I'd toy with them for how ever long it took on a yahoo account. lol
What can I say... I need a life, and it would be fun to mess with them and blog about it as it unfolds. 
Allegedly, Mary Winkler (the woman who shot her preacher husband) was taken in by one of these Nigerian scams and lost tons of money, which contributed to her stress which lead her to...
The shame of it is that even bright, intelligent people do get taken in by these folks. So let's all be careful out there.
Not only would I stop communicating with these people, but I would block their e-mail address from communicating further with me.
There is software out there which can pick up lots of personal information, based on an e-mail address. And if they can hack into your server, your credit card or bank account can be tapped.
Theresa 
This is definitely a fraud...so not get taken in. This happend to my SIL last week. Luckily she didn't go for it. What will happen is that the charge will go thorugh and you will give them the cash and later the bank comes back to you reversing the charge and you would be on the hook for teh complete amount. Tell them that unfortunatly you can't do that, the form of payment that you accept in correct money only and see how long before they cancel that order....
what timing! i believe i was just sent a scam email too. its not as obvious as some, but the grammar is terrible and the wording is so different from what all my brides use i immediately thought "SCAM!". its really sad that people do this. its makes people suspicious of anyone who may not know english well, and of the relay service. i worked in a high end jewelry store several years ago, and their policy was to refuse ALL relay service calls. its a shame, because there could have been deaf people wanting to call us, but the fear of getting scammed is too great. any way, heres what my email said:
hi my name is vaness haggard i am getting married in july 26 2008 and i was wonder if i can use my own desgin to make my wedding cake and was wondering if u could tell me how much it would be for a 4 layer cake with white icing and a fountain in the middle
why don't scammers take the time to learn english? they have to know that its a dead give away
Maybe vaness haggard just has really lousy grammar? And doesn't know what spell-check is... And maybe I'm just polly-freakin-anna... ok, I'll stop being naive...
It's a scam, as everyone else has pointed out.
This stuff makes me so angry though because I know people who have to use that telephone service because they are deaf. This sort of stuff makes people not trust them-- I mean imagine how you'd feel if you got another phone call from a deaf person wanting to arrange a time to meet up with you for a consultation?!
That being said- there's no proof that these people are actually Nigerians to everyone who keeps saying that. People of EVERY culture and race and religion scam others and one doesn't do it "more" than the other.
That being said- there's no proof that these people are actually Nigerians to everyone who keeps saying that. People of EVERY culture and race and religion scam others and one doesn't do it "more" than the other.
While that is true, it is NIgeria who sets up schools to teach fraud. All I'm saying is what I was taught by someone who was VERY versed in this: If it says anything in the email about NIgeria, RUN!!!!!!!!!!!
That being said- there's no proof that these people are actually Nigerians to everyone who keeps saying that. People of EVERY culture and race and religion scam others and one doesn't do it "more" than the other.
While that is true, it is NIgeria who sets up schools to teach fraud. All I'm saying is what I was taught by someone who was VERY versed in this: If it says anything in the email about NIgeria, RUN!!!!!!!!!!!
DITTO. There IS proof that Nigerians do this more than any other culture.
It's been on legit News shows like '60 Minutes".
It's been a while since I have rec'd any emails about some Prince's widow who is looking for someone to accept their millions of dollars! All I get now are emails about Viagra or how there are hot girls wanting to meet me.
I'd like to know who the real people are that are behind all of the scams. Wouldn't it be a kick in the rear if these were American companies who 'office' out of a foreign country. That would really piss me off!!!
At least Vaness didn't ask you to write Happy Wedding Scott on the cake. Believe it or not, I do have a friend who has attended one year of college and her e-mails are exactly like this--one big run-on sentence without doing a spell check and no capitalization. It drives me nuts trying to read them, but my point is that Vaness might be for real.
Oh, and the other day I was clearing out the mail from an old e-mail account that I don't use but all the spammers do and I found a "Nigerian" scam letter from Doctor so & so saying they were in a country I really didn't believe existed. So I had to look it up since I couldn't believe people would make up a country for a scam letter. Sure enough, it was on the West African coastline next to, get this, Nigeria.
I too initially sent these e-mails to the FBI and they sent me a reply telling me not to bother.
