Astrophotography scam warnng

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Hi all,
I am part of a moderator team on a large astrophotography Facebook group of around 14000 members.

Recently we've been seeing a rash of scams. Other admins and mods of other astrophotography groups are reporting the same.

Yesterday, we banned one but as she'd already made private contact with me, I strung her along to see where it went and how it worked.

It went along these lines:-

She complimented my images publicly then PM'd me asking if I was willing to sell the work. She tells me she has investors looking to invest in astro art NFT's and they are willing to pay USD 60, 000 per image NFT* and wanting to buy in the next 3 days.

* NFT - Non Fungeable Token - a form of crypto/blockchain for buying and selling digital art. The image is embedded with blockchain encryption.

Of course there was an upfront fee of USD500 per image for encrypting the image. Undoubtedly, once paid, that would be the last I'd here from the so-called art dealer.

Warning signs:
1. She didn't know the resolution required, didn't even seem to understand pixel dimension basics. Eventually, she agreed that a 1000x1500 pixel jpg would be ok for the NFT sale. USD 60K for a 1500px jpg...YEAH sign me up.

2. I told her that I didn't have a crypto account to pay. She directed me to a crypto platform to create an account. My bank doesn't plug and play with that platform only the "Which Bank" does.

3. She then gave me a Paypal account to make the payment. Asked me to make the transfer using the friends and family method. The account had a different name to hers. It was a different females personal name. When I asked her about this, she told me, "It is my secretary account and I gave you his account because he handles the payments. The account name was a female name, not a male and not a business name even though it was supposed to be her business. Later, she told me the Paypal account was the account of the NFT platform, Openseas.

So far, these scams seem to be most prevalent on multiple Facebook Astrophotography Groups but they could appear here.

Please be vigilant and don't fall for it. The old saying applies, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

[Max Vondel (Peter)]

Good to know Thanks. NFT's are a scam.

[Drac0 (Mark)]

Thanks for the heads up Joe, appreciated.

[alan meehan (Alan)]

I got one word for these people and i wont sayit here ,thanks Joe

[alpal]

Thanks Joe,
notice it's always the same -
they want you to send them money so that
you can get the larger amount of money?


Allan

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Originally Posted by OzEclipse

Hi all,
I am part of a moderator team on a large astrophotography Facebook group of around 14000 members.

Recently we've been seeing a rash of scams. Other admins and mods of other astrophotography groups are reporting the same.

Yesterday, we banned one but as she'd already made private contact with me, I strung her along to see where it went and how it worked.

It went along these lines:-

She complimented my images publicly then PM'd me asking if I was willing to sell the work. She tells me she has investors looking to invest in astro art NFT's and they are willing to pay USD 60, 000 per image NFT* and wanting to buy in the next 3 days.

* NFT - Non Fungeable Token - a form of crypto/blockchain for buying and selling digital art. The image is embedded with blockchain encryption.

Of course there was an upfront fee of USD500 per image for encrypting the image. Undoubtedly, once paid, that would be the last I'd here from the so-called art dealer.

Warning signs:
1. She didn't know the resolution required, didn't even seem to understand pixel dimension basics. Eventually, she agreed that a 1000x1500 pixel jpg would be ok for the NFT sale. USD 60K for a 1500px jpg...YEAH sign me up.

2. I told her that I didn't have a crypto account to pay. She directed me to a crypto platform to create an account. My bank doesn't plug and play with that platform only the "Which Bank" does.

3. She then gave me a Paypal account to make the payment. Asked me to make the transfer using the friends and family method. The account had a different name to hers. It was a different females personal name. When I asked her about this, she told me, "It is my secretary account and I gave you his account because he handles the payments. The account name was a female name, not a male and not a business name even though it was supposed to be her business. Later, she told me the Paypal account was the account of the NFT platform, Openseas.

So far, these scams seem to be most prevalent on multiple Facebook Astrophotography Groups but they could appear here.

Please be vigilant and don't fall for it. The old saying applies, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

I got the same DM I just blocked her straight out.

[Atmos (Colin)]

I’ve had something similar on Instagram but not offering nearly as much as 60,000 USD. I’m feeling like my images are worth considerably less than yours
With $60,000 USD I could buy a Dream Scope!

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Not that I post many images, but my sincere thanks for the heads up. Similar thing went around a couple of photographic websites about 12 months ago.

[Constant (David)]

Originally Posted by Atmos

I’ve had something similar on Instagram but not offering nearly as much as 60,000 USD. I’m feeling like my images are worth considerably less than yours
With $60,000 USD I could buy a Dream Scope!

Colin, over the years, observing progress it's only a matter of time nbefore you realise your dream scope.

Cheers

David