I have read about this on forums here once or twice and believe it has now hit me. I was grocery shopping today and received a call via my cell where the person calling had to have everything relayed back and forth via a phone operator (very time consuming and annoying to say the least when your food shopping). Turns out by the time I get home there is an email from the same person who called with an extremely shady email about ordering $2000.- worth of wedding cakes. Strange....I know this must be a scam...just thought I'd pass on to all my friendly CC'ers what the email looked like! Just a heads up!

Warm wishes, Amy


Hello,
I introduce myself as Lisa Grant, and i am willing to make enquiries on the
Price and Types and size of your wedding cake. I am willing to spend at least
$2000 on the Cakes, so choose the best plan to meet the Wedding of my
Daughter. Pls understand that payment of the cakes would be by check, Dont
worry about delivery, i have a shipping company that would come round for
the pickup. Pls provide the following information, so we can get this started.

Payable Name:
Mailing Address ( no PO Box please)
Pickup Address of Cake ( if different from Mailing Address)
Tel No
Cell No ( if available)

P.S The cake is needed for the wedding which is stated for April, but i love
to make my plans ahead of time, so things dont get messed up, I am looking
for 5 types of Cakes, All tiers stacked or with pillars, or a mix of both. I am
looking for any design that you think its best, cos i dont have any pictures.
Mix the flavours up, cheesecake, chocolate cake, chocolate orange,chocolate
hazelnut cake, chocolate cake chocolate ganache filling. Let it be a square
cake or rounded cake, Let all sizes be 11'' . My Wedding date is 04/28/2007

I Look forward to reading an email from you soon as possible.

Warm Regards
Mrs Lisa Grant.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, pretty detailed email! I probably wouldn't have recognized it as a scam , though, so thanks for the heads up! Although, I would have replied that i don't permit wedding cake pickup (*I* deliver!) and I would encourage a face-to-face sampling appt.

Thanks again for pointing this out!

That stinks! Thank goodness you realized it was a scam before you started any work or got too excited about it! I can't believe people would be like this...

This is interesting....what do think they are trying to do? Get ideas on pricing or take $ or what? Just interested....

From what I've read here the check comes and there is some discrepancy about amount or the purchaser downsizes order and cake maker owes money back to purchaser and check was not good in the first place. To be honest, I never thought I would be involved in such a scam and probably didn't I'd need to recall exactly what the thread here on CC explained. Thank goodness for the prior thread that something like this at least sounded familiar.

I'll have to searcgh and see if I can find the prior forum discussion.

MIchelle104- Here is one thing they try to do:

Even though you quote them a price for the cakes, they will send you a check for a sizable amount more so that YOU have to refund them some money in the form of a M.O. (they will ask for that so there is no stop payment)
Their original check won't be any good and YOU are out money with no business to show for it!

You can put in a search here on CC for "update on cake scam" which was the original thread that I had read

I guess I'm just totally naive and too trusting! I'm sitting here with my mouth hanging open!!! I just can't believe that people think of this stuff! Man am I glad you guys posted this. Not that I would have been in danger as I don't have a website but still, the knowledge is priceless.... sad but priceless.

here's how I do wedding orders and this email would have been nul and void for me.
I require at least 6 months notice for weddings
I require a sit down meeitng with the bride and groom
I make a dummy cake at least 4 weeks prior to the wedding so the bride and groom can come look and tell me if anything needs changed
once the dummy cake has been accepted there are no changes on the real cake


I've read a lot about these scams and it really bothers me that there are people out there that think they can get away with this stuff.
I am getting ready to open my web site for the public, however, since i joined this site i've learned a lot and have made "rules" for myself that I will not take internet orders, I will have an email address on there for people to contact me with their phone number etc but i will only take orders in person and i will deliver ALL wedding cakes and cakes more then 1 layer high.
Amy

I totally saw something like this on Dateline. There were 2 phone operators who were speaking out against the crime that happens via the phone through the operators.

The operators said they are supposed to be providing a service, and yet they feel caught up in crimes being committed, like they are the middleman.

Because of the way the laws are set up, the operators are not allowed to disclose the info except to the party they are relaying the message to.
One operator talked about having to relay a message to a customer (obviously in a drug deal or gambling deal gone bad) that they had a certain number of days to come up with the money or would be killed.

They couldn't go to the police because they are technically just supposed to relay a message. These operators said criminals use them because they can't be identified or calls traced back (something like that...).

Scary! Way to be on your toes!

Here are previous scam threads:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-72481-.html

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-70801-.html

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-57955-.html

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-64953-
.html

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-58215-.html

that isn't jsut a cake thing - this type of scam is common. 1. never do anywork prior to the funds clearing. personally I don't take checks at all. 2. never accept a check for more than the amount owed. why would anyone do that?

What a scam. . .

Is polygamy not illegal in her country? Her wedding is in April, yet she's Mrs. Lisa Grant. Interesting. . .

If I were you, I would report (forward) this e-mail directly to your internet provider.

deb

foward the message to the attorney gerneral in your state.

I would never have thought that people would be scamming on cake decorators!!! Sheesh!

I once got an email saying that this lady owned her own party shop & gets her cakes from someone else & wanted to talk prices with me. She then said she'd be soon moving to her own party shop. I asked her where she's from & she said a city a few hours from me (same state). So I then asked her what the name of her company was & where it's located & if she had a website.......I never heard from her again.

Funny how "your lady" said that she had a wedding coming up for her daughter......then goes on to say that her own wedding date is 4/28

Glad you dodged that one

The thing that really caught me was she first said it was her daughter's wedding and then said my wedding is 4/28/07. Good thing you caught it and didn't fall prey.

Christeena is correct about how the scam works. It is a varient on the pigeon drop.

What is interesting is that the fraud, more than likely, originated in another country. The writer of the e-mail is not a native English speaker. Reread the letter and pay attention to the grammar and punctuation errors. They aren't errors English speaker make; actually, I would be surprised if their native language even uses the Roman alphabet.

I got a phone call it said unknown name and number on my Ident a phone. From a Lisa who's wedding is April 28th. I told her she would have to come in for an appointment as I don't conduct business over the phone and she would require a deposit I gave her the date for the appointment and she said she would have to get back to me which she never did. I just phoned the number she gave me a cell phone number and it went to a recording that said sorry your party is not available. I left a message are you interested in coming for the appointment on such and such a day and time please return my call otherwise I will assume that you have shopped elsewhere. So far no reply. It seems so coincidental after reading these posts. I hope if she is a scam artist I have gotten rid of her. Makes you a whole lot more cautious.

Kathy

This has also been dicussed on Sugarcraft site just lately. Same MO (mod of operendi) cop talk here- so every one out there needs to be aware of the scam and ask more questions. If they fall for it do not send any money before the check clears, if it does.