At least Vaness didn't ask you to write Happy Wedding Scott on the cake. Believe it or not, I do have a friend who has attended one year of college and her e-mails are exactly like this--one big run-on sentence without doing a spell check and no capitalization. It drives me nuts trying to read them, but my point is that Vaness might be for real.
Her name in the "from" box on my email program showed up vanessa cash, but she introduced herself as vanessa haggard? the different names was 1 clue, in addition to her terribly written email. but what bothered me most about her message was that it is written in a tone completely different from all my brides. NONE of my brides ever start off this way, they all 1)ask for a tasting 2) ask if their date is even available. "Vaness" didn't mention how many servings she wants, just "4 layers", which i translate into "expensive" = scam. know what i mean? this is just not how brides initiate a contact.
edited to add: oh the subject line of her email is "hi" which is also not how ANY of my brides do it. they all say things like "cake tasting" "wedding cake" "inquiry from the knot.com" etc. any 1 of these things by themselves i could overlook, but all this stuff added up together in 1 bride? something doesn't feel right to me.
At least Vaness didn't ask you to write Happy Wedding Scott on the cake. Believe it or not, I do have a friend who has attended one year of college and her e-mails are exactly like this--one big run-on sentence without doing a spell check and no capitalization. It drives me nuts trying to read them, but my point is that Vaness might be for real.
Her name in the "from" box on my email program showed up vanessa cash, but she introduced herself as vanessa haggard? the different names was 1 clue, in addition to her terribly written email. but what bothered me most about her message was that it is written in a tone completely different from all my brides. NONE of my brides ever start off this way, they all 1)ask for a tasting 2) ask if their date is even available. "Vaness" didn't mention how many servings she wants, just "4 layers", which i translate into "expensive" = scam. know what i mean? this is just not how brides initiate a contact.
edited to add: oh the subject line of her email is "hi" which is also not how ANY of my brides do it. they all say things like "cake tasting" "wedding cake" "inquiry from the knot.com" etc. any 1 of these things by themselves i could overlook, but all this stuff added up together in 1 bride? something doesn't feel right to me.
I'm not saying you should ignore your gut instinct, but I've had plenty of legitimate brides approach me this way. Some people have no clue about business or manners. Just be wary if she wants to send you more than you request so you can pay someone else.
Becca, I actually get emails periodically that are similar ... brides who want to know "how much are your cakes" without telling me a date or how many people they are serving. Some people just have no clue on what they are trying to order.
i've gotten that too, where someone says "are you available X/X" or "how much are your cakes" and thats all they say. but thats a different situation, because everything else in their emails add up and make sense. this girl has 4 things she's done that just don't make sense:
1. two different names (vanessa cash or vanessa haggard?)
2. subject line says "hi" (ever gotten a viral email that says "hi" in the subject line?)
3. poor grammar
4. strange request (can i use my own design in my cake)
These things are normal (to me). Some brides go ahead and set up email for their new name. I just finished a wedding where the bride had 2 different first names and a nickname. She kept emailing from 2 different accounts with different names and really confusing me. I often write HI in the subject line. Poor grammer seems to be chronic these days.
BUT if you are uncomfortable... then you should ignore it. No sense risking spam if you feel it is likely. It is good that you are aware of potential problems.
you could send them to this place 
They get back at the scammers!
http://www.419eater.com/
you could send them to this place
They get back at the scammers!http://www.419eater.com/
FUNNY!!! This is great!
I really have things to do but I'm procrastinating. Thanks Cake Central! lol
K, I just did a link search on the site that La Sombra put up and here is the actual government site that you can report these fraudulent emails and scams too. http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/
You will have to fill out a form in detail about the communications. But is worth it I believe to get this junk stopped and for good.
If it's a yahoo email address, you can report them to the yahoo abuse also and that will (or at least it should) get their accounts blocked for at least 6 months.
Ok, wow. I feel like I started something here... 
I would have to retract my previous thoughts, trust your gut. If this girl contacts you again, then go from there, but for now, just ignore her. If she doesn't contact you again, she was probably a scam artist, if she does, you'll find out she's just a person with very poor grammar and one of the last names are probably her maiden name and the other is her potential married name... even though it's bad luck to EVER use a married name before the wedding... not that I'm superstitious 
....
