If you are in the Wedding Industry - Please Read - Fraud / Scam Alert

In Sept 2008 I wrote a blog posting about "suspicious" emails that we receive almost daily, the response both via the blog and direct emails has been incredible. I have decided to repost my original article and hope you will continue to comment and add to it. I shall add to it the latest emails I have received this week. The new scam appears not just to target wedding planners, but all wedding service providers and even interior designers. Please forward this new post to everyone in your address book and let's hope we can stop anyone from losing money! Thanks for your support. To read the original post and comments please click here. Or paste the following into your browser (content is pasted below):


http://weddingsabroad-destinationweddings.blogspot.com/2008/09/if-you-are-wedding-planner-please.html



In addition to brides and grooms, I know a lot of wedding planners and service providers log on to the Weddings Abroad Blog. Today, I'd like to take a moment to warn them to be on their guard for email scams targeting wedding planners. There isn't a week goes by that I don't receive at least three of these emails.

This current scheme has been going on for the past year that I know of, and basically involves sending in a credit card payment or a cashiers check for an amount greater than what you've billed them, they then ask you to transfer the remaining funds elsewhere. The cashiers check clears into your account quickly, you transfer them the money, and weeks later your bank realises the check was a fraud and deducts the amount from your account.

Below is an email received yesterday, as usual it immediately raised my suspicion. Basically a groom or bride-to-be contacts you from somewhere in Europe or the USA saying that they need help planning their wedding from afar. See more details of the scam and a copy of a similar initial email wedding planners were sent last year here. The minor details (name/date/location) change, but otherwise, everyone is receiving similar emails.

As an International Wedding Planner, I am asked everyday to provide information on planning a wedding when overseas, but I am now an expert at ascertaining the genuine ones....others may not be so lucky, there are many new wedding planners joining our industry all the time, and may not be aware of this scam yet.

Here is the email I received:

My Name is Mr Cross James Allen,

I am looking for an experienced wedding planner who will handle my wedding and arrange the reception dinner for a group of people who will be attending the wedding ceremony.

The wedding is expected to hold on the 4th of Febuary 2009 and 25 to 40 guests are expected to attend. As i do not know what the guests might choose for their meals and drinks, i will make a prepayment as initial deposit for this booking via credit card once availability is confirmed by you.All checks and balances will be made with you on 13rd October which is the final day of the booking, You are to arrange for a a venue for the wedding (its a christian wedding), a place for the reception ,Videography, Music Entertainment,Photography,cake and flowers.

If there is any these items that is beyond your capability,you let us know so that another company can handle it. Get back to me with your response as we don't have much time with us so that we can process our accommodation within the region more convenient for you and us.

Pleas get back to me via my personal email which is jcrossalen@rocketmail.com

Best Regards,
Mr Cross James Allen
jcrossalen@rocketmail.com

If this blog entry helps one person then it's served it's purpose....especially in the current economic climate we can do without giving away money and wasting our valuable time! If you have received similar emails lately please feel free to add them to the comments of this thread to make everyone aware.



UPDATED 29/07/2009 - Please read the comments attached to this post to see updates on other current email addresses being used on this and various other "scams"......

Latest email addresses to be cautious of:

lasoreservationagencies@gmail.com
gibsonwhyte1999@gmail.com
atkins111@yahoo.com
benjaminspencer300@gmail.com
bspencer100@yahoo.co.uk
bob.robinson00@gmail.com
frank.paker104@googlemail.com
giljay101@gmail.com
davidwaltermail@ymail.com
owen.fletcher107@gmail.com
lasoreservationagencies01@gmail.com

Ant and Dick set to hijack the airwaves!!!!

Ant and Dick are all set to take over the airwaves with their new show on Feile fm the Ant and Dick show will go out live on sunday afternoons from 3-5pm the cheeky duo will playing love songs and answering dating and wedding dilemmas for the shows love stricken listeners

“We are so excited” exclaims Ant “ There's nothing we love more than a bit of gossip and slushy music, so combining the two live on air couldn't be better, though I am a bit nervous we are used to doing television where you can have more than one take but the show will be completely live – crikey”

Dick says “ coming to Northern Ireland was a big step, but ever since I have arrived I have been made to feel so welcome, doing the show on Feile fm really is the icing on the cake for what was already a fun and exciting new chapter in my life.

In addition to the radio show the boys also have their own budget furniture range hitting the shelves soon, and are also fronting an Ant and Dick love range at House fraser, if this wasn't enough the cheeky pair are also hosting this years Wedding Extravaganza show at the Odyssey and subsequently the hastings hotels wedding shows.

“ we are so lucky to be as busy as we are, the credit crunch has hit a lot of people very hard and whilst it hasn't been completely far from us we are continuing to build our business, we consider ourselves very lucky boys indeed” says Ant.

“ the furniture range will be available soon and we are working on the instore promotional materials for the house of fraser range” explains Dick

If you would like to know more about the boys visit www.antanddick.com or tune into feile fm 103.2fm if you are outside of the catchment area you can listen in online at www.feilefm.com

TELL YOUR WEDDING/RELATIONSHIP STORY - AND GET PAID

Medavia features agency is currently looking to speak to women who have an interesting or unusual wedding or relationship story to tell.

Did your wedding almost fail to go ahead? Did you have to beat all the odds to get married? Was your wedding day extra special for an unusual reason? Is your groom one in a million because of something he's done for you? Or perhaps your honeymoon was unusual?

Maybe your relationship alone is worthy of a story? Did you meet in an unusual way? Are you an unlikely couple? Did you kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince?

Your story could be published in a women's magazine - and you would be paid up to £1,000. You would also get to hear the words before it was published so there would be no nasty surprises.

If you're interested email emily@medavia.co.uk To find out more about Medavia go to www.medavia.co.uk

Four weddings and a catfight: Would YOU let another bride criticise your big day?

The last thing you want on your big day is three other brides giving you marks out of ten. But that's what the contestants on a new TV show signed up for - with predictably scary results...

Picture the (expensive) scene. You are a bride who has spent £77,000 on your fairytale wedding. Your flowers alone have set you back an eye-watering £4,500. No detail has been left to chance.

Your guests will be serenaded by a pianist during the banquet, their place settings scattered with sequins. Afterwards, they will be encouraged to gather on the steps of the venue to watch you and your husband release doves into the sky.

Now, fast forward to after the confetti has settled. How would you feel if you discovered that some of those glugging your expensive Champagne had been less than appreciative?

That one guest had turned her nose up at the exquisitely presented seafood starter, dismissing it as 'salmon thingamibob'. That your must-have doves would be for evermore referred to as 'those bloody white pigeons' by another. Or that the killer phrases 'Very Posh and Becks' and 'Just like Jordan' had been uttered - and on more than occasion?

Alas, for the newly married Mel Cooper (nee Boorman, a former glamour model), such is the reality.

The Wag wannabe was one of 40 women to sign up for Four Weddings, a TV show in which, every week, four rival brides attend each other's wedding, then offer up criticism - and the bitchier the better.

Click here to read the entire article........or click here to visit the Four Weddings website on Living TV

Four Weddings, Living, from Monday, 9pm.

http://www.livingtv.co.uk/shows/four-weddings/