Non-Union Actors

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Professional actors in New England who are not members of AEA or SAG-AFTRA.

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Questionable Emails - General Tips

by Sarah Elizabeth Mitchell

Jun 24, 2014

Taking Noel's advice here and starting a new discussion. 

I have recently received two offers from people who found me on NEactor. One was an offer of a role and one was an 'email me back to learn more' thing. What concerns me is that the 'directors' seem to be ungoogle-able and one only provides a first name + last initial.  What do you think, legit? or scam? 

Perhaps we can compile some general tips to help navigate these emails!

Generally speaking, is it safe to assume scam if the email isn't addressed directly to you (salutation is "Hi." or "Hello." rather than including your name)? What if the email doesn't include a signature or other google-able information? 

Thanks! SM

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    Sarah Elizabeth Mitchell

    Hey Emma! Yep, the second one I mentioned was indeed from Brian H. I'm curious about the part, but why no name, I wonder? Alas. 

    Emma Pomeroy said:

    Hey guys. Sarah, was one of your emails from a Brian H.? I just got one from him, didn't include my name either but at the same time it didn't seem too sketchy. But you never know.

    Bummer..

    Jun 24, 2014

  • up

    Noël Ramos

    In almost every case, these types of emails are what is called a "419 Scam," aka "Advance Payment Scam."

    I've invited Sarah to post a request at Noël's List and I'll gladly investigate these specific emails and provide a report of my findings.

    “Noël is the original artists' advocate! He's been doing it a lot longer (and better) than any of us!”
    - Derek Sivers, CD Baby

    Thanks to Brad Van Dussen, all NE Actor members can join Noël's List for FREE. Just click here: http://noelslist.ning.com/?xgi=0hEskduLNZ77Wd

    I've already investigated a number of these and while there are many variations of the scam, they all share many commonalities. Read my report here:

    http://noelslist.ning.com/forum/topics/warning-advance-payment-scam...

    Jul 8, 2014

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    Erik P. Kraft

    I know this is an old discussion, but I wanted to give people a heads-up about another one going around. I got a text from someone saying he found me on bigappleactors.com and had a small contract I might be interested in. I immediately Googled his email address and found a Facebook actor's group in Indiana who had posted about him as a known scammer, and that they had heard he was working New England these days. They were right! It seemed fishy to begin with, but when someone texts you and says "this is an email about a contract" it really stinks. Not posting the email address because I'm not sure if that's allowed. (The Noel's List link seems to have expired, or I'd have posted about it there too.) It was totally an "email me for more info" type deal.

    Sep 13, 2015