I Had My First Scammer! Take A Look At My Response!!

Decorating By melhoneybee Updated 14 Jul 2009 , 2:12am by pasteles73

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melhoneybee Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 9:04pm
post #1 of 39

Have you guys ever gotten a scammer trying to get a "cake" order?? I just got my first! So here is the email this guy sent to me this morning:

Hello , thanks for the swift reply to my order request, and you concern as well, i want you to know that am very grateful and am really inspired ever since the first time I tasted your cake, that is why I will prefer you bake for me..or i rather not have cake for my wedding.

I will like you to bake for me large size cupcake, some chocolate and some strawberry flavor cupcake to be cover in butter cream or fondant. And i want you to have it ready for pick up time 4 O'clock PM 24th of July 2009...and a shipper will be coming to pick them up...to delivery to my wedding reception in Canada and i dont want you to be worried about the safety delivery of the cake. Regarding the shipping ,I have a shipping agent that will be take good care of pick up and the delivery consignments. The Shipping company will come for the pickup arrangement of the Cake at your place, at the pick up date and time.

And as I have told you dont have anything to be worry about on the shipping of the cake it will be well secure and in a good condition on arriving the location of my wedding reception in Toronto Canada, the shipper will be coming with there AC truck for the pick up and it will be ship under the fragile shipping insurance scheme, a friend of mine has use them before for a shipping consignment of this such and they are well secure reliable and dependable..

So I want you to calculate for me what will be the total cost of the cake order including tax if included, and also I want you to add $700 for the cost of the pick up and the shipping, so once I have your reply for the total I will remit my credit card for you to charge for the total costso that you can have the order book right away. And once you have the order in progress, I will have the shipper contact you regarding the pick up schedule arrangement, and i will instruct you further on how you will get the shipping fee to the shipper as to confirm the pickup arrangement of the cake. Am also offer you an extra $100 for taking care of my order properly and for any less stress you will go through for completing the transaction for me due to my absence.

So please do calculate altogether the total cost of the cake + tax + $700 for shipping charges, including the $100 am offering you.And get back to me with the total for all, so once i have the total cost i will remit my credit card for you to charge.. And you should let me know the type of CC you accept Visa or Master.
I will be waiting to have your reply for the total cost.
Thanks and God bless.
Ben Parker.



Here was my reply:

Hello Ben,

Unfortunately, I cannot accept your payment to give to the shipper because it would be counted towards my business income and I would have to pay taxes. Furthermore, I am not in the business of party planning, so unfortunately I cannot help you arrange the pickup of your cupcakes either. I am very busy and my time is valuable. I would be more than happy to still make your cupcakes for you though and have them ready for pickup by a prearranged and prepaid shipper of your choice. You should also know that since you wish the cupcakes to be exported to Canada, they have very strict and exclusive food laws and so, the per cupcake cost will be raised from $2 to $20 each. The total cost for the cupcakes will be:

300 X $20 each= $6,000.00
+
$100 Customer Offered bonus (thank you! icon_smile.gif )
+
$20,000.00 Scammers Fee (for wasting my time)
X
8.6% tax= $2244.60
=
Grand Total= $28,344.60

Would that be Visa or Mastercard today? Looking forward to making your wedding day a simply blissful event!

God Bless you,

Melissa
A Cupcake Named Desire



Hehehe TWO can play at THIS game! LOL

38 replies
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alliebear Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 9:11pm
post #2 of 39

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

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EatSomeCake Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 9:11pm
post #3 of 39

That's Awesome! Good Job!

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cylstrial Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 9:13pm
post #4 of 39

Too funny! Great job busting his chops!

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cheesecakes-galore Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 9:15pm
post #5 of 39

Wow! They try this stuff on everyone! My husband used to be in the car business and we actually received a fake check from someone in Canada, which I still have to this day. Of course we knew the minute we saw the check it was fake, so aside from wasting time, we weren't out anything.

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SJ169 Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 9:20pm
post #6 of 39

hahaha good for you!!

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melhoneybee Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 9:56pm
post #7 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by cheesecakes galore

Wow! They try this stuff on everyone! My husband used to be in the car business and we actually received a fake check from someone in Canada, which I still have to this day. Of course we knew the minute we saw the check it was fake, so aside from wasting time, we weren't out anything.




CRAZY! What is wrong with people?!

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sari66 Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 9:56pm
post #8 of 39

LOL good on you!

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poochynooch Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 10:10pm
post #9 of 39

Way to go!!!!! I'll have to get creative like that the next time I get crap emailed to me! Wish I had read this a couple of nights ago - received an email from someone in Toronto (I am in BC) requesting, not asking if I could help with the request, two cakes be made and sent to two locations in Vancouver for two store openings this Saturday - like tomorrow! Could have done a cut / paste.

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playingwithsugar Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 10:20pm
post #10 of 39

See, now that's how to handle a scammer!

You pros should all copy and paste that response, then save it on your desktop for when you get your contacts from them.

Theresa icon_smile.gif

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weirkd Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 10:23pm
post #11 of 39

It surprising what people think they can get away with. But it takes just one naive person and they probably make a bundle off of them. I get those scam emails from a guy wanting to send his son to America or something and wants an account number to put funds in, yada,yada. They supposedly caught some of the people doing it but Ive gotten them after the fact. What I like was when they said they were in S. Africa and I responded that I have a friend that lives there and that they could give her the money, etc. Ofcourse no response! (But not lieing, I do have a buddy that I met on here !!)

