I was involved in my first ever scam the other day. I know dun dun dunnnnn but it really freaked me out. Knowing I was dealing with a criminal and having them have my email and information gave me the hibbi jibee wees (i have no idea how to spell that). So in other words, it FREAKED me the F out.
For a moment I felt like I was living my dream, which is to be a CSI as one of Gil Grissom’s agents capturing a bad guy (in the 60 minutes his team always do it in). But then I came back to reality and was so MAD I had to deal with this liar who was taking up my time.
So here is what happened, I had someone reach out to me asking Girl About Town to plan his daughter’s 5th birthday party. She wanted it to be “Princess Tiana” theme and he needed everything from wait staff to decor handled. After sending him our quote he immediately said, “Great let’s do it” and asked how we accepted payments. I told him only through Venmo or Paypal and he insisted we use QuickBooks. I use that type of accounting program for my other company so I am sort of familiar with it but was a tad frustrated in having to download the software and sign up.
After sending him an invoice for our deposit he immediately asked if we could pay his bartender, which made me a tad weary. I told the guy he needed to send me the contract he agreed too before I paid anyone. He said he would but then he immediately sent me an extra $2000. After the invoice was “paid” he would text me asking if the funds had been deposited. This went on for a week. I would try to meet with him and talk to him on the phone so I could work on his daughter’s party and he just kept blowing me off. I eventually became concerned and my husband was sure it was a scam. I asked him to send me an image of his drivers license so I could see if he was a real person. He was a tad hesitant but finally did, and after my graphic designer examined it she knew it was a FAKE and that it had been photoshopped.
After a few more “clues” and speaking to his bartender who sounded like he was living in Pakistan I decided it was time to call my attorney. The attorney advised me to send the money back and to tell the client my team and I do not work this way and that we needed to end the contract. I did and did not hear a single word after that.
So it was a SCAM! Not only did he waste my time but with the fees back and forth with Quickbooks I was loosing money, Quickbooks charged me $186 to transfer the funds back and forth. After a 2 1/2 hour call with over six Quickbook employees we finally got through to a lady and she reimbursed me my money.
Moral of the story is from now on we are asking every new client for an image of their drivers license and will only be accepting funds from Paypal or Venmo. People, please be careful I never thought I would have been in that situation and probably should’ve trusted my gut when things seemed a little off. But, all I lost was a few hours thankfully of my time and it made me see I need to be more aware when dealing with individuals.
This time of year scammers are out in full force so be extra cautious and don’t be afraid to call someone out on their shadiness!
xo
GAT
Comments