Prankster tries to undermine Top 100 DJs poll

A fake email went out to some of the dance music industry’s leading DJs and agents over the weekend, accusing them of cheating in DJmag’s Top 100 DJs poll. The email, mocked up to look as if it came from one of DJmag’s management team, accused a number of DJs and their agents of cheating in this year’s poll.

The email begins ‘Since changing to Facebook to support the DJ Mag Top 100 Poll, it has been easier for us to identify votes which we feel are suspicious’. It goes on to name a DJ and their team for engaging in dubious voting activity, and states that DJmag will be ‘naming and shaming’ two DJs in the October issue of the magazine.

It ends with the following statement: ‘I do not want a reply to this email, I will trust that If you, or anyone in your team, suspects there is suspicious activity in your camp that you put a stop to it using any means necessary’.

The signature at the bottom of the email is then mocked up to look like one of DJmag’s senior management team, although the address and phone numbers used are incorrect.

The fake email is evidently intended to stir up mischief within the industry about the poll. DJmag was alerted to its existence after several concerned agents contacted the magazine over the weekend.

“Due to the importance of the Top 100 DJs poll internationally, we take all action against the poll very seriously,” said Martin Carvell, MD of DJ magazine. “As in all previous years, DJmag treats any attempt to gain fraudulent votes with the utmost importance but this is a deliberate attempt to sabotage and undermine the poll and those that take part in it. We can only assume that this is someone in the industry who wants to damage the poll for their own personal gain.”

Anybody who has received one of these fake email is being asked to forward it on to the Managing Director of DJ Magazine, Martin Carvell – [email protected]