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Actually the more common victims of scams are older. Kids and teens don't have money (though often their parents do and they get scammed, but it's the adults writing the checks). But most of the nasty scam artists we've come across also focus on older people with disposable income and an unfulfilled dream of fame or success in music. These guys pump these people up, tell them what they desperately want to hear and then explain that for a fee, they can help make the dream come true. Some scams are more elaborate than others. Sometimes it's just selling them overpriced studio time and production, sometimes overpriced promotional services, sometimes promises of "industry showcases" where often the only people who show up are other wannabes and cronies of the scam artists in on the deal. Now the internet allows these same old school scam artists to massively connect to more potential victims than ever. And sadly, when someone is telling an artist what they desperately want to hear (and often that no one legit ever tells them) they can't wait to write the check. I've heard horror stories of scam artists getting $30,000 dollars for a 1 song demo from a 72 year old woman who wrote some country lyrics which they recorded, over existing tracks and tried to cram in her words to a recycled melody, often totally out of rhythm and meter, with a vocalist that was about the same age and has been scamming people in Florida for decades and decades. He even used the same cheesy "cover" photo for the CD single that was taken of him circa 1950. Sadly enough, I got nearly a half dozen of those CD's submitted over 2 Awards cycles, all with the same vocalist, all with the same exact music track with different words being warbled over the top of the music tracks. They had the same album photo and only the name of the "writer" who was victimized was different on the packaging.

So anyone can be scammed. I know a heart surgeon who got taken for over 20,000 dollars before he realized what was going on, so it's not a matter of intelligence. Very smart people have fallen victim to the scam artists out there. People get so infatuated with the idea that someone is going to help their dream come true, they lose all connection with reality. If someone tried to pull the same type of scam on them in their normal field of work/expertise, they'd see right through it. But when it's someone fawning over their music, they drop logic and common sense and they send big checks to people who can't even write a coherant sentence let alone help their career. And these scam artists are very good at pumping them up, explaining away obvious problems and warning flags that come up, and dropping famous names to intimidate these artists (or threatening them with statements like their complaints will "end the career of their daughter if they complain.") That's classic old school scam artist.

We can only hope they all rot in hell when they thankfully do the world a favor and finally die off.

So, who knows if any of these things apply to anyone we know who's been posting here. But if the facts or patterns fit, be careful out there.

Brian