Event Planner Notes

March 31, 2011

Industry Scam Letters

Hopefully most of us know about the email scam letters that occasionally pop up in our inboxes. Some of these schemes are industry specific like wedding planning. Wedding scam emails basically all tell the same story:

Engaged couple is out of the country.
Wedding is in a few months.
Needs a planner to arrange everything in their absence.
Requests a planner reserve vendor services on behalf of couple.

The basic scenario is the sender will want to work out a payment arrangement via cashier’s check. Naturally a fraudulent cashier’s check. The amount forwarded to the planner will be greater than the amount due. The end game is the sender expects the planner to send a check for the overpayment. Then the cashiers check clears before the bank discovers it’s a fraud. Scammer has the refunded money while the planner is left holding the bank tab.

Booking legitimate out of town clients is not unusual for us. And most of these clients initially contact us through email. However we can spot email scam letters a mile away because the verbiage is unlike anything we typically receive from a potential client. Lately the content of these emails have been a bit more creative, but still questionable.

A new wedding scam email comes in every few weeks or so. We will post them as they come in so everyone is aware of what’s going around the industry. Here’s the latest with a big red flag signature. Bride & Groom 2….really?!

I am Richard Roland and my fiancé’s name is Sarah Woods .. I am a pilot while my wife is a us army and currently on a peace keeping mission ... we are making an arrangement towards our upcoming wedding and we need a wedding planner to help us with our wedding planning .. we invited 35-40 guest and our wedding date is 25th of march 2011 .. we need to know if you are available for this date. We will be looking forward to hear back from you soon .. Sincerely, Bride & Groom 2

Posted March 31, 2011 by Encounters Events