How I Got Scammed
A retraction and an apology to Pitchfork
I hate getting scammed. And I always promise myself that it won’t happen again. But I trust people I shouldn’t—and that causes problem.
That’s exactly what happened a few days ago when I was approached by a person claiming to be a journalist with Pitchfork. She contacted me via social media, where she had an established account (more than ten years old)—complete with photo, bio, links to articles, etc.
She offered to write an article on me for Pitchfork, but asked for a $60 booking fee. I declined the offer, and shared details and screenshots in an article earlier today—lamenting the rise of pay-for-play in journalism.
I now have received convincing evidence that this person was a scammer, and not an actual Pitchfork journalist. This has been confirmed by Jeremy Larson of Pitchfork, who adds: “Pitchfork has never accepted money in exchange for placement of editorial content, unless it is a sponsored article, which we clearly mark.”
So I want to retract the earlier news item, and apologize to Pitchfork.
This is especially galling because I’ve had people impersonate me online. So I should be more skeptical based on my own previous experience.
If there’s one positive here, I can warn others about this pay-for-play scam. Learn from my mistake, and be suspicious.
And as they say in the song: I won’t get fooled again. At least that’s my plan.
Full points for a prompt and thorough retraction. It's getting easier to get fooled. My take-away is the next time I am approached with a pay-for-play is to contact someone on the masthead and ask if this is their policy. There is a lot of pay-for-play or "cover our production expenses" outreach but I now see there is good money to be made impersonating employees of reputable organizations. So if it's someone I would want to get coverage from making a pay-for-play offer I will double check.
Just based on the over-the-top too hip for words email 'she' sent all of my warning bells were chiming. But no one is impervious to scammers any more. With any and all privacy gone, every time you click on a page, look up a product, or research a topic you are opening up the Pandora's box of scammer potential. I get dozens every day. and you must get hundreds. Thanks for all the great work and keep on truckin'...