[NHCOLL-L:1495] Dr. Haq and other misleading requests or offers
Alexandra M. Snyder
amsnyder at unm.edu
Thu Feb 21 12:27:18 EST 2002
Maybe I am a just a jaded old crone, but I must admit that Dr. Haq's
letter, which I too received, had a very, very familiar tenor to it. So I
responded with an insincere "sorry about your loss but we cannot provide
you with such specimens. Good luck in your endeavors." Following the
discussion on permit-l, sounds like he got lucky.
What was "good" about the Dr. Haq request is that he addressed the email to
a person (not the usual "Dear Curator of Fishes...") and the list of taxa
required was not too outlandish (e.g., "Do you have a spare coelacanth for
our teaching collection?") I don't think I am the only one out there who
has seen such letters (from "other Dr. Haqs") before. But it seems that
these letters are getting a tad more "sophisticated" and do not include the
normal red flags like ambiguous addresses or other wierdness. They also
reach a wider audience with email.
I learned, in my "salad years," that by contacting colleagues at other
museums when I received one of these letters (or any request of a
suspicious nature) that I could make a better judgement. In one case, our
division was steered clear of a possibly litigious situation. By
contacting the institutions that this person claimed he had connections
with, I found out he was bad news. (The "red flag" in his letter was the
focus of the research and that a these major museums claimed him as a
research associate.) I asked the curator to write the letter, which did
not exactly say "no" but politely steered this person clear of us (like the
response to Dr. Haq).
I would caution those of you "new to the business" TO ASK QUESTIONS
regarding any request you receive. Done discreetly, it is well within your
job description to be nosey and to get to know who is "out there." I don't
think that sending out a general email to a list saying that you suspect
that somebody is a bad person is a good idea. I think that might lead to
other troubles. Rather notify your colleagues, off line, if you are
suspicious.
_____________________________________________________________
Since nothing has come across NHCOLL-L about this yet, I thought I would
forward this message (one of several) that was posted on PERMIT-L
regarding a potential scam involving "Dr. Mohammad Haq" of the
"Life-Science Museum, Jhansi, India." Regrettably, we sent "Dr. Haq"
some herps in December. He says he hasn't received the package yet,
hmm... Wish we would've received this warning a few months ago.
Live and learn,
Amy
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amy D. Estep
Curatorial Specialist in Herpetology
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
University of Oklahoma
2401 Chautauqua Avenue
Norman, OK 73072
voice and fax: 405-325-7771
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
================================
Alexandra M. Snyder, Collection Manager
Division of Fishes
Museum of Southwestern Biology
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131 USA
Ph 505.277.6005 Fax 505.277.3218
amsnyder at unm.edu
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