HOLY COW!!! I JUST GOT THAT CALL TWO DAYS AGO, AND WAS VERY SURE IT WAS A SCAM!!! I ACTUALLY GOT ON HERE TO ASK YOU WHAT YOU THINK....
so, I get a TTY call...nothing weird about that....my mom is hard of hearing so I communitcate with her over the phone through TTY. Any way, thought I was talking to a deaf person...she insisted that I email her right now. I told her that I was away from home at the moment but could email her in two hours...she was very insistant that I email her RIGHT NOW with price list. I ask her when the wedding was and she said Oct. 10th. (short notice, but okay) then I asked how many quest she was expecting and she said 1000. I thought it was a typo, so I asked " 100, or 1000?" she again said 1000 and to email her immedialty. and hung up.
my first thought was....gee, why would a deaf person who was going to have 1000 guest not have a wedding planner to make all the arrangements for her, then my next thought was....1000 people, I don't think even Donald Trump had 1000 people.
I did not email her at all.
and get this, her email was the exact same as the one posted here....crazy!
please do not respond to her, or him, or whoever.
not to say don't take a TTY call because that is legit, but if it sounds strange, listen to your gut!!!
melody
K, I just did a link search on the site that La Sombra put up and here is the actual government site that you can report these fraudulent emails and scams too. http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/
You will have to fill out a form in detail about the communications. But is worth it I believe to get this junk stopped and for good.
If it's a yahoo email address, you can report them to the yahoo abuse also and that will (or at least it should) get their accounts blocked for at least 6 months.
This won't help. They create a new email address for every hair on their head. One banned more or less makes no difference. Trust me
Well, I tried........sigh!!!!! My point was, that if enough people report the same IP to the authorities then something is bound to be done, maybe not as fast as we wish and yes they do have more ID's than one can count. But if something is to be done we need to work the system. These idiots and thieves need to be reported not just deleted and forgotten til the next time one tries to wrangle our hard earned money from us.
Right now, yes, the system is flawed and needs to be upgraded as the criminals become more sophisticated.
I have a special folder just for these types of emails. No I don't open them but I do report them to the FTC. If something is done about it, I won't know but I do know that I did my part in stopping internet crime. And unless it's reported, we really have no recourse if it keeps happening.
In order for us to protect ourselves, we really do need to report this to all the available spam, scam, spoof, phishing and abuse reporting agencies that we can.
If we, as the users of the net don't get involved and just sigh n say, "O well, nothings getting done about it, so why bother." Then we really do deserve what we put upon ourselves.
You're right having one email ID banned is going to do nothing but, then again, one person doing all the reporting isn't going to do anything either.
We need to stick together.
Sorry this was so long, but I really hate to see anyone being taken advantage of when something (even though it may seem slow in results) can be done about it.
Jenn, don't forget to report them to the goverment as well. (the first link in my first post).
And report it EVERYTIME to yahoo, not just once. That way they can prove that there is a pattern.
I had to do that to a booter who was harrassing people in our chat room.
Something was apparently done about it because he was blocked (his IP was blocked, so he couldn't even use the same computer to get onto yahoo) and he was off for about 6 months. But I had to report it about 5-6 times before I saw anything happen.
I also made sure to "cut and paste" the entire message along with the yahoo ID in my abuse report. But I also know I wasn't the only one who reported this person to yahoo either. So, reitterating, it takes more than one person to get the ball rolling, as it were. So heads up ladies, we do our part, things just might get better.
I get these type of emails all the time just delete them. But the kicker was a few months ago DH get a check in the mail saying he won s sweepstake. The check was for $25,000. Now mind you I do enter contest all the time so I did not think much of it. Well We too the check to the bank that it was drawn on, not our own bank. And sure enough it was a scam. The check looked real even the person at the bank said if it wasn't for the routing number she would not have known. We were told to leave the check and it would go to there fraud investigation people. At least we did not try to deposit the check at our own bank. About 3 weeks later there was an artical in the local paper about an elderly couple who got the same thing and they deposited the check they lost thousands of dollars because they had there bank acct info now.
Didn't think much of a check for $25,000!??! I wanna be you when I grow up!!! 
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