Hi to all photo friends, also needs advise.

[sarah wong]

Dear all photographers connected to Clubsnap,

I just return from Perth, looking for jobs as photographer. Unfortunately ran into a bit of trouble. Was told that Clubsnap got lots of professional and experience photographer who might be able to give pretty good advise.

There was this advertisment posted in www.bestjobs.com.sg, vacancy for photographers. The company that advertise for it was a Michewilliams International. The advertisment offer to pay $50 per images.

So I went to the office at Robinson Road, Robinson Centre, 17th floor. Met this man who introduce himself as Mr William Soon, CEO of the company. He showed me an impressive album for a magazine Micheworld Magazine. Showed him my portfolio, and he downloaded quiet a number of my files, saying that he needed photos urgently for the coming issue. Promised to pay me, but said the cheque will not be ready till the next day.

Guess what. This fellow tried to pull a quick one on me. Now says he can only pay me much later after the magazine ia launch!! I got so angry with him at the office. I then realised, he lied about his magazine. The magazine he showed me previously was fake! Not even published yet! I refused to leave til he pay up and he called the police from his mobile phone!

What can I do? To prove that this is not a prank job, anynody can verify with the advertisement at www.bestjobs.com.sg, the company who advertise the photographer vacancy is Michewilliams International.

Sarah Wong

 

[~Arcanic~]

wow.. thats quite un-ethical of that person...

i dunno much about e laws regarding this issue, so can't help much here.

but i'm sure some of the more experienced photogs here might have some advice for u.

 

[Astin]

Why dont u wait until police arrive and then tell the police he took (downloaded) your photos?

 

[ortega]

i hope you did not sign anything...

anyway since payment was not made the transaction was not complete and you can pull out of the deal. you should have waited for the police to arrive and insist to delete your image from his computer.

 

[smallaperture]

What? 50 bucks per image. If I have 50 good pics, I get 1k liao. Too good to be true la.

Anybody know what is the going and reasonable rate for stock image? Just out of curiosity la.

 

[Virgo]

Yep. Agree with the rest. Wait for the police to arrive and tell them what you've encounted with this unscrupulous act of his.

Most often, we're terrified with someone mentioning the police. I think this is due to our upbringing...cannot do this wait I call the 'ma ta' (police)...cannot do this, cannot do that...This is why we got scared of the mentioning of the word police.

Don't worry...the truth will speak by itself. Good luck.

 

[Slivester]

The site www.michewilliams.com smells a little fishy; apparently its a pre-fabricated template, those we can easily buy with a credit card. The host did not even make an initiative to change the coporate logo, all of the links are invaild, a strong sign of template-site. The privacy policy do have the company name and contact though.

 

[~Arcanic~]

The site www.michewilliams.com smells a little fishy; apparently its a pre-fabricated template, those we can easily buy with a credit card. The host did not even make an initiative to change the coporate logo, all of the links are invaild, a strong sign of template-site. The privacy policy do have the company name and contact though.

wah... :bigeyes:

:sweat:

 

[glennyong]

$50 per image. darn good lo... too good to be true.

and i think u shouldnt pass him a soft copy of ur cd. should show a hard copy.

so how now ??

 

[sarah wong]

Hi Fellow,

Thanks for the feedback.

I tried to get help at police station. The police here seems very unhelpful. Push the blame to me saying " What, u willing give the picture to him right?".

Silly, like as if I willingly wanted to be cheated. Very angry.

Well, if any friends here had seen the web and the advertisement, at least people will know this fellow is a cheat. I hope not another person will fall victim.

Bad encounter

 

[smallaperture]

Well, here at CS, we should think of a way to get back at this bugger. Anybody got any idea how to tackle this fellow and teach him a lesson? So that no other CSers would fall victim to this fellow.

 

[Parchiao]

Lookup the Copyright Act and see if you can make anything useful out of it. If you can prove that the images belonged to you e.g. you have the negatives or Raw files etc, wait till he uses the photos and you can then act on it. I know that we have lawyers here on Clubsnap, maybe one of our lawyers may be able to advise you, but someone needs to point out to you who the lawyers are.

With regards to the police, go back to the police station or branch whom you approached and ask to see the same officer. Tell hime that you are there not to discuss about fault or anything elese, but tell him that you have been cheated and fraud was committed. If he does not agree to help or investigate, ask to see his supervisor and move it up progressively until someone helps. The police are here to help, maybe advise you on what course of action to take or what course of action they can undertake. They just perform their due dilligence, to investigate and find out the facts of complaints such as yours, and of course crimes as stipulated by the law. What is important is that the complaint needs to be recorded, regardless of whether an investigation takes place.

 

[sarah wong]

gee...thanks for the advise.

 

[Isaiahfortythirtyone]

you may wanna consider legal action. if what you've said is true, then it's really unethical of him. don't harp on 'what you should have done' but rather focus on what you should do next.

see the police, make a report. then proceed with legal action.

 

[ricohflex]

Firstly, I am not a lawyer.
And I hate it when people claim to be lawyers when they are not. (called to the bar; not just having a distance-learning law degree)

if he downloaded from your notebook to his PC it does not mean anything.
if you had not agreed to the sale, he does not own the photo's copyright.

the problem is catching him using it or selling the image to another
lawyers fee also high so you may not want

the trick is you had agreed verbally to the sale.
so he can protect himself saying you agreed.
except payment slightly dealyed that is all.

wonder why you were frightened about him calling the police
the police not keen on this sort of thing
they have enough problems with murder, rape, theft, roobbery, terrorists, drugs, etc

by the way $50 per image is too cheap
why sell ?

what if he makes $30,000 from that image selling it to magazine publishers and you sold the copyright to him for $50 ??!!! and you did all the hard work getting the photo.

and now he does not even want to pay that.
photography does not pay well in Sing.

 

[LiOnElLiN]

wonder why you were frightened about him calling the police
the police not keen on this sort of thing
they have enough problems with murder, rape, theft, roobbery, terrorists, drugs, etc

excellent point! police do not handle such matters... this is where security guards come in.
if he really did call for the police instead of the security guards in the building, feel free to laugh

 

[reachme2003]

this incident is just another, amongst many others, to remind us at CS that there are predators out there. so, be on your guard!

 

[Stefen]

Heng you tell me ah! I was supposed to meet him later this week. Cancelled liaoz...:bigeyes:

"
Hi Stefen

I run MICHWORLD the magazine and someone referred you to me as I am
looking to build up a team of photographer and in particular having one
that can work on our lifstyle shots.

Can we meet up say next week Monday 5th at 10am? Ngee Ann CIty Tower A #13-08

Rgds
William Soon
CEO/Director
MICHEWILLIAMS INTERNATIONAL HOLDING PTE LTD
6832 5523
"

 

[Belle&Sebastain]

Firstly, I am not a lawyer.
And I hate it when people claim to be lawyers when they are not. (called to the bar; not just having a distance-learning law degree)

:thumbsup:

 

[benedium]

As long as there is no contract signed for the use of your photographs, you still own copyright right? Can anyone advise?