Scammers Targeting Photographers with Fake Emails from ‘Nikon PR’

Nikon has issued a warning that scammers are impersonating Nikon Public Relations to YouTube and Facebook channel owners. Nikon says that these emails have no relation to Nikon or its affiliates.

Fraudlent Emails

Nikon UK and Nikon’s global site have both released public statements warning of a scam, Nikon Rumors reports.

“It has come to our attention that people pretending to be Nikon representatives are contacting YouTube and Facebook channel owners via email,” Nikon UK writes. “Cases have emerged of emails posing as Nikon public relations notifications being received, requesting that the receiver produce a video using a Nikon camera.”

The company says that while the emails generally carry Nikon’s name or refer to its communications department, the emails aren’t coming from Nikon and that these emails bear no relation to Nikon or any members of the Nikon Group.

“The fraudulent correspondence generally carry Nikon’s name, and/or refer to the Nikon public relations department, requesting that the recipient produce a video using a Nikon camera or offer sponsorship opportunities.”

How to Check if Nikon is Really Contacting You

Nikon says that only official correspondence regarding existing or potential collaborations will come from an official Nikon company email address, which will end in @nikon.com.

If an email isn’t coming from Nikon directly, it may come from an agency partner. Nikon says that there are a couple of ways to check the legitimacy of anyone who claims to be a Nikon partner.

Below are four signs that the contact is legitimate:

• The website is secured by looking at the address bar (URL) to see if there is an “s” in the URL – it should look like this “https://” at the start — or if it has a lock symbol in the address bar
• The presence of contact details or official distributor details
• The presence of a privacy policy — such as a request to accept cookies/details of how your data is used
• Details of their work with the Nikon — a logo or a case study

Nikon says the following three signs suggest that the contact is fraudulent:

• The absence of any of the above
• Poor spelling and grammar (including in the domain name)
• Broken links (or no additional links) to other pages on the site

“If in doubt, please do not reply, click on any link or provide any information without confirming its legitimacy,” Nikon says. “Instead, please reach out to your local Nikon public relations representative to verify the correspondence — their details can be found in the ‘Press Enquires’ section of the Nikon website. Or, you can reach out to Nikon through our social media platforms — our verified channels will have a blue tick.”

What Scammers are After

While the routes scammers take differ, the end goal is usually the same: they are after money or personal information. Last year, multiple National Geographic photographers were targeted by a fake check scam, while photographer Enric Sala’s name was at the center of another scam. An elaborate international scam that targeted photographers and other creatives went on for years before its organizer was finally caught in 2020.

These types of scams are iterations of the “fake check” scam, where a person or group will send a check to a target before asking for a portion back, and will state something akin to an error in the issue which usually is an overpayment. They will usually require the money to be sent quickly before the original fake check bounces. Sometimes, scammers will require a “deposit” for something, which has the same end result. While the goal of these Nikon PR scams is not yet known, it is possible that they are operating from the same playbook.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.