This just seems WAY too weird not to be a scam. I can't tell if this guy is just a nutjob or if it's a scam. Here's the skinny:

My friend's son responded to a post in a photography group looking for someone to take photos and video of high-school basketball or other indoor sporting events...mostly basktetball. Games and practices. His dad (my friend) thought it sounded fishy so he emailed me about it. Each game lasts about 30 minutes and they were paying $75 per game. If there were more than one game a night, they would stack up if needed, so you might be shooting 3-5 games in a night. It's not bad money for a college kid. Here's where it gets weird though.

- The FB profile looks fake as hell. Zero friends on the profile. The person eventually called them directly (via facebook) and explained what they were looking for, the pay, etc. They explained that they were looking for reliable people with a camera that can shoot 4k video blah blah blah. If he accepted the position, a NDA would need to be signed and they would be required to pay $25 for a CamMOM account, some sort of booking portal that they use for the photographers so they can see the game schedules, pick one, and go shoot it.

- The email that was sent to him came from a gmail account with the name "SPLOOT SPLAT" as the user name on the account. Very professional.

- They claim everything is in startup and that their app and website is under construction. So family members or coaches of the teams can pay to have a photographer/videographer go shoot the game through this app. The current website nothing more than some sort of login/account portal.

- They want the $25 payment for this account setup sent via Cashapp to a different person.

- They also want a copy of his drivers license.

Everything reads through their introduction email to be sketchy as hell. What do you guys think, they lure aspiring photographers in, offer to pay them a few bucks to shoot these games but to get booked you have to send them 25 bucks to setup some odd account. They then take your $25 and you never hear from them again.

So, what do you think? Scam?

Jeez Adam, I think that helicopter parent should land the chopper and ground it. The kid is in college and he's got two grown-ups assessing his life for him. Let that poor apron stringed kid see what it feels like to dribble the ball for a while.
As for the name, Sploot Splat sounds better than Google!!! LoL
John

That sounds like a sweet gig. Where would he shoot from? The press box, the nose bleed seats? Are they looking to cover the entire court for scouting purposes? What about audio?

The problem with starting a business is that you obviously have no followers. Rather than wondering if its a scam, I would wonder if it was even legal. Why the NDA? Does he get a press pass? Can he film on school property and sell the footage? Does the team or league know about this business? Do they need to sanction it and can they ask for a cut?

I would worry more about the legal questions rather than it being a photography scam.

SPLOOT SPLAT? Sounds like about 25% of the screen names on MM.

It's suspicious that the client requires the potential vendor to spend money at a certain place.

It is also dubious that a copy of a drivers license is required -- I would never give that to a client.

Sounds very much like a scam. For one thing, who has 30 min. basketball games? That is the first give away. The rest just adds proof to the fact it is a scam. Five games in one night? Seriously? I have zero interest in sports, but I know enough to know better than that.

Rick