Mr.Lewis - From NY - Fraud Warning..

[Michael_Lambert]

So..

I get this phone call about 10 mins ago from a Mr.Lewis in New York. Advises me that he has heard great things about my photography and that I come highly recommended as a Large wedding party photographer! ( YEA RIGHT... lol )

So he wanted to confirm my mailing address saying that he had sent a USD money order to me for the wedding of his daughter and wanted my Fax number so he could fax me a schedules of the days events and where i am going to be required to be and for how long.

I cut him off at this point and advised him, that i do not recall ever speaking with himself or anyone from NY regarding a wedding. And asked who he made these arrangements with as he is acting like we have already planned it all out.

He told me he was sorry about that, he was looking for the best photographer and i was in the top 10 in north American ( I faught soooo hard not to break out laughing) He said that the wedding was July 18-2009 and if i was already booked that weekend he would cover all expenses required to cancel my previous booking.

He went on to say that i did not have any wedding prices on my site ( no ****... i am not a wedding photographer ) However from the pricing on the other top 9 he determined that for a 14 hour period, with 300 printer proofs and all images edited and provided in HIGH Quality on DVD for him to print himself that a price of $5500 sounded Fair, He also stated that due to coming from Ontario Canada he would pay an additional $1500 in traveling expenses, for a total $7,000 with a 20% tip to be given at the end of the night.

Well, after all that he turns and tells me....

" Can you please give me your fax number as i have messed up on the money order and paid you a total of $8,500USD instead of the $7,000 USD as intended. Originally i thought you would be flying in from Bradford, United Kingdom which is why i had done up $8,500 however you are coming in from Bradford Canada so the expense's would be considerably less. I am going to fax you a signed notarized letter stating that i have in fact mailed you a USD Money order payable to "Michael Lambert Photography" in the amount of $8,500 which is an over payment of $1500 USD. I will also have Jayne Gross from my Toronto Office drop by today and pick up a cheque from you in the amount of $1,500USD or $1,930 CAN to cover the refund of overpayment"

At this point i said to him "Mr.Lewis, I will gladly draw up a contract for your event. Please provide me your email address and i will send you the link to my contact / information form which i will need you to fill out and fax to me. Once i have that i will draw up a contract and at that point require you to put down your deposit for the event via a US Bank Draft and provide me with the flight tickets in my name. When i arrive for your event the morning off i will require the remainder of payment by US Bank Draft or Cash. At this point i will not refund any funds however when i do get the USD Money order you have mailed i will gladly mail this unopened envelope to your closest police department where there will be special instructions that will required ID to retrieve this mailing. This sir is for the protection of both of us."

At this point he cut me off and said the money order is in your name the money has been drafted from his account and that i can not legally with hold his money. and that this Jayne woman will be coming by with in a couple of hours to have either the $1500USD ready for her or hand over the Money order

I replied advising him that i will be hanging up the phone and will be contacting our local police department. She is more than welcome to join me at the police department where i will then hand over again the unopened envelope to her in the presence of an officer where i will request that she open it and verify the contents, ONLY after i receive it in the mail"

Then, I got hung up on! .. lol

[cdifoto]

Wow a phone call and not an email? Times must be tough for the scammers to be going the extra mile. LOL.

[Michael_Lambert]

yea the phone number showed up as 000-000-0000 not sure how they can do that. lol

But yea i was kind of excited, i kind of pegged it off as a scam right off the start but kind of excited that somewhere some how my name came up and was considered worthy of a target :D

[stathunter]

Yep......... red flags. "Mr." and such.

[cdifoto]

Yep......... red flags. "Mr." and such.
No doubt. Only bill collectors and scam artists call me Mr.

[Michael_Lambert]

Yea the funny thing is photography is a part time weekend evening thing for me. During the day I am an Accounts Administrator at the head office of a financial institution here in Toronto, So it would really be nothing for me to verify this money order before i did anything else with it.

[mbellot]

I replied advising him that i will be hanging up the phone and will be contacting our local police department.

Did you tell him the local police all knew you personally because of prior clients? :p

[Michael_Lambert]

Nope left that part out :D

[SoaringUSAEagle]

I''ve seen this as an actual email before. Now getting it as a phone call is a different story lol. Crazy stuff.

[MDJAK]

Sounds totally legit to me.

[F/M Bill]

So, I take it you're still available on the 18th?

[breal101]

Sounds totally legit to me.

You'll be hearing from my NY rep soon, he has SUCH a DEAL on a bridge in Brooklyn. :lol:

[Tessa]

Oy. So now the scammers have moved from e-mails to phones... What's next: calls for "buy cheap Viagra" and "Your phone number has won the International Lottery"? :lol:

[Michael_Lambert]

Right now Toronto is having a big issue with Telephone scams.. The big one right now is the "Factory Warranty on your Vehicle" telling people its expired or will expire but you can renew it for XXXX Dollars.. And people are doing it.. Not that what they are doing is illegal as they are selling you a service, however no one locally will honor that service..

[tharmsen]

yea the phone number showed up as 000-000-0000 not sure how they can do that. lol

But yea i was kind of excited, i kind of pegged it off as a scam right off the start but kind of excited that somewhere some how my name came up and was considered worthy of a target :D
IP phone probably. Mine shows up as 123-456-7890, or whatever I want it to show up as.

[PhantomII]

So..

At this point he cut me off and said the money order is in your name the money has been drafted from his account and that i can not legally with hold his money.

I suspect he's wrong there.
I'm not an attorney, nor do I play one on television. I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express, but as far as the money order is concerned, I do believe that if you receive unsolicited funds with no sort of written or oral agreement between yourself and the sender, you are under no legal obligation to return the money.
Moral obligation is another matter but as this is a scam anyway, the point is moot.

But if the check DOES arrive, and is valid... It's legally yours.

[stathunter]

I have actually received a lot of email scams like this-- when I get one they always ask for my address--I give them the address for the FBI Detroit Branch. After a few weeks they email me and ask if I rec'd the check--- I string them out for a few weeks-- get their numbers and forward the FBI website and address to their email.
Funny thing is I never hear back from them after that.

[hawkeye60]

Any deal in which you are to receive money but you have to pay out money to make the deal work, is a scam.

[mattograph]

I suspect he's wrong there.
I'm not an attorney, nor do I play one on television. I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express, but as far as the money order is concerned, I do believe that if you receive unsolicited funds with no sort of written or oral agreement between yourself and the sender, you are under no legal obligation to return the money.
Moral obligation is another matter but as this is a scam anyway, the point is moot.

But if the check DOES arrive, and is valid... It's legally yours.

As a "retired" banker, its not entirely yours. If someone gives you a check and you deposit it under the concept of "found money" that money is subject to recovery efforts. This used to happen all the time when account numbers were screwed up on deposits and large sums would go in the wrong account. Invariably, someone would hit an ATM, see an extra $500 in their account, and withdrawal it, ala "Bank error in your favor." Man did they moan when they had to pay it back.

Now, whether you have to return it directly to the person who gave it to you -- different story. Let the cops sort that one out.

Bottom line, if you receive money for nothing, it ain't necessarily yours -- unless your a financial institution and you get a few billion from the fed.... :)