Seattle-area musicians: Beware of a songwriting proposition in your DMs that seems too good to be true. At least eight Seattle musicians have been targeted by suspicious Instagram accounts inquiring about having a birthday song written for their son named Solomon, or “Solly” for short. The scammer has offered between $200-$500 to the musicians we spoke to for anoriginal birthday song that mentions Solly by name along with details like his favorite cartoon, best friend, dog, and love of Spiderman.
Jeannie Rak, Seattle singer-songwriter and former busker at Pike Place Market prior to the pandemic, received a message from an account inquiring if she wrote original music. The account, posing as the mother of Solly, asked if Rak would write him a birthday song for $500. Rak accepted, and the account insisted to pay her the deposit of $300 by check, not Venmo or PayPal. When the account messaged her saying, “My assistant requested $3000 instead of $300 to our manager and now he processed the check for that amount… I could send you the check then when it’s all processed you’ll send the balance back to my secretary,” Rak got suspicious.
“The final sentence was ‘I feel like I can trust you :)’. They play with your emotions,” Rak said. That’s when Rak took to Instagram to warn other songwriters.
The scam is an identity theft check fraud. The scammer sends money from a fake checking account and makes an “accidental” overpayment, which they ask the artist to correct. If Rak had accepted the payment to her account and reimbursed the difference of $2,700, the initial check would have bounced a few days later as it did for Ruthie Craft.
Craft — a local soul pop artist and former American Idol contestant — was contacted by a similar account in December 2020. They offered her $300 for the song and sent her $2000. Craft waited for the check to clear and sent the $1,700 back. A few days later, she was contacted by her bank and informed the scammer’s checking account did not exist.
Craft said there were no red flags such as misspellings or rushed transactions. “[The scammer] played on my vulnerability and emotions. He said, ‘You seem trustworthy.’ He flipped it around so his trust wasn’t in question — mine was,” said Craft. Fortunately, Craft’s bank was able to cancel her transaction and credit her account. She encourages songwriters to watch out for overpayment scams and always run fishy transactions by a friend or family member.
@ruthiecraft Who can relate 🙋🏼♀️ #scammed #christmasparody #illbehomeforchristmas #parody #funny #fyp #ukulele
It’s not just singer-songwriters who have been targeted. Aiden Israel of Kadima, a Seattle-based progressive metal band, received a message propositioning him to write a birthday song for Solly after he posted a video of himself playing guitar. Israel was skeptical that a parent would want him to write a birthday song. He ignored the message and blocked the account.
Another target of the scam, folk singer-songwriter Jessie Thoreson, had already begun working on the song when the scammer made the overpayment. Thoreson attempted to reimburse the account via the Cash App. When the app marked the transaction as fraudulent, she reached out to her bank, which informed her that even though the check initially went through it could still bounce if the account was fake.
The Ottawa Citizen and News Channel 5 Nashville have both reported on the birthday song scam. Scams have become increasingly common during the financial hardships of the pandemic, and overpayment scams are just one threat facing independent artists nationally. In January 2021, over $22 million was reportedly lost to scams in the United States, up from about $7.3 million in January 2020.
Musicians are hustling to survive as we all eagerly await a more recognizable world with live shows and more opportunities for musicians to monetize their skills. In the meantime, local musicians like Thoreson, Craft, and Rak are open to commissions if anyone is interested — legitimate inquiries only.
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