Over the past number of weeks I’ve had a quite a few solicitations for paid article placements. I have no idea if these approaches were from legitimate photographers, or were from scammers, as I ignored all of them.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. Photographs have been added as visual highlights.
Some of these requests have been quite aggressive. The worst example of this was one party that sent follow-up emails to me two to three times a week for over two months. Each follow up was worded differently.
Some of the email solicitations that I’ve received have contained links to a ‘sample article’ about a specific photographic topic. Being prudent I did not open up any of these links.
I bring these solicitations to your attention to help ensure that none of our readers falls prey to potential scammers as some of you may have your own websites.
The downturn in the camera market has negatively affected many photography websites. Especially those that survive on paid advertising clicks, and commissions on ‘click through’ sales. Scammers are likely aware of this financial duress and target websites accordingly.
I encourage all of our readers to remain vigilant when it comes to online safety and security.
The photographs in this article were captured as part of the field work I am currently doing capturing images of butterflies in flight. This subject may become a future article.
Technical Note
Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Image were produced from RAW files using my standard process.
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Tom,
In fairness, some of the solicitations are legitimate. Marketers build up exposure through links especially to popular sites and blogs like yours. Some are legit but deals with gambling/casinos or pornography.
As you pointed out, it is unfortunate that there are people out there who try to take advantage of others especially at this time. About two months ago, I thought I was fortunate to be hired for a potential regular online writing job reviewing software, et al, for a Poland-based site. A month into the job, I found out that stealing images was the company’s norm, as well as paid payola reviews. I need income alright but day by day, my interest waned (especially as a photographer – why not even attribute image creators?). Then I found out that the site was exposed by CBS News years ago for totally fake credentials. It turned out I was right in leaving when I did (had an argument with a boss). You’re absolutely right — there are people who take advantage of others even at this period of history when the pandemic is hitting economies hard.
Oggie
http://www.lagalog.com
HI Oggie,
Thanks for adding your insight and experience to the discussion! As I noted in the article, I don’t know if some of the solicitations that I have received may have been from legitimate photographers. Unfortunately with all of the scamming that occurs on the internet it is prudent to be careful. My website only carries material that I create so it is a simple decision for me to ignore these solicitations.
Tom
Thanks for the heads up. I receive constant solicitations for help to build my website; and I trash every one of them without opening. I wish the punishments handed out to these people were severe enough to discourage them. (I will leave the amount and type of punishment to the readers’ imagination.)
Hi William,
It is unfortunate that there are so many people out there who try to take advantage of people in both good times and challenging ones.
Tom