Internet Scams A Photographer's Story

It is a never-ending source of fascination to me the human drive to create. We humans have created some pretty awesome stuff in our brief history on this planet. What I find even more fascinating is that for every wonderful thing we have created there are those who can’t wait to find a way to use it for nefarious purposes. The Internet was created and Internet scams soon followed.

As an outdoor photographer living way outdoors in northwest Montana I am pretty dependent on the Internet to help me generate sales. The nearest town of any size is Kalispell and it’s seventy-five miles away. In winter it’s one hundred and seventy-five. The nearest city is Seattle and, well, that’s in another galaxy. Don’t feel sorry for me though. I’d eat squirrel stew if I had to in order to be able to live here.

Even though I quite literally live in the Kootenai National Forest I do have Internet service. Not only that this summer the electric co-op installed fiber optic cable (See: Fiber Optics-Rural Utilities). I’m still in disbelief.

About a month ago I was contacted, via e-mail, regarding the purchase of one of my fine art prints. There is just no way to market on the Internet without putting contact information out there for anyone to use. The e-mail said the person, a Mr. Taylor somewhere in Asia, was interested in purchasing my limited edition “Golden-eye On Walden Pond”. That particular image sells for $400.00. I replied saying payment could be made through Pay Pal. Taylor replied a cashier’s check would be sent and my address was required. I thought the whole thing seemed a little fishy but I decided to play along and provided a Post Office Box.

I didn’t hear anything more for a couple of weeks and had pretty much forgotten about it. Then I got an e-mail that said the check was in the mail. I thought “fine”. Then another week passed and I got a message saying the check would soon arrive but there had been a mistake. The check was being sent to me by an “associate” here in the states that had accidentally made the check out in the total amount of a debt, which was greater than the price of the print. No amount was given.

Now my eyebrows are making a very wide arch. But, I’ve done business in Asia and sometimes transactions are conducted in convoluted ways. Finally, the check arrives. It was all I could do not to laugh. Keep in mind I have a background in banking so I may have a little extra knowledge. Here is a copy of the actual check.

What was wrong with the check? Let me name the ways. First, the envelope in which the check arrived had no return address or postmark. Who in their right mind would send a cashier’s check without a return address? Next, the check was made out in the amount of $2,940. Keeping in mind the cost of the print was $400 plus shipping and handling this Taylor person wanted me to send him the print and $2,500! Next there was the check itself. The payee, that would be me, and the amount were handwritten. Cashier’s checks are always typed, unlike money orders. The check had no date. But best of all, the check had been placed inside a blank piece of paper upon which was the ink from the check itself! Talk about hot off the press!

It’s hard for me to believe that anyone would fall for this scam but I am certain people do or they wouldn’t be going on. Most everyone knows that you don’t ship or exchange goods before the check has cleared your bank so I don’t know how this was supposed to work. But, it never hurts to be reminded.

My story is pretty comical but I’m sure there are many that are not funny at all. So, the moral of this story be very careful when doing business on the Internet. It's a jungle out there. Most of us have a good sense of honesty and fair play. And, sadly, that’s exactly what these scamsters were banking on.

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

©Kinsey Barnard

WATCH OUT FOR THE TIRE SCAM IN KINGMAN, ARIZONA

Today was a travel day so no photos. It's certainly not because there wasn't anything to photograph! The scenery between St. George and the Nevada border was nothing less than breathtaking in the early morning hours.

Our path took me across Hoover Dam and that was quite an experience. It looks like they are in the process of building a by-pass so the road doesn't cross over the damn anymore. Obviously, there are security concerns and every vehicle not a passenger car must stop for a thorough inspection. But, back to the by-pass my goodness what an engineering feat. I do wish I could have photographed it for you because I can't really explain it except to say it's going to be a suspended bridge high above the dam. Check out this link Colorado River Bridge for photos and info on it. It really is going to be an amazing span.

The security guards were very thorough but also very pleasant. Koty even got a cookie. The little tramp! He simply seduces everyone. :)

From Hoover Dam to Kingman, Arizona it's pretty much just a divided road through the desert so we just zoomed right through. When we got to Kingman I pulled into a Chevron station to get diesel. BIG MISTAKE! When I was a kid I used only Chevron. This may have had something to do with my father giving me a Chevron gas card. Of course, in those days a gallon of gas was thirty-five cents! Over the years I started avoiding them because they seemed to be consistently more expensive than anyone else.

Anyway, I go against my better judgment and pull into the one in Kingman. The first thing I notice is the price is $3.45/gal. Since this is my first fill up in Arizona I'm thinking, "Wow, they have high road taxes here.", because in Utah I had paid $2.99. I'm unhappily filling up when a fellow comes around and tells me I have low tire pressure over on the other side. But, he says, if I pull over to their tire store he'll check it for me. I look at the tire and it looks fine to me but I say OK anyway. I pay my outlandish gas bill and pull over to the tire center. Next thing I know the guy is asking how old the rig is cuz this tire looks awful bad. I say it's a 2007 and says yeah but the tire says 2006! Like, a two year old tire is way round the bend. Mind you these are Michelin tires with 13,000 miles on them. He then asks where am I headed and I say Tucson "Oh," he says "I don't think you can make that."

I might not be the brightest bulb in the pack but this wasn't smelling right to me. So, I handed the guy a buck for a nice try and went on my way. Down the street a few blocks I see another tire place and a big motorhome up on blocks with the tires off. Looked like that guy was getting a complete new set. Then just outside of Kingman we pass a gas station on the left that was selling diesel for $2.89! My first thought was to be really mad about getting scammed fifty-five cents a gallon on the diesel but I decided I should be grateful I didn't get scammed on tires too! I advise watching your wallet if you're traveling through Kingman, AZ.

Nevertheless, I held on tighter to the steering wheel all the way to Wickenburg. More photo ops were to be had south of Kingman as we drove Joshua Forest Scenic Drive. The Joshua trees are simply beautiful.

By the time we reached Wickenburg I was pooped. I hadn't picked out an RV park in advance, which I normally do and that was a mistake too. We passed through town without seeing anything enticing and ended up pulling in to the first RV park I saw south of town for fear of missing out altogether. The last pull through had been let just moments before we arrived. When I stay just overnight I don't like to have to detach Shadow and go through all that rigamarole. Well, all they had was a place right in the roadway with nothing but water and power. I took one look at it and thought "Good grief" but I was too tired to fight it and it was only for the night. They actually put orange cones out to keep people from running in to us.

As it turned out this may be one of the friendliest parks we've ever stayed at. I hadn't noticed the name of the place when I pulled in but it's "Horsepitality" and it provides not only RV parking but horse boarding as well. In just a couple of hours we had met more people from Montana that we would in a year of living there. We even met two gals from Kalispell, practically neighbors. Lacking as the accommodation was it was more than made up for by the really cool people.

Oh, and about those tires. When we got parked I was going around looking at the tires, which all looked the same to me, a couple of fellows came up and asked if I was having a problem. I told them my Kingman story. They looked at the tires and said they couldn't see anything wrong with them. I'm sure if we get a flat you'll be hearing about it. So, we'll see what happens.

If you're dying for photos you can see all of our trip so far in high resolution at TRIP GALLERY.

Ciao for now,
Koty & Kinsey

©Kinsey Barnard Photography