I don’t normally take phone calls from numbers I don’t recognize, but I got a call from a New York area code and I decided what the hell. The caller didn’t have a thick accent - normally an indication of a scam call. Anyway, he gave me this long shpiel about how he represents a movie production company and they’re doing a documentary about notable people. Thing is, there is absolutely nothing remarkable about me in any way. I was pretty sick a few years ago but I was never in danger of death or permanent disability. Other than that, I got nothing. And the guy hemmed and hawed about how he got my name and number. I told him to email me and gave him my email address, on the off chance that this is real. Not surprisingly, I never got an email.
Fast forward to today, the guy calls me back from the same number, in his voicemail he said he’d sent the email and wondered if I was interested in following up.
This is an extremely weird long con, or any con for that matter. Has anyone else gotten such a call?
I recall a thing in high school, where people would get a call from someone saying they were nominated for inclusion into Who’s Who Among American High School Students. Which is a book that they’d then try to sell you.
The book existed, but their definition of notability was rather lacking. They clearly just scraped a bunch of names and numbers from some source or other, hoping to sell and expensive, worthless book to them. It was totally useless for college admissions or the like.
I wonder if this thing is along the same lines. It’s not exactly a scam, in that they don’t just take your money and run… but the thing they’re selling is pointless. Like, I dunno, a “documentary” consisting of 5-second video blurbs from a couple thousand people, which they then try to sell back to those people (i.e., you).
I got a call from someone who said their client had taken pictures of 2 of my murals and would like me to sign off on her using them in her book.
I didn’t believe it. Very small town. Not a tourist spot or anywhere you’d wanna go.
I can’t imagine some NY photographer happened thru here and randomly saw one of my walls. Took pix for her coffee table book, soon to be published.
Still didn’t buy it.
Few days later the photograher herself called.
She said she’d pay me a dime or two and could she mail be copies of a standard release contract.
I did get the contract. Took it to my lawyer Lickylips. He said it was legit.
But did I really “own” the murals.
We supposed not.
Called the city. They signed a release.
I sold the release of my walls.
I’m supposed to get a copy of the book.
OP, stuff happens.
Make them tell you what exactly they want to know. And how are you notable. Exactly. Beware of double-speak.
I still proudly display my handsomely bound copy of Marquis’ Who’s Who in the Midwest (1992-1993 edition) but it’s been moved to the Oversize section of my bookshelves. It wasn’t that expensive back then to be listed. In fact I don’t recall they actually charged anything to list you, and made all their money of selling the book to suckers honorees and some libraries.
It was a nice little vanity boost, but when they asked me if I wanted the next edition, I declined. Don’t know if I continued to be listed or not.
Was this for a Montel Williams production? I got an email in this about two months back and my research turned up that it was dubious, at the very least, but I never cared enough to figure out exactly what the scam or catch was.
A while back I was contacted by somebody to share my memories of being at Woodstock, but since I remember very little about being there, it was kind of a non-starter.
When I was in high school, I walked into my advanced math class and there was a personalized invitation on every desk in the class to be included in that book. I figured it was probably not that exclusive, so I ignored it.
I think the Who’s Who book ‘scam’ has been around for, at the very least, decades. I remember when I was a kid, finding out that a friend’s dad was in a Who’s Who book of lawyers. I assumed it was a big deal until my mom explained that it’s just a book that you pay to have your name in. That’s it.
While looking at the wiki page about Who’s Who books, I found this:
There was much debate over the value of the book. Although it does not cost any money to be listed, it is often categorized as a scam since it is an attempt by a private company to make money through proud parents and students who purchase the book and various memorabilia (such as a “commemorative keychain”) associated with the publication in attempt at recognition. There have been concerns about how students are nominated as well as whether the listing’s entries are fact-checked and accurate.[3][4]
Students consented to being listed in Who’s Who in the hope that the listing would be seen by college admissions offices as a significant recognition of a student’s academic and extracurricular involvement. However, most admissions officers believe that the recognition has no such value and in fact some consider the “honor” to be a joke.[3][5] According to the admissions vice president of Hamline University, “It’s honestly something that an admissions officer typically wouldn’t consider or wouldn’t play into an admissions decision,” adding that Who’s Who… is just trying to sell books.[4]
I’ve heard that there are poetry compendium books that are kind of like this. They take poems from anyone and publish them in a book. Then the proud “published poets” buy copies for themselves and friends and family. Perhaps it’s something like that. The subjects of the documentary will buy DVDs to pass out as Christmas gifts.
I know someone who boldly lists themselves as a producer on IMDB and LinkedIn, but all they did was contribute to a crowd funded movie. They gave something like $100 and got a producer credit. But they way they write it up on their LinkedIn, you’d think they personally produced the movie. I could see this person joining the documentary and then telling everyone that a documentary was made about them. Someone who is self centered and thinks of themselves in a grandiose manner would jump at the chance to be in a documentary, no matter how scammy it was.
If it doesn’t cost any money to participate in this documentary, it might be interesting to go along and see what it’s all about. I know I’d like to learn more about the guy holding a giant margarita. What’s his story? Did he get a brain freeze? Did he have another one? So many questions that need answers.
“IAOTP’s group of publishers, IT experts, PR,
Marketing and Branding professionals, have helped thousands of top prestigious professionals get the recognition and credibility that they deserve
and have helped in building their branding empires.”
So McCullough, who had his internal medicine board certification revoked over his Covid crankery, can still brag about being an IAOTP Top Cardiologist.
My father was extremely proud of being asked to be listed in some version of Who’s Who. He was also too cheap to pay for it. That was 60 something years ago, now there’s a ton of those books.
That’s really interesting. Short story journals often collect a small-ish fee to consider your short story for publication, and when I say small, I mean like $3-$5. Payment at the other end has a wide range, anything from free issues to decent cash prizes.
I’m a member of a writers’ club in California, and a lot of the branches print anthologies of stories and poems, all selective, but all with entry fees. I see it as a fundraiser for the clubs. It’s not clear how much this would count when trying to get an agent. My branch doesn’t do this.
As for Who’s Who, I got these solicitations 40 years ago, and they weren’t new then. I think the one I got was Whos who in Science and Technology.
Along similar lines, there’s companies that are aimed at small inventors, who promise to “Get their ideas in front of large investors around the country”. The inventors pay a fee, and the company prints up a big book of all the ideas, and then just mails out unsolicited copies of the books to a lot of large companies, which copies are probably immediately tossed in the trash.
There are a number of publishers of the books since the name isn’t trademarked. I suspect that while none of them are really worth much, the standards nevertheless went down over time. I’d guess you got a solicitation because you’re published. But then we have:
That didn’t quite happen at my school, but it wasn’t far off. Not sure where they got the names.
Anyway, it all seems pretty pointless unless you really like to see your name in print.
