04/29/2026
Photo client scam alert!
*NOTE: Apparently FB won't allow me to post photos inline, only allowing a bunch of type followed by a bunch of photos. So the narrative here, which needs words and images to work together, is screwed up. Apologies. Blame FB for their mediocre site. Anyway...
I was recently approached via text to do a senior sports portrait shoot. Since I don’t tend to do this type of photography, and having a rando text me out of the blue is not how I generally first interact with a client, I was highly skeptical immediately. But I decided to see whether this might be something I wanted to do if it was legit. And if it was legit but I didn't want to do it, whether I knew someone who might want the job.
The red flags were all over the place, including saying they wanted me to do a shoot but only afterwards they asked what city I worked in. Then they said they had a location picked out but it was completely unsuitable (but we've all had clients do that so not completely unusual). At this point I was convinced it was a scam but I decided to play along and see where it would go.
I asked about how the images would be used - were they for personal use and social media? Would they be published anywhere else? They kept ignoring my questions and then said "We're not looking for anything special. I want to let you know I went through your works reaching out to you and I believe it's a session you can handle as it's going to be an outdoor session."
Gee, thanks. As long as I'm qualified for the easy stuff.
Again I asked how the photos would be used, and I asked for their email address. No replies to either. Instead, they sent me an example photo of a young girl in a soccer kit, told me how many photos they wanted and asked for "total cost of the shoot." I said I'd work up an estimate.
I was not going to work up an estimate.
Apologies to whomever actually shot this photo. It is being used for fraud, but that is no fault of yours.
I asked for an email address so I could send the estimate and again they only asked "what the total cost of the shoot?" They became impatient at this point and I said I'd need their email to proceed further. I didn't hear anything more from them that night.
At 4 AM they replied with another text: the email is [email protected] and once again, they asked "What the total cost of all the shoot."
During business hours several hours later, I replied, but not via email. I had decided to come up with a random fee of $650 just to get the scam moving again, and told them that since we hadn't worked together before, I'd need a 50% deposit before work commenced.
And that's where the scam began. At this point all they wanted to discuss was sending checks and when checks would clear and how to make sure I was paid promptly and avoiding payment delays, etc. Now this really sounded like a fake client, heh. I went along.
Then they came up with the ask. "I'm actually having trouble with something I think I might need your assistance. Can you do me a favor?"
They claimed they were also hiring a videographer (to work at a portrait shoot?) "and she can't do checks because she had issues with her bank lately."
DO go on.
They asked if they could pay me the videographer's fee, and I would just pay the videographer myself. Finally they got to the scam. As soon as I "agreed," they say I should get my phone and take a photo of a check they were going to email me. They even sent a helpful photo of what it looks like to use a phone with a cracked lens to take a picture of a laptop screen!
I said fine, great. Send me her details so I can send her what she's owed. Though I asked "if she's having a problem with her bank, how will I pay her?" They replied "Cashapp or Apply pay."
So they said they'd email me a "digital check" that I had to photograph and deposit. Sounds totally legit. Thing is, I had given them a fake email address to send it to, and a fake business name to make it out to. I waited. They kept asking if I had received the email yet. They were VERY eager to get this check in my hands.
Eventually they said the email bounced (like I said, I didn't give them my real email address). I made up an excuse as to why that might be, then I used Apple's "Hide My Email" feature to come up with a fake email address that would forward to me, and asked them to send it there. I told them it was an email I only use with special clients. When people are greedy they will believe anything you tell them.
Then they asked me to take photos of the check and deposit that. I looked at the "check" they sent.
Totally legit. Right down to a routing number used for ACH and wire transfers. I forwarded this check to JPMorgan Chase's fraud department.
Then they asked if I deposited the check. I didn't reply. They asked again. I didn't reply. They asked a third time. That's when I said I was having an emergency and said I'd get to it later. My cat is suddenly sick, you see! I need to take her to an animal hospital! They didn't reply in the normal human fashion, which might be something like "oh no, I hope she's okay." Instead they just said "lmk when you done deposit it okay."
I said sure but once again I wanted to get the supposed account info for the fictional videographer, surely they could send that while I was taking care of my fictional cat, right?
It was around this point I figured that without actually trying to deposit the fake check, which I wasn't going to do, I wouldn't ever get to the next step in the process no matter what. So I just told them that after a traumatic trip to the vet, I was back.
Come on! No reaction to that? Nothing? Screw this guy. I decided to end it.
Naturally I haven't heard anything from them since.
Early on in this, as soon as I got their email address I Googled "Jaden Haron" and it led me to a photographer who posted on Facebook about this same scam. The scammer used the same text phrases, the same example photo of a soccer player, the same everything, with one difference. That other photographer is in a different state and they used a different location for the supposed shoot. Aside from that it was exactly the same ploy. So this person is out there, trying to scam honest photographers. Be wary.
