Saturday, September 29, 2012
Scam Alert: Production Companies Beware!
FOH online: It has come to our attention here at FRONT of HOUSE that an East Coast (possibly New Jersey-based) individual claiming to be the "tour technical director" of a (well-respected and legitimate) production company working on a new touring Disney musical has been contacting sound rental and production companies in an attempt to procure gear under suspicious circumstances. Among the items "needed" by this individual included DiGiCo consoles, Meyer speakers, Shure and Sennheiser wireless rigs.
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11 comments:
This is a very interesting and kind of scary article to read. To see that people would do something like this to ANYONE is ridiculous and sad. I feel like it would be easy to fall into a trap like this, but ONLY if the scammer was using so really strong and believable tactics and documents. It hard to say anything other than it is upsetting that someone would do this.
It is unfortunate but it does happen. I guess this kind of thing can happen in different forms in any line of business really. I was not aware of insurance certificates, so that is now something I know to be aware of, thanks to this article. Double checking for background information is good practice in any case, and especially in theatre where everyone is very interdependent on each other. While we may not understand why anyone involved in an art as beautiful as ours would attempt such behavior, this article is a good reminder that we still must be cautious.
it really is dissapointing how often people get ripped off in the entertainment industry. I myself have been at the unfortunate receiving end of that situation having been taken for $500 on a single gig. Its disgustingly easy in theatre and film to take advantage of someone and this is an example of someone trying to take advantage of a company trying to be nice and help a show out. this is a harsh reminder that we do need to be weary of who we do favors for and where we make ourselves vulnerable. for example the green room we would like to think that we can make that a home and leave our valuables there and trust them to be safe
I never would have guessed that this would happend often in the entertainment industry, but thinking about it, it makes sense. We work with expensive equipment every day, and never think twice about it. That lure may be too much for some people.
It's just another lesson that companies need to be very careful in who they do business with, no matter what that business is.
It seems to me that the amount of background checks in the entertainment industry doe not match the rest of the world that we live in. Sadly we trust and do handshake deals still while the rest of the world requires contracts and lawyers to be brought in. Proper controls and standard operating procedures in conjunction with the proper insurance will make sure that scams like this will not effect your companies financials enough to shut you down. Also the idea that people need things next day means that you should not trust them further than you can throw them. Prudence and level headed business practices need prevail over greed and being enticed by offers that come up at the spur of the moment.
This feels like craigslist all over again. I swear, trying to sell anything on craigslist is asking to be scammed. The good thing is that there are clear signs that they're trying to scam you.
If it seems poorly written - they are probably scamming you.
If they try to give you more money then you've asked for - they are probably scamming you.
If they are overly sweet - they are probably scamming you.
If they're scamming you, report them to the FBI!
Using craigslist has made me a little suspicious...but that's better than being scammed?
This is interesting that someone is trying to do this again. I remember reading something similar a few years ago when the person got the gear and sold it. It is great that this warning is going out to let people know that this person is out there and also lets that person know that they are busted and caught. I know that in the rush to get a show out the door some times that paper work check just does not get done and then someone could get the gear without being qualified. But this shows that if you can’t get that paperwork done then maybe you should just pass up on the work, as much as that would suck.
I'm actually not surprised that things like this are happening. I've contacted numerous venues and production houses trying to get information and it's scary how easy it is to get it and little actual checking about who you are goes into it. But in the same vein those companies that actually check who I am and see about authorizations would always get me very irritated because of the extra steps this would take. I know that they are only doing their jobs (or not doing their job) but there should always be some sort of checks and balances.
Unfortunately it makes all too much sense that people would concoct such scams. The equipment we are fortunate enough to use costs a lot of money, and many people find ways to extort that equipment for their own financial gain. As the article suggests, it's very important to check into references and insurance certificates, as anyone can fake a business card or technical requirements list in order to make it look official, even though it really isn't. Alas such scams do happen, as in any industry, and we must be aware of them... knowing about them is the first way to stop them!
Welcome to the world of entertainment and a way to get your gear cheap. Just crazy. Its not surprising that people may not return some gear possibly by accident, but deliberately losing a ton of gear is just a little much. Checking references and the backgrounds of individuals seems like step 1 for a lot of things today. In almost any industry it seems like you should make sure you have an idea of the individual before you do anything. Scams are sometimes pretty easy to spot, we just all need to be aware of the,
At least this was a fairly bad attempt at stealing the gear. There have been much more elaborate attempts as pointed out by the article, which have been successful in conning the production companies. On a smaller scale, this can apply to us as designers and technicians not really in terms of gear, but in terms of pay. Like Sean, I've been shorted on a gig before, and basically, it sucks. There are usually always signs about whether or not who you are working for or renting to are reputable or not.
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