I run a Chemical Brothers group on Last.FM which currently has 379 members. I don't know if you know what Last.FM is but basically it's a pretty cool site that streams your favourite tunes and suggests new stuff based on what you like.

Anyway, I've had a couple of really pushy PMs in the past couple of days from one Alexis Bauchain who describes herself (Alexis is usually a female name, isn't it?) as "the manager of Astralwerks records on LastFM".

This is the message I received on Tuesday:

"I am the manager of Astralwerks records on LastFM and we planned to make a special promotion for the Chemical Brothers , so I would really appreciate that you give me leadership for this group in order to be able to communicate with the members and involve them in our team by giving them free stuff to promote the band !

Thanks in advance,

Best Regards,

Alexis Bauchain

Astralwerks Records"

Now there's a few things in there, such as punctuation errors and some slightly odd phrasing, which makes me suspect that this is a phishing attempt.

Last night I had a follow-up attempt, which was even pushier:

"HI ,

Did you received my previous message because my demand is quite pressing"

Again, note the odd use of language - "my demand is quite pressing" indeed. Tom and Ed, if this person is really from Astralwerks, you might like to replace them with someone who has a better grasp of English.

Again, I'm pretty sure that this is someone *impersonating* an Astralwerks employee rather than the real thing.

If it really *is* someone from the record company, do they have your authorisation to make such approaches to people running fan sites? I'm more than happy to help out in promotions but I don't really see how it is necessary to hand over control of a group in order to do so...

Hope you can look into this.

Thanks.

Damn the lack of formatting on here. Sorry the above post looks so garbled. :-/

Basically someone claiming to be from the Chems' record company has approached me on another website and wants me to hand over control of the Chems group on there.

If it was *really* someone acting on behalf of the Chems, I'd be happy to help, but it looks suspiciously like a scam to me.

I'd say scam...

Scammy scam scam.

I've had to change my eBay password because I fell for a scam which told me a buyer was wondering where his package was, and threatening to contact eBay.

Beware the Internetz

sounds like a scam to me.

Huge scam! Just say NO! kids.

I'm going to have to go with the flow and say it's a scam as well. The whole "Manager of Astralwerks records on LastFM" seems a bit off, along with the ever-so-present demands of pressure to take over leadership. Huh? One thing you can try is contacting Astralwerks themselves and see if you can get a response from them. It's a long shot but at least (if Astralwerks does respond) you'll know for sure.

Thanks guys, I was 95% certain it was a scam, but thought I'd better check in case there was some kind of major promotional push going on (highly unlikely since the current album was released in summer...)

I'm now 100% sure. Here's the latest instalment:

"I can't communicate through you because I need to send free stuff to people and I just need the leadership for one and then I'll give it to you back ."

PMSL.

This is the reply I've sent back:

"I know people who are personal friends of Tom and Ed. I'll check out your credentials through them, then get back to you.

I have to say your approach is highly unorthodox, so I have also raised it with the owners of LastFM.

There is no need to contact me again. I'll contact you when I have news for you."

Oh snap! Good one, Tyler!

You handled that well! Smelled like a scam to me.

On a side note, I'm probably in that group on last.fm. Heh.

Jesus Tyler, can't you see Alexis is too busy sending free stuff to people? ('Free stuff' IS the technical term; I used to work in promotions). Just give her the password! ;)

contact the wonderful errol through myspace and he if anybody will know the story.

I did email LastFM through their office@last.fm address but had no reply so far.

Is Errol the person who runs the official Chems myspace? Good idea to contact him if so.

Yep! Errol runs the MySpace site. Awesome dude. =)

Oh yeah! Try giving Errol a shout. He is da bomb!

Heh heh, still not heard back after that last reply. ;-)

OK, I'll try Errol next and let him investigate. If he confirms it's definitely a scam, then the next thing is to go public about it on LastFM and warn other LastFM groups about it. I've still not had a reply to the email I sent them but I've probably not got through to the right person. I'll raise it on their forums.