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bobwonderbuns Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 10:28pm
post #12 of 39

I'm curious as to whether he replied to that response! icon_lol.gif

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Doug Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 10:39pm
post #13 of 39

Add MY FEE of $50/hour X 1,000 hours ($50,000) for private tutoring in proper English grammar! (All too often it is just too easy to tell it's a scam by the bad grammar and spelling.)

Good one!

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dorie67 Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 10:49pm
post #14 of 39

Good for you, people are really crazy! Couldn't believe my eyes while reading, makes me want to find them and give them a good smack! princess.gif

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CakeDiane Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 10:50pm
post #15 of 39

You go girl! thumbs_up.gif

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4theloveofcake Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 11:08pm
post #16 of 39

hahaha that's a great response. the exact same thing happened to my dad's company (he owns a window covering/interior decorating business here in alberta), but luckily he was just as smart as you to catch it icon_smile.gif did he ever reply back to that? lol

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cylstrial Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 11:34pm
post #17 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug

Add MY FEE of $50/hour X 1,000 hours ($50,000) for private tutoring in proper English grammar! (All too often it is just too easy to tell it's a scam by the bad grammar and spelling.)

Good one!




LOL! They need it! That's for sure!

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loriana Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 11:45pm
post #18 of 39

Ok I just have to be honest with you: from the title of your post "look at my response" I knew I would write this advice before even reading your response. This is probably my biggest pet peeve with decorators, so I just want to share with people I care about, other CC'ers:

Please please, please, please, please X500 do not respond to scammers. Please. You might get 30 seconds of instant gratification out of it, but you are marking yourself as a "live" email address. Scammers sell live email addresses to each other to try new scams. You just open yourself up to more scams. If you don't respond and just delete, you are not a "live" email address.

Folks: great response by the OP, truly, but please JUST DON'T respond to these things. Not at all - just delete.

Thanks! Off my soap box now. It's slippery up there thumbs_up.gif

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loriana Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 11:51pm
post #19 of 39

Oh, and I forgot to mention:

The other benefit to NOT responding is, eventually these scammers will give up on cake decorators and try other industries. The more people who respond, the more this stuff goes around.

People pay children and teenagers $.05 an hour to write these emails and send, send, send for 18 hours a day. They go home and feed their starving families. Governments are trying to improve these conditions as well as private agencies by providing better farming, real jobs and coming down hard on scammers. Nigeria is notorious for this as you all know. Nigeria is embarrased about it's world image.. or at least they say they are.

Please don't feed this industry that does nothing but make people feel badly for exploiting others including the children that participate.

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costumeczar Posted 9 Jul 2009 , 11:58pm
post #20 of 39

I do respond to these guys, because my business email address is all over my website, which makes it pretty obvious that it's a live address. I don't respond to random ones, but I do enjoy the occasional kiss-off to these idiots. The response you gave was excellent, but if he does send you the credit card number make sure you tell him that you now need the payment in cash. You'll be surprised how persistent these people are. I once wrote back and forth to one guy about ten times, my responses getting weirder each time, and he didn't stop responding until I told him I'd need full payment in cash in advance!

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Stephie2121 Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 12:05am
post #21 of 39

thats hilarious!

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Stephie2121 Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 12:05am
post #22 of 39

thats hilarious!

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Stephie2121 Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 12:07am
post #23 of 39

thats hilarious!

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jaybug Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 12:19am
post #24 of 39

Hahahaha icon_lol.gificon_lol.gificon_lol.gificon_lol.gif I freakin love it!

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SaraClassic Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 12:35am
post #25 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by playingwithsugar

See, now that's how to handle a scammer!

You pros should all copy and paste that response, then save it on your desktop for when you get your contacts from them.

Theresa icon_smile.gif




This was my exact 1st thought too !!
Copy to Paste later !! WTG!

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SaraClassic Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 12:35am
post #26 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by playingwithsugar

See, now that's how to handle a scammer!

You pros should all copy and paste that response, then save it on your desktop for when you get your contacts from them.

Theresa icon_smile.gif




This was my exact 1st thought too !!
Copy to Paste later !! WTG!

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indydebi Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 12:36am
post #27 of 39

I laughed so hard I peed my pants! Not kidding! Back in a minute ... gotta go change clothes! icon_redface.gificon_lol.gif

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loriana Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 12:50am
post #28 of 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by costumeczar

I do respond to these guys, because my business email address is all over my website, which makes it pretty obvious that it's a live address. I don't respond to random ones, but I do enjoy the occasional kiss-off to these idiots. The response you gave was excellent, but if he does send you the credit card number make sure you tell him that you now need the payment in cash. You'll be surprised how persistent these people are. I once wrote back and forth to one guy about ten times, my responses getting weirder each time, and he didn't stop responding until I told him I'd need full payment in cash in advance!




Yeaup, I remember your razzleberry response. It was pretty funny! You are informed and knew what you were doing so you get a Free Pass to Go. And the guys did NOT get $200.... icon_wink.gif

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Misdawn Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 1:05am
post #29 of 39

Too funny!

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Lelu Posted 10 Jul 2009 , 1:06am
post #30 of 39

Your response was awesome!! Last year my 17 year old was looking for a car on the internet and came across one of these great offers. They were going to ship the car from England, no less! He was all excited and trying to scrape up money until I started poking around on the internet and found about about these scammers. They use Craigs List alot. The grammer was the same...BAD. that is usually a tip off. Anyhow, loved your response!!! icon_lol.gif

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