Wedding Cake Scam

“Will you accept a relay call?” the operator asked.  And that’s how it started.  A what?  Not being from the South, there are lots of times when I don't understand what is being said, so I asked my usual “I’m sorry, could you repeat that please?”  Apparently, she explained, the person on the other line was deaf.  Since I only have a standard telephone, the operator would be reading what the person typed, wait for my reply, and type my answer back for the deaf person to read.  Rather cumbersome, but who wants to sound insensitive.

The person making the call needed a wedding cake.  Simple enough.  For 300 guests.  Still simple enough.  Fondant.  Ok.  Could he pick it up?  A little unusual (since we deliver most wedding cakes), but still Ok…  After giving me the facts and asking if we were available to bake the cake, the person, who said his name was "Mike Williams," offered to continue the “conversation” via email.  Hindsight being 20/20, "Mike" could have skipped the relay call and gone directly to email, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Mike wanted a fondant cake to feed 300 people for his wedding in Toronto (this is the actual photo he emailed me). Never mind that this is the first time in my history of making wedding cakes that a man (forget the deaf part) has ever ordered the cake.  Ever.  But for about $2000, I decided to overlook that particular anomaly.

He wanted strawberry cake, covered in fondant (white with small pink dots) and gum paste roses.  He said he had tasted our cakes before and really liked them (I don't remember him, but our cakes ARE good...).

He was sending a refrigerated truck, and the cost of our cake, even with the transportation to Canada, was still less that a similar cake purchased "up north".  Said he had done this before.  I was flattered.  He offered to pay in advance.  For the cake, for the flowers, for the shipping (we could pay the shipper when they picked up the cake), plus $100 for our troubles "handling" the shipment. The shipper would pick up the cake on a Thursday about a month hence, at 10:00 am, for a Saturday wedding.  It takes 16 hours to get to Toronto from here, so that seemed legit. I overlooked the fact that he was ordering cake to serve 300, to be shipped over 1000 miles, a mere four weeks before the wedding.  We are often booked a year in advance for local weddings. But hey...

He gave me two credit cards.  Not so unusual, as a lot of people don't have room on one card for such a large expenditure.  The numbers on the two cards were remarkably similar, just a couple of numbers different at the end.  That was a little weird, but the charges went through so I figured it must be OK. He said he would forward the shipping particulars in a week or so.

By now, it should have also bothered me that:

• I didn't know the name of the bride
• I didn't know exactly where this cake was going or who the shipper was
• I didn't have an exact billing address or phone number (only an email address -- He did give me a fax number to fax the receipt, and it had a (206) area code - in Seattle.
• None of his 300 expected guests could help make a phone call to confirm any of the details of the transaction

I ordered supplies (fondant, shipping boxes, etc.) and smiled at my good fortune.  After all, this is Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And someone in Canada likes our cake so much they are willing to send a refrigerated truck to ship it over 1000 miles for their wedding.

About a week later, I got an email from him instructing me to wire money to the shipper.  Just the name of a person, who would accept money via Western Union. DING DING DING DING.

This was the beginning of the end.  When I emailed him that I could not wire cash, that I would need an invoice and write a check, he backed down and said the shipper would pick up a check with the cake.  Then I called my credit card processor.  They said scam.  The names on the credit card numbers I gave them did not match my customer.  I had two choices - I could reverse the transaction, or they would do it for me.  Said I should be happy I did not actually bake the cake or send any money.

I called the police, who were not really able to do anything since a crime had not been committed (yet).  They did send an undercover officer out to the shop at the appointed time just in case someone showed up looking for money.  But that was the end of it and I never heard from Mike Williams again.

Please tell me I am not the first idiot to fall for this.  A quick search yielded some interesting results.

• The moving to the U.S. and planning a wedding scam
• Another "Relay Call" scam

Comments

[Mrs. Lang]

Hi there! It seems that scam has evolved a little bit. Basically the same information, but now it's a woman sending the requests. Major red flag for me was that I'm a very small home bakery just starting out. This woman said she's dreaming of one of my cakes after tasting it somewhere else. And that she'd rather have no cake at all than order from somewhere else. (really? didn't think MY cakes were THAT good!)
Then the same info about the shipper and credit cards.
I've emailed back asking where and when she's tasted my cakes, just to see if I can catch her.
I'm glad I found this posting to know the truth about this! I've passed it along to all my baker friends too!

[Amber Standish]

My boyfriend's bakery received the same email...if you get it fill out a form at IC3 http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx. The more complaints the more likely they are to take care of the issue...

[joy]

I have a bakery in Dothan, and we got the same email... different name, but same cake picture. just found you while searching wedding cake scams! I told him I was forwarding his email to the police...

[John Dobson]

I run a cake shop in Brisbane Australia.
Someone who matches your description has just emailed me with exactly the same cake picture.
I'll copy everything to the police and let them do whatever they do.
Many thanks for this info!!!!
regards
John

[Lanae]

I just had the same thing happen to me. Although I did not get a phone call, I just received an e-mail from a MAN named "Jeff Gilbert." Thank goodness i have a good "detective" friend who analyzed the e-mail and said "This is Bull Shit!!" Don't get scammed out of your money! We had a good laugh at the broken English and the requests! I received the exact same picture. I really hope that no one else falls for this. I'm sorry to hear that you almost got scammed out of your money! Hopefully someone catches this man!

~Lanae

[Red Ribbon Bakery]

Don't worry God knows that person,You need to take care next time.

-Ava

[Lindsey]

I filed a complaint at: http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

[Lindsey]

I just received the exact same "relay" phone call and email with the same picture and the same broken english. I assumed it was some sort of scam, but thanks for the heads-up!

[Naomi Wallace]

I just had this happen to me this weekend. I received an e-mail (with no puncutation by the way) that was essentially in broken English. They wanted a wedding cake for 250 people two weeks from now. Just the way it red sent up red flags. I was polite and sent a reply with some questions. They sent back a LONG e-mail with lots of changes to the design as well as a different name for the bride now. Oh yeah, and they wanted to forward the shipping money to me to give to the truck driver. HUH??? Then, I found this article along with others. This is the response I will be sending them.
Sylvia and/or Kristin –

I do not directly accept credit cards, but you are welcome to send the payment via Paypal. I also would rather you deal with the shipper directly. I’m sure they probably take credit cards over the phone.

You’ll understand that I will only accept Paypal payments to protect myself against poorly planned scams that are very similar to your request.

For Example:
http://www.wilton.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=3&threadid=109958
http://caketalk.typepad.com/caketalk/2008/08/wedding-cake-scam.html

Let me know if you still want to proceed.

Thanks

[J Lew]

I just recieved this very scam attempt today (Sept. 14th). Too many red flags for me.
1) Men never order there wedding cake, the bride would
2) Who types ot talks so broken? (has to be a foreigner)
3) He gave way too many detailed instructions, I don't have time for that?
4) He wanted me to give money to the shipper, no sir, that's not my problem. He should give the money to him.
5) He couldn't give me the name of the party he tried my cake at
6) Why can't he order his cake from Canada, I know I am not the best cake baker in the world. (well...maybe:)
7) He wanted to give me extra money for my time, nobody I know wants to pay extar on top of the $900 or so they alreay have to dish out for the cake
8) I told him no, twice and he kept bugging me tellling me that he talked to his fiance and they changed there wedding date to the following month. Who does that? The invitations should be sent out way ahead of time for 300 people. That's alot of people to call to reschedule.

I could keep going, point is...beware!

Lastly, everybody wants to try samples before they buy an expensive wedding cake, but not him? Red flag!

Don't be fooled people!