- Report: #1182036
Complaint Review: Viacom - New York New York
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Viacom
83rd St New York, New York, USA
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Viacom Lori Voice Over Attempted Scam New York New York
I was standing on 83rd and 3rd outside the Coffee Bean on the phone with a friend when "Lori' approached me and asked if I've ever done any voice work to TV. I was still on the phone when he proceeded to tell me he was legit and worked for Nickelodeon and showed me a withered card from the company. I told my friend I'd call her back and allowed him to talk to me for about 5 minutes. He was kind and complimentary and seemed legitimately interested in me and my voice. He could tell I was skeptical and either really did or pretended to call Viacom, and put me on the phone so I could hear the voicemail. Then he either made or pretended to make a phone call to a colleague, told her my name and that I sounded like a monkey (I couldnt tell if I should be insulted or not) and that I'd be great for Looney Toons or something, which I'm not even sure is still on the air.
He asked if I had voice tapes premade, to which I was like..why would I have voice tapes if I've never done voice work? He asked me about my job (I'm a student) and said he asked because I seem broke (again, to be offended or not?). He said, "well do you have an ATM card?" and I was like...yeah.....but I think I ignored that question at first. He was very much in a rush and speaking very fast and kept saying he had a meeting to be at, and on his phone call asked whoever it was if they could have his wife pick him up at LAX. You'd thing that a casting agent would be dressed nicely, however He was wearing bleach stained light wash jeans, a cap, and a raggedy sweater. He kept saying 'when they hire you, don't tell them we met on the street, tell them you auditioned because i'm not supposed to do this'. So towards the end of the conversation he asked "so are you interested or not? dont worry if you're not, we can still be friends. i like you, I'll get you tickets to the book or mormon or the lion king, those are our shows'. And I asked if i could think about it and he said "think about it quick, i need ot know now'. So then I pretty much gave up on this guy when he asked again 'You said you have an ATM card? How much money can you put towards this right now? I'll front you the majority what if you just give me $80?" and I said to him, 'sir, you j ust approached me on the street out of nowhere and you expect me to go to an ATM and give you $80 cash? That's sketchy". And he tried to make me feel guilty about it! He was like 'I'm offended you said that, I'm not sketchy". I think at that point the conversation was over. He went to his 'meeting' or to try and scam the next person, and I continued about my day.
I thought it was the weirdest and most New York thing to ever happen to me. Once I learned that he was an accomplished scammer I felt a little better about myself that I was able to avoid falling into the trap. I do understand how it would be so easy to fall for it though. He was so charming!
