TV interview
About a week ago (on a Monday) I received a message trough this website from someone who said he was a reporter from ABS-CBN, channel ANC. The man was doing a future about living in the Philippines through the eyes of expats.
But there was something strange in his email. He used an email account from live.com, with the funny username: hello.dolly and his name was Sam (no family name).
The interview would take place two days later, but no place or more details were given.
here is the exact text of the message:
I am a reporter for ABS-CBN’s channel ANC. This week, we are doing a feature on “Living in the Philippines Through the Eyes of an Expat.” I’ve read your blog, and it’s fun. You make some interesting points, and I’m sure other expats and even locals would love to hear about your experiences. I was wondering if I may interview you this Wednesday regarding the topic? I am interviewing other expatriates as well. I will only take 10-15 minutes of your time, I promise! If you don’t feel comfortable about being on television, I will use what you say for information/research purposes and if I may, some of the content/pics on your page. Please let me know what time is good for your this Wednesday. Thanks so much, Jan!
I gave the man a response that I was OK with an interview but that I wanted to know where and exact time the interview would take place. I asked him to give me an answer using a email account from his work.
I never heard from this man again. I wonder why….. 
I am writing this post because from time to time I receive emails with all kinds of strange requests and suggestions. As you might understand, I am very suspicious when someone is asking me something and uses a funny email account. I will always consider it as a kind of spam, or something from people who like to be funny.
That’s the reason I have asked for a reply using a business mail account. Just to prove that it is serious.
Maybe there are more expats, reading this blog, and have experienced the same kind of spam from readers. I would like to know how many times this happens and if we can do something about it. Leave a comment if you like to share your thoughts about this topic.
Filipino time:
Let me first start off by saying that your Blog has been a God sent. I look forward to each of your new posts and read and look over all of your posts and pics. I was born in the Philippines, but moved and raised all my life in the US since I was 2 years old. I hadn’t been back till last year which makes it 30 years. I went college and lived my life in the States, I took family(s) and friend(s) vacations to Europe, but being there last year and re-connecting with family has changed my whole outlook. I really enjoy your Blog and had to say so, I hope you and you wife are doing well. Now, for me I going to make it my purpose to convince my wife to live there (also a Fil-Am).
Thanks Edward, for your nice words.
Did your wife read my blog already?
Yes, she has, and she loves it also and finds allot of the entries interesting. I’ve shown your blog to my mom when we have family get together and she has allot of stories too of the Philippines. Jen, would rather start our family here, and then retire there (maybe) in the future. I hope you’ve traveled around, like the Visayas Region, Cebu is pretty fun and I’ve noticed allot of civil projects funded by the Dutch Government in Cebu. But, take care and wish you and Flor the very best, from a Fil-Am fan, looking forward to your next blog.
Edward,
have your mom write down her stories about the Philippines. I’ll be glad to publish them. That is if she likes
Or you or your mom can start her own website and blog. It’s very easy and doesn’t cost much money. There are even free opportunities to start a blog. If you are interested, just let me know.
That is a very strange email Jan. Maybe just fishing to see if you would choose the time and place and then rob you.
It’s always the other way around for me. I’ve emailed ABS-CBN several times but never got a response. I’ve emailed local government offices and businesses and have never received any replies in inbox or spam.
I would think a contact phone number in addition to the reply to this email would have been more professional. Did you try any reverse email searches, or google the name ?
Hi Marvin,
Yes I tried to Google the person, but couldn’t find anything. That’s also a reason I got suspicious.
That’s the reason I asked him to reply with a business mail account.
I have also experiences in sending emails to official offices and companies. They hardly reply on questions. The best way is to contact them by phone and kindly ask them to send the information by email.
Private people also have email addresses, they mark them in advertisings, but hardly ever check them. So it is useless to send emails to them.
The Philippines is a TEXT country. Short text messages (SMS) will be answered by 99%. We have to adjust ourselves to that…
I don’t know about your reporter, but I have experienced many times that professionals are using yahoo or gmail email accounts for official messages (attorneys, accounting companies, PLDT employees, etc.). Equally strange I have found at first that even banks send you text messages with the request to reply to an unknown mobile number when you apply for an account or a credit card. But apparently that is the way it works here, all these email and text messages were authentic.
Roland,
I noticed that also. But I didn’t trust the message. That’s why I asked for a conformation from the guy, but he never responded.
I have my thoughts about it……
And I never give my home address or telephone number to this kind of mails. Just for safety.
It sure sounds like some sort of scam to me.
We have all had our fair share of “Nigerian Letters” over email “From the desk of the Attorney of the late…” or “I am the widow of former parliament member…” and need to ship money via your account…
The best one I ever got was from a British MP who wanted to send me a shitload of money for development purposes in my country, for any cause of my own choosing… the thing is I live in Sweden… not really on the receiving end of development money…
But don’t worry, she assured me this was absolutely legit and she was acting under direct orders of the governments office of foreign affairs, BUT I was not to under any circumstances contact her by her official email, or phone or snailmail address at the Parliament, but stressed I should only use her hotmail address for contact.
Yea… right… I was born yesterday
Hi Per,
Nice of you to stop by on my site. I also receive lots of Nigerian scam. I just ignore them and throw them away.
This one looked real, but yet I didn’t trust it.
Its’ probably good that you became suspicious. Suspicion living here acts as a good safety divice. Sounds very fishy to me.
Although it “might” have been ok to visit with this person in an interview setting, not knowing and unsure at the time, it’s not worth any risk and you made the right decision I think.
Would be interesting to visit with someone who had been interviewed by this person in the past.
Yes, if only I had known someone….
I am not really sure about this but emails that ends with hotmail.com or live.com or sometimes with .uk are being abused by spammers.
anyway thanks for writing informations about Philippines, i live in Cebu in Mactan island.
That’s the reason I was asking for a reply with a business mail account.
hello jan
(trandslated into English)
Hi, this is Rinus,
How are you, we hope everything goes well.
This kind of persons you will find everywhere, but you are a wise man with a lot of experience and lots of knowledge of computers; I am not.
regards from the Ernst Family
Rinus,
I translated your message into English for my international readers.
Thanks for your kind words. And say hello to your family from us.