{"id":977,"date":"2013-08-12T05:24:18","date_gmt":"2013-08-12T05:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dreamweddingshawaii.com\/?p=977"},"modified":"2018-03-14T01:57:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T01:57:18","slug":"email-scam-photography-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dreamweddingshawaii.com\/email-scam-photography-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"EMAIL SCAM: Photography Inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s an email I got a few days ago from Tabitha Madison. \u00a0Through my research on the internet, this fictional name that has been used over and over again to scam wedding companies.<\/p>\n

“Hello, <\/em><\/p>\n

My name is Tabitha Madison,i live in Kaneohe, HI. I am presently in London(UK)but probably will be moving back home soon and i’ll be getting married shortly after my arrival in the states to my fiance Dave Richard .We will need a wedding\/party Photographer to help us in making up our ceremony from the church to the hotel reception.We will like to find out what your plans are for Thursday, September 26th,2013. This is the date of our wedding so kindly let us know your availability for this day.We’ll take responsibility for your expenses regarding our plans.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, that’s to make deposit for booking prior we to our arrival to be sure we are interested in your service,if we really are.Waiting to get your response. ” – Tabitha and Dave<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have to admit, these scammers are getting a little better. \u00a0Even though I had some reservations, I still returned the inquiry just in case it wasn’t, and here was the reply I got.<\/p>\n

“Hello Once Again Steve, <\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks for keeping in touch with us. Here is the services we will like you to render to us,we will want you to send us your price for just four hours with high quality images on 1DVD, we have decided to deal and pay for parents albums immediately after our wedding,we will be able to select the size and style of albums we want in that way. We will also need high quality pictures for future references and i’m sure we could browse through your website for more prints in future after the wedding event.We are expecting to see up to 20-25 guests on that day(family members included) Also,we want you to know that we are having two locations for the wedding in the same area, that is from the church to the reception,as soon as we have the wedding locations we will have the full information sent to you for future reference.Get back to us here with nthe price for your service(four hours) so that we can have further discussions in calculation.The city where the wedding ceremony\/reception is taking place is Kaneohe, HI and the ceremony starts by 12pm.<\/em><\/p>\n

Best Regards Tabitha and Dave”<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"nigerian-scammers<\/a>Unfortunately, they are no longer using the word “opportunity” anymore.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The scary part, these scammers are getting pretty good. \u00a0They know about parent folios, and that many photographers share their photos online with couples these days. \u00a0 They’ve apparently have done a little homework on how the wedding industry works. \u00a0On the surface, it may look rather legit, but there are a handful of red flags.<\/p>\n