No, I’m not talking about Wedding Planners that are scammers, I’m talking about the crazies that try to scam Wedding Planners! I’m sure most of you are familiar with the Nigerian email scams that have long been circulating. You know, those emails you get from that Prince who desperately needs your help and will wire you millions of dollars if you just provide them with your bank information. Riiiiight.
Anyways, I get scam emails on a weekly basis. I used to be incredulous that people have the gall and the time of day for this type of ridiculousness. By now I’ve stopped caring, but thought I’d share the fun with y’all. Here is the latest email that I received yesterday. This is a direct cut & paste except I X’d out the last name they used, mainly because there are multiple people out there with the same name.
“Hello Planner..!
How are you? I am Kimberly XXXXXX but you can call me KIM. I am born in Meadow Park Cir, Bedford Texas and presently in San Juan with my gran ma.. I am planning of relocating back to Chicago soon and i’ll be getting married shortly after my arrival to my fiance John Cook. He’s a business contractor and currently on a trip to Europe to accomplish a business contract. We will need a wedding consultant that can render a full service for us as we’d love to start making the arrangement prior to our arrival. We need someone who can make our event a glorious day because we require the best memories later in the future. We have made a good estimated budget and we’d love to know what your schedules are for the month of November… Friday, 12th Of Nov. The estimated budget is $30,500 while the number range of our guests should be around 55 – 60. In our conclusion, we prefer the ceremony and reception event to take place in a location because most of our families outside the states will be present for this wonderful occasion. We take responsibility for your expenses regarding our plans. Furthermore, we might not be able to meet you soon as planned, due to our unavailability in the states but we are willing to retain the date and make all the necessary arrangement with you to be sure we are really interested in your service.
We hope this helps for now! Kindly let us know if you’ll be able to take care of things for us.
Enjoy all the pleasantries that comes with this day!
Kim & John… ”
Hrmm, how exactly do I know that this is a scam? Well first off, check out their horrendous grammar and overall poor English. Not that I’m a total grammar snob, but clearly this person was not born in Bedford, Texas as they claim (and who tells you their BIRTHPLACE in an inquiry email?!). Also, I’ve gotten multiple inquiries referencing the name “John Cook” with ties to Europe. It just screams, SCAMMER! Sometimes you just gotta trust your judgment.
I’ve not totally clear on how these scams work, but from what I’ve read online, Planners will go under contract with these “clients”. Then the “client” will send the Planner a cashier’s check in a sum greater than their deposit and ask that the Planner cash the check and write a check (using their own checking account) to a specified band or vendor(s) that this “client” wants to book. And apparently this “vendor” is in cahoots with the “client” and in a few weeks the Planner finds out from her bank that the cashier’s check was fraudulent. And by that time she’s already written checks to other fake vendors. At least I think this is how the scam works, although I’m sure these coniving people are constantly trying to figure out new methods and getting smarter.
Crazy, huh? Do your various industries have scammers like this?
Tags: chicago wedding blog, chicago wedding coordinator, chicago wedding planner, scams
My name is Charlene Liang, owner of Sweetchic Events, Inc. a boutique event-consulting firm in the Chicago area, specializing in full service wedding planning and month-of coordination. For more information, 
Charlene, my BFF encountered a similar scam when trying to sell her wedding dress on Craiglist. The Scammer was very persistent and she actually made it to the stage when the scammer mailed her the cashier’s check. The scammer wanted her to cash the check and pay the shipping company that was supposed to ship the dress back to his country. Her husband took the check to the bank and ask how long it would take for cashiers check to clear completely (so they would know it wasn’t fraudulent) and the bank told him 2-4 weeks. My BFF wrote the scammer back and told him she wouldn’t ship the dress until the check completely cleared and he/she got really mad at her and sent really mean emails, demanding she cash the check, pay the shipping co and send the dress. She ignored them and eventually they stopped emailing her. She still has her dress.
P.S. I was born in Atlanta, GA and I have horrible grammar
I have definitely seen a lot of these, and thankfully they seem to be easy to spot, nowadays. I actually responded to one that seemed pretty normal (good grammar, guy visiting his fiancee in England but lives in Washington in the US) but after the 3rd email, there were talks of sending over cashiers checks with me paying vendors, and I knew it was a scam. Great post though – I’ve never seen other planners discuss this before!
man.. these scammers really cater to each and every business now!
Whoa, crazy! I’ve seen the Nigerian emails, but this is a whole new level!
Wow, a $30,500 budget for 55-60 people?!?! That is what set me off (aside from the grammar and overall ridiculousness of it!)
I just got an e-mail similar to that, which I had a feeling was a scam. The grammar was awful, which was the red flag. I couldn’t figure out how the scam would work, but what you said about the cashier’s check stuff must be it. So annoying!
I just got 3 of these this week and then they started texting me. BUT no phone calls , (lost their cell phone) currently taking care of sick grandma works for WOH as a nurse… it is almost word for word but her name is Sara Benson and she worked for WOH (World Health Org) they don’t know it but my last bride works in DC and has a friend who works for WHO and she checked the list of nurses working for them and guess what NO Sara Benson! The budget was 29 K 55 to 60 people. I knew it was a scam but I have been playing along to see if they do send check … THEN I will call the FBI