[NHCOLL-L:1495] Dr. Haq and other misleading requests or offers

[Alexandra M. Snyder]

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