Are there bakers out there who actually do what these scam artists want? It sounds like it's a possibility; otherwise why do these people keep trying??

what are these scammers trying to acheive actually? they can't really be doing it for a cake. is this what leads up to all those other horror stories of people sending money orders/checks and then having them bounce?

in other words, if someone was actually naive enough to follow through with all of these scamming requests, what would the end result be?

(sorry, i've just never heard of the outcome of these things. that's actually a good thing though because people don't get fooled!)

What happens is 1) they give u a credit card and (as stated in an above post) want you to charge the $600 delivery fee to the card number
2) you pay the delivery service the $600 cash
3) they have $600 and your cake both paid for by some unsuspecting sole's credit card

oh ok. thanks for clarifying!

I received this email on 9-16-09, and it is a huge scam. The scam part is after you respond back, the "client" sends an email detailing how they will be using a company with a refrigerated truck to pick up the cakes, but they want to send YOU their credit card number, you add on your fee, $950 to pay the shipping company, and then another $100 for your time to arrange this for them. You are more than likely getting a stolen credit card #, and I would assume you send the $950 to the "trucking" co and then find out it's a scam. I called the cops after I received the detailed email and they sent it to the FBI. I never thought you could scam a cake shop either, but apparently people are trying! At least those of us who know what we're doing won't fall for this. FYI- the scammer is also using names out of the obituary pages.

I GOT ONE FROM HIM TODAY...I POSTED ALL OF IT ON THE CAKE FORUM "NEED HELP"...WHAT DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THIS PERSON...I'M WANTING TO STOP WHO EVER IS BEHIND THIS...

THANKS, MUMSBAKERSDOZEN/TERESA BEAUDRY/CUSTOM CRITTERS

Last year while working with a friend who just opened a high end chocolate shop - she received a similar e-mail with all kinds of red flags (broken english, unusually large order and offer of excessive amount of extra $ for shipping). Thankfully, she showed me the e=mail before responding, but she still didn't believe me until I had several others persuade her not to respond. Often, this kinds of scams being with some very flattering words "I've seen your work and it is stunning" blah-blah-blah to kind of throw you off. Aside from getting the money from a stolen card, they often try sending you a (fraudulent) check covering all the shipping along with extra $ but "accidentally" sending too much. They then request you wire them the excess since they "trust you". They hope you will wire the money before finding out from your bank that the check they gave you is no good. Don't know that I've explained that too well, but the idea is to get YOUR money and of course no one is coming by to pick up that cake. Maybe the only way to stop these guys (yes, there is more than one) is not ever respond, but it makes you sooo mad!!

I received the exact same e-mail this morning, unfortunately I did reply requesting clarification of the order, I promptly received a reply with all of this shipping, handling, etc., my gut said no so I sent a reply back that my schedule would not accomodate this cake, now I wished I hadn't replied because now they have my e-mail address, yuk. Is there some type of legal ramifications to pursue here? Dumb in MS.

OK...I FOUND OUT YOU CAN GO MARK THEM AS SPAM...MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS ON MY WEB SITE...SO ANYONE CAN GET YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS...SO EVEN IF YOU REPLIED...GO BACK & MARK IT SPAM...I FORWARD A COPY TO MY SISTER IN LAW...SHE KNEW WHAT TO DO TO CHECK & SEE IF IT WAS HOAX...SHE EMAILED ME BACK THIS LINK...I MARKED THE ORIGINAL TWO EMAILS "SPAM"...THEN KEPT THE COPY SHE EMAILED BACK TO ME...WE JUST NEED TO KEEP OUR GUARD UP...I'M POSTING ON MY WEB SITE ABOUT THIS HOAX & TELLING EVERYONE THAT WANTS TO USE MY SERVICES WILL BE REQUESTED TO TALK TO ME...EMAILS ARE FINE BUT THEY NEED TO LEAVE ME A NUMBER FOR ME TO CALL THEM BACK...IF YOU CAN AFFORD AN INTERNET...YOU CAN AFFORD A PHONE...I JUST WOULD LOVE TO GET THESE PEOPLE...ALL I'M TRYING TO DO IS AN HONEST DAY'S WORK...GRRR!!!!!!

I have been feeling guilty lately for not posting on this subject. I learned a couple of years back about this scam on CC. The words may vary but it's the same scam. No one that I'm aware of is going to e-mail you with exact infomation on a huge order without going over details on the phone or in person. I have received two in the past month. I usually just delete but the last one I replied that the date was booked. The e-mail would not go through.

The way I understand it, they send you a certified check or money order for an amount over what you quoted. They ask that you refund the difference. It is later you discover their check or money order was fake by then they have your money for the difference.

The first e-mail I received was an order for 200 individual cakes for the guest. The wedding was two hours away. When they quoted exactly what they wanted red flags were flying so I came on CC and asked about it.

Another flag is when the wedding is in a mater of a couple of weeks.

I hope this subject comes up once in a while for new members to be aware of this scam.

Opps, I went back to read the rest of the replies and noticed that I had already responded to this post. Didn't realize it was an old post. Still a good one to bring up from time to time.

I agree it's a good post to bring up once in a while. The way I found about this post on CC -- I Googled the e-mail address from the person who sent me the e-mail and guess what, the address was posted all over CC under the forum topic "Is this a scam?," that caused me to go to CC and read the post and much to my amazement, the e-mail I received was identical to the e-mail that was posted on CC. Thanks CC for confirming what my gut was telling me!

THANKS EVERYONE...FOR ALL THE RESPONSE...JUST NEED TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO MY EMAIL...THE FIRST ONE HE SENT HAD NO REFERENCE ABOUT SHIPPING...JUST WANTED TO PICK UP BOXED CAKES...AFTER I REPLIED...I ONLY DELIVER...THAT'S WHEN ALL HE EMAILED ME THE OTHER STUFF...THEN I KNEW THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG...

This is definitely not a ligid order. It sounds like a well-known Craigslist scam where people send you a money order, but when you deposit it they are somehow able to suck money out of your account. This jerk is so stupid that he emailed me a request of the same cake with the exact same specs. I didnt respond with anything other that we couldnt help because of the proximity to Thanksgiving. I didnt want the creep to change his name, b/c at least when you google his name you can find his scam out easily.