Beware of SCAM!!

Today I received my first SCAM attempt ( I guess people can find me) I received a email from a UK bride that is looking for a "Good Wedding Planner". Needing me to plan everything from, photographers, video, locations, food, and much more. She is looking to spend about $25,000 on a guest count for about 50. She wants the ceremony and reception in one location wanting a June 13, 2009 wedding. The couple will not even make an appearance until 2 weeks prior to the wedding.

I did as I always do and respond to the bride and ask more questions and see what I can do for her. Then as I was logged on she IM'd me. So we chated a little more about what she wanted and when I asked her about payments she then proceed to tell me her fiance will send me a money order or figure out how he wants to do that. I sent her a copy of our contract and told her to look over it and let me know if any questions. I thought about how would I feel comfortable with payments from over seas. I told her it had to be made Wired Over, or through Pay Pal. ( I usually take other methods of payments) I continue to think to myself something was wrong. But then I thought just maybe it is not.

I get all the ball to call my "FAV" photographer and she begins to out a red flag up as well. Then she told me about this scam she has heard of etc. For me to be VERY careful! That other local wedding consultants did get scammed with this. That they are having a huge issue getting out of this mess.
I then proceeded to google away at her emails and found another posting on it, that it is a huge scam and they are hitting up consultants and vendors all over the place.

My advice to you is to be very careful,
Here are her emails:


Hello, How are you doing? Thriving!!! My name is Jessica Farrell , from Enfield in middlesex UK (England ). I will be coming to TX afte my shopping trip with my Husband David Rodin who's French by nature to start his new work with the Coca-cola Co. in San antonio . And just before then we will be getting married on the 13th of June , 2009. We need a good wedding planner to take care of our wedding both reception and ceremony. We require the best for the best memories for we & our children in future and as a matter of fact we have budgeted 25000$ for this special event.

Also, the ceremony and reception event will be taking place in a location and we are expecting at most 50 guests on the day of our occassion because most of our families in Europe and in the United Kingdom will be present for the occassion.

Also, we would like you to know the reception and ceremony will be taking place @ 1 location which the ceremony event would be in a garden location or outdoor while the reception takes place indoors, we are still about to make reservation though but we are making progress with that. Please let us know if you're able to help. Sincerely,

Jess & David


And...

Hello Brandy ,

Thanks for your response, we appreciate !

We would definitely love to work with you!!

Well i'm used to calling David my husband because we are getting married and nothing's changing that fact 'cause we have come a long way together..

My husband and i will be arriving in town on the 24th of May 2009 because we would like to finish our work here and also like to spend so time with our family and loved ones before coming as we might not be chanced to spend as much time with them after our BIG move.

Actually it was a friend of mine in Spain who just got married in the State that referred me to the Website i viewed your advert and eventually visited your website and to our surprise you got a great chance of working with us as your style is preferably intriguing.

We will be needing a wedding planner to work with us as we are foreigners to enable a wonderful and memorable event, we need customized full planning package because our work schedule is pretty tight and there will be no way to do the planning from here without your support as a professional planner so for this reason, we need you.

This is a list of Vendors we will be needing for our event; a photographer , a videographer, an MC, a florist, a make up artiste for all the ladies in the bridal party and myself, caterer, cake, a DJ , invitations for our US guests, save the dates and we are expecting at most 50 guests . Our theme colors are Light pink and Royal blue . Our total budget is $25,000.00 , ok .

Our entertainment band will be coming in from Republic of South Africa , It's a french coupe de calien band, they're marvelous.

Also, we would like you to know we prefer the reception and ceremony to take place in a location for the convenience of our guests and would love the ceremony to be in a garden setting and the reception in an indoor location in San antonio or surrounding areas because the weather is unpredictable at this time of the year.

We would like to know how much you'll need to make our day a wonderful one as we will only need you to work within our budget to prevent any disappointment or breech in agreement in future, we just need to know the exact amount you require to be sure the planning cost is within our budget and then we can start making arrangements for your deposit needed for you to get started?

Please feel free to ask anything else as you should know time's not on our side, and remember it will be better to contact us via email for now okay and don't hesitate to let us know if you are willing to help...


Have a wonderful Day!


My advice to anyone who comes across this to stay away and not to give out any information. Pass this along to help protect others!!