a warning to wedding photogs

[michael_taylor9]

I have a site up that hadn't received much response from viewers till

today when I received this email:

 

Goodday,

My name is thomus.My wife jennifer and i are planning to have our

wedding on April 2nd,2005 at St Francis Anglican church,Dallas,Texas.I

am looking for the best photographer who will come and snapshoot on the

D-day and when i came across your advert i was impressed.At this

time,we are on our way to Holland for our pre wedding honeymoon.Let me

know

your charges for your required services if you are to work for at most 5

Hours on that day.We want about 150 copies of different photos in both

black and white and in colour both in the church and reception and of

both the bride and the bridegroom,their parents,the officiating

ministers and our guests.We will want you to work for at least 5 Hours

at the

occasion and if you are out of Texas,we will pay the transportation

charges to and from the party venue so indicate in your email if you are

out of Texas and state what it will costs either via Plane or through Car

transport to Texas and what amount you will receive working for 5 hours

at the occasion.Also,we will have the photographs snapped at the

wedding forwarded to the Publisher of a Magazine Company in U.K so they

could feature the memoirs of the wedding in their celebrity journal.

However,I will be making the payment by means of a Cashiers

Cheque.Let me have your full names,Address,Phone Number,Cellular

Number where a

Cashiers Cheque will be mailed to for the payment.Moreso,should you be

out of state,the Hotel accomodation will be provided for by me.Waiting

to read from you soon as regards this.

Best regards,

thomus.

 

My stats tracking service indicates this person is in Eastern Europe,

perhaps Romania. This thing has scam written all over it. Keep your

eyes open folks.

Cheers.

MT

[tom_herron]

I imagine that the Supreme Prince of Nigeria will be the best man.

[Jerry_]

"snapshoot" a wedding is the giveaway phrase....

[gary evans]

as is "advert" instead of "ad"

[qtluong]

This is a well known scam. They would mail you a check, and then ask you

as a favor to transfer back some of that money to a third party to pay for some "wedding related expenses". Problem is that their payment is bogus, while yours would likely not be, and by the time you've figured it out, it would be too late.

<a href = "http://www.terragalleria.com/">Terra Galleria Photography</a>

[art_haykin]

Quote him a healthy well padded price for all time, prints, and expenses, and then instruct him to make out his check forthe EXACT amount and stipulate that the check is non-refundable. Then mention that you'll be contacting the church he mentioned just to verify the affair and to check with them on any shooting restrictions. You'll not hear from him again.

[gaius1]

As is the odd use of Capital Letters.

[J.W. Wall]

Forward to authorities right away.

[stephen hazelton]

It's obviously not "Dallas" English. (He'd say, "Would y'all come photograph my wedding?") He doesn't care or ask where you are. No foreignor is going to come 5000 miles to Dallas to get married- this is not Las Vegas or Niagara Fallas. There's got to be no end of wedding photographers IN Dallas, so it'd just be pretty stupid to ask some stranger from parts unknown to come here for that. If you're the world's leading wedding photographer, he wouldn't be basing his decision off one ad. He mentions the "advert"- do you actually have any ads out that are that impressive? (He didn't say website, you'll notice.) He implies he's a celebrity- what's his full name? Look him up if he's famous, call his agent or whoever. He's paying with a cashier's check- no one does that for real events- they would ask YOU what payment you wanted- so sure sign of a scam. And the tell-tale sign...there is NO information in the email that is specific to you- so he can cut-n-paste the thing.

 

FYI, the church in question has a website with an email contact. If you contact them, please let them know of the possible scam- this email is likely being sent other places, and the church could get scammed by these same people.

 

http://www.stfrancisdallas.org/

[rex_curry]

I recently received this same email but with the name, Jude Moore. I became suspicious

when he wanted me to photograph his wedding after seing my images from Haitian

Voodoo festivals.

 

Rex C. Curry

[mundy hackett]

I just rceived a similar email, his name is Phillip and the wedding will be in UK. Glad I googled this topic, I figured it was a scam but it never hurts to be wary these days!

 

Mundy Hackett

Missouri, USA

[photohag]

.

[derek_zoren]

I received an email as discussed and at the same time a photographer friend received the

same email - of course we realized it was a scam. I don't know why but I played along just

to see how they tried to work the scam. I replied to the email, asked for his address and

phone number, which was ignored in his reply. We agreed on a price and then he said he

would send a cashier's check.... Sent me an email saying that his wedding planner had an

accident and would not be able to mail it for another week or so (an excuse to send it as

close as possible to the wedding date). Emailed me when it was sent. Two days later I

received a strange phone call, it was from a phone service used by deaf or speech

impaired people - the operator receive a typed message from the caller and says it to me,

she then types my reply back. Kind of smart, I can not hear his voice therefore no accent

and the call is not traceable. Over the next week I received and email nearly every day

asking if I had received the check.

I received the check (in a plain brown envelope with no return address) for the wrong

amount - $7000 instead of $3000....

The check was a cashiers check from Florida Credit Union, looked fine but I think it may

have been printed out on a computer. For kicks I called the bank (Suntrust) and they said

that the check is good - that there was money in the account to cover it. I suspect that

how it works is that the poor photographer cashes the check it clears, photographer wires

the money to the scammer, account holder discovers that money is missing, investigates

and traces it back to photographer that has to pay it back.

I told Jude that I received the check and he immediately replied asking me to western

union money to an address in England. I replied saying that there is no way I will western

Union any money, I said that the check is shredded and if he would like to proceed he can

overnight a check for the correct amount. That this should be fine unless he is some

Romanian f--k trying to rip me off. No reply.

Not a bad scam but there are so many red flags that you have to be an idiot to fall for it. If

you ever suspect someone is not on the up and up, first thing is to ask for their contact

information - name, address, phone number. If they do not want to give it its a scam for

sure.

 

His last email...

It's good to hear that you've received the check,the

mistake in the amount of the cheque was drawn for is as a

result of my wedding planner mistake.I guess he got worked

up due to the work load, i was told he do issue you $7,000

instead of $3000 ur charges + ur airfare,we were preparing

the wedding to be a big affair.

The rest of the funds is meant for the payment of

the band and the magazine company that is going to captured

the event on our wedding day,so please cash the cheque and

help transfer the remaining $4,000 minus the transfer

charges to my personal assistance so that we can be able to

pay for the band and the magazine company,so you can go

ahead get the funds sent via Western Union Money Transfer

in the details below:

ANTHONY MARTINS

155 CROSS ROAD

CONVENTRY

CV6 5GQ

ENGLAND

 

Please get back to me with the transfer details in the

manner below:

1,Sender's name and address

2,Receiver's name and address

3,Amount sent

4,Test question/Code word(You can use who's the creator

of the universe,and the answer GOD).

5, The reference Number MTCN #

Do not hesitate to remove western union charges out of

the entire money ok? All this wiring information are needed

for easier collection of the funds.hope you do understand.i

will be much and highly appreciated and greatful,if my

request is being understood and done as instructed.i look

forward to hearing from you and your timely response will

be highly

appreciated and may God be with you and your family once

again.

my Regards.

[rex_curry]

I played along with this guy for almost 2 months and had the exact same experience as

Michael Taylor. I did, however, get a call from a number in Detroit from, I assume an

accomplice. he finally did call me several times finally threatening to get the proper

authorities on the case if I didn't send him the money.