Instagram Account Impersonates Outdoor Photographer Editor

This account on Instagram claims to belong to Wes Pitts, Editorial Director of Digital Photo and Outdoor Photographer. It is not a genuine account.

It has come to our attention that an Instagram account (and possibly more than one) has been created impersonating me, going so far as to include my professional title in the account bio. It is alleged that the impersonator has used this account to contact photographers with offers of freelance work or other similar enticements.

We have asked Instagram to remove the fake account. In the meantime, we want to advise our readers and followers on social media of this, and to make clear the following:

• We don’t use personal social media accounts to contact photographers for professional reasons. If you receive a communication through social from an account with my name, it is not authentic.
• From time to time, we may use our official Instagram, Facebook or Twitter accounts (@outdoorphotomag) to contact photographers, but any genuine communication from our staff will include a Madavor Media email address (xxxxx@madavor.com) for follow-up.

If you receive a communication from someone claiming to represent a publication or company with an offer of freelance work, be sure to confirm the identity of the person contacting you. One way to do this is call or write the company through the contact information on its website, or by direct message to its official social media accounts. Never provide sensitive personal information through social media.

Don’t be fooled by the followers an account may have. Social media accounts of well-known personalities may have unknowingly followed an account they believe is legitimate—it happened in my case.

Please share this information with your friends in the photo community. We want to do our part to help make social media a positive and safe experience for all of our readers.

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