they wanted.

Better safe than sorry I suppose.

So if you are contacted by anyone from a Christian organization in Africa, be wary. I won’t post the names or info on this. If you have been contacted by anyone like this or want the details to look out for them, especially if you do P2P work, PM me and I will send it along. They even have a reach here in the States and the UK, as I said, they really seem to be legit, they are big, so be vigilant. It took me a week to corner them, well at least who I was talking to.

So if you are contacted, should you look into it, the pay will be great. The outcome, may not.
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For more from the 501st visit: www.bakerstreetmusic.com
New Music!

[Scott Pollak]

Roger:

1) Welcome! Nice to 'meet you!
2) Good job on the chocolate. You've obviously read the rules and hung around enough to know proper decorum
3) Great post and interesting scenario. For what it's worth, here are my thoughts:

- I, personally, put my own personal ethics, faith, etc above all else when I do my work. Apparently you and I share similar beliefs, and - as an example - for a while I was teaching introductory v/o classes for a very well-known v/o 'farm' or 'factory'. The pay was good and I really, really enjoyed teaching. But after a while it became apparent to me that what this company was doing (in essence, encouraging everyone and anyone to sign up for their "master classes" at $4000+), was, quite simply wrong. So I quit the gig and was honest with the owner WHY I was quitting. In my mind, no amount of money is worth compromising your values and/or integrity.

"If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters." ~Alan Simpson

So.... were you doing it for the money or for the love of it? It's okay to do it for both, but just watch where you step. Like you, I do pro bono work for two churches I've been a part of.

- Next, the whole Nigeria/overseas debacle. I think you have good reason to have warning flags going up. And while, yes, it's sad that people looking to scam someone might go under the guise of a religious organization, it's really not much worse than legitimate religious groups who preach hypocrisy and hatred and intolerance. There are a LOT of scummy folks out there. Look at the people who prey on the elderly and think nothing of scamming them out of their hard-earned life savings. Despicable.

I do work for a large number of overseas clients and many countries do NOT have access to PayPal. I have set up a separate business bank account specifically to accept overseas wire transfers. I keep a very minimum amount of money in that account (less than $25) so that if someone tries to access it illegally, they ain't gonna get much. But for my overseas clients who are, thankfully, legit, they can pay me via wire transfer.

Be glad they're gone. I doubt it was legit and I doubt you'd ever have seen a penny. Actually, you would have seen a LOT of pennies exiting your bank account most likely.

Thanks again for sharing all this.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

[Stormtrooper 7]

You're welcome Scott and thanks for the reply. I appreciate the response. Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper.

I do stuff for people in other countries too and have no issues with getting paid. I just thought that it was sad the avenues they are willing to take to get whatever they can.

Hey I must be popular with these guys. A couple of weeks ago one of them emailed me, who was a UN official, and let me know I had left a metal case with, as far as they could tell, 2 to 4 million dollars in it in an airport in the UK. It had my name on it and they needed all of my info to cross check it in order to get it back to me. Funny thing though... I really don't remember being in the UK. I guess maybe I get around more than I realize.
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For more from the 501st visit: www.bakerstreetmusic.com
New Music!

[Mandy Nelson]

Welcome, and thanks for being so open about your story. You'll never get all of that time back but I'm willing to bet you've gained a little more spine over this.
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006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.

Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?

Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband