Too Good to Believe E-mail Tricks Musicians

A Calgary-based music band is warning musicians to remain cautious of an Internet scam, which dodged the band by stating that it had won a lifetime achievement.

In the initial days of May, the Mocking Shadows, an R&B (a genre of western music) and Ska jazz (another music genre) band, which has performed at various small venues throughout the world, received a phony e-mail. The mail offered them to perform at a festival to be held in England in the month of June.

The e-mail, purportedly from Heritage Music Company's Rev. Dr. Mike Gary, invited this music band to perform at "Heritage Music Awards and Festival". It offered to sponsor the airfare and hotel accommodation for the band members.

The e-mail stated that they promote and provide international exposure to the entertainers and musicians all around the world. A contract offer of nearly $17,000 for just half an hour performance sowed the seeds of suspicion in the mind of band manager, who contacted the London venue.

Jon Pettigrew, the band manager, stated that the Heritage Music Company had a glance at their timetable and could not find what he was talking of. They said that they couldn't offer any help to him and put an end to the conversation, as reported by CBC News on May 19, 2009.

When the band manager contacted the promoter, he was put into a sort of interrogation. The promoter asked him his residential address, work address, phone numbers and the crucial banking details. On this, the band manager ended the conversation, which, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), is the most appropriate thing that should be done with the spammers. RCMP further stated if an offer is hard to believe then probably it is a scam.

Internet scams crop up every now and then, but the base for all is same, i.e. requests for personal details or money. Previously, promoters of Big Day Out (BDO) warned Internet users to be cautious of a fraudulent e-mail that asserted them as the winners of VIP passes to the music festival scheduled in December 2008. BDO is a music festival that is held annually in various cities across New Zealand and Australia.

Related article: THE SPAM MAFIA

» SPAMfighter News - 5/25/2009