I Have Been Cloned
And if you think I’m kidding, think again. Because, although I make it sound like a joke, it really isn’t.
What we’re talking about here is identity fraud.
Doesn’t sound so funny now, does it?
And to be honest, I’m royally pissed off.
What’s Happening
Someone pretending to be me has been approaching voice-over artists with the apparent intention of scamming them into doing work for them under rather unfavourable terms.
Here’s an example:
‘the payment arrangement is structured around completion, review, and approval of the final deliverables’
They sent their emails from the following email address: officialdaan.katz [at] gmail [dot] com, which is NOT my email address. So be warned: If you get an email from this address, do not engage with it.
Unfortunately, if it happened once, it can happen again.
If someone contacts you claiming to be me, STOP and do this first:
Recognise Identity Fraud
… before it bites you in the bum
- Check the email address. My email addresses do not contain a random series of characters, and I will not email you from a Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or other free email address.
- Also, double-check the spelling of an official-looking email address: scammers often spoof legitimate domains. (E.g. daankaatz [dot] com, or dannkatz [dot] com might look legitimate, but these are not my domains.)
- If you are contacted by someone claiming to be me on social media, over the phone, or via whatsapp, ask them to send you an email from their official daankatz email address.
- Be especially wary if they contact you by phone or WhatsApp: I would NEVER do that (I’d much rather throw my phone in the Rhine).
- Scrutinise the body of the email. If it looks like it was AI-generated, it probably was. Needless to say, I would NEVER let AI do my writing for me.
When in Doubt…
- DO NOT reply, click any links, or open attachments.
- DO NOT provide personal or financial information.
- DO NOT send any money or sign any contracts
- DO reach out to me via one of my official channels, listed below and on my contact page.
- REPORT the suspicious message to the relevant platform or email provider
Identity Fraud is a Crime
| Identity fraud: stealing someone’s identity to commit crimes and obtain goods or services through deception. |
When, like me, you get dozens of scam emails a week (or sometimes even in a day), you may eventually just glance at the sender and subject line and press ‘spam’ without even opening the email. We have better things to do than spend hours on fraudulent emails, right?
What I never realised—until I got contacted by two voice actors enquiring if I had approached them for a voice-over job—is that we’re really dealing with crime here.
Someone stole my identity (my name and my photo) and put a link to my website in their email signature, with the apparent intention of defrauding them.
That’s a criminal offence, and would not only have caused financial harm to these voice actors, but could also lead to reputational harm for me personally.
So here’s one more thing I would urge you to do:
If you have already engaged with the impersonator, provided personal or financial details, signed a contract, done work for them, or suffered monetary loss as a result, REPORT the matter to your local police or other relevant law enforcement authority.
- United Kingdom: Action Fraud — the UK’s national reporting service for fraud and cybercrime.
- United States: IdentityTheft.gov — the US government’s resource for reporting and recovering from identity theft.
- United States: Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) — the FBI’s reporting centre for internet crime and online fraud.
If you are in the Netherlands, you can report identity fraud to the police and to the Centraal Meldpunt Identiteitsfraude (CMI).
Known impersonation attempts
- officialdaan.katz [at] gmail [dot] com; also operating from a WhatsApp business profile under my name, using an altered photograph of me. (Important: I only have a personal WhatsApp account, which I use exclusively for communication with personal friends and family. Never for business.)
I reported this to the Dutch Police, Centraal Meldpunt Identiteitsfraude (the Dutch government’s central helpdesk for identity fraud), Gmail, and WhatsApp.
And, while I hope this won’t be necessary, I will keep this page updated whenever new information becomes available.