Be on the lookout for a new scam, this one regarding a 21st birthday cake for a girlfriend "overseas." Here is the email from "Usha Martins" that I received today via gatheringguide.com:
Hello
I will like to make a simple and nice birthday cake for my girlfriend ,who is at school abroad right now,she will be clocking /celebrating her 21th birthday on the 3rd of october 2008.i dont have specific design of cake, but i want something unique, simple and nice .Also i will like the price to between the range $100....$500,less i forget i will like you to known my mode of payment will inform money order/cashiers check and you will be the one to help me send the cake to her which i will send the shipping cost along when sending the payment to you ,so after take your share which is the cost price of the cake ,you will help me send the balance to shipper via western union money transfer/money gramm. so they can come to your location and pick up the cake ......
I will want you to get back to me with some pictures of cakes which falls within the ranges of what i wanted
Hope to read from you soon
Usha
RED FLAG RED FLAG RED FLAG...Where do I start?
- Who spends $500 on a birthday cake for their girlfriend? Is he expecting the girlfriend to share the cake with 100 of her closest friends?
- Who suggests a money order or cashiers check in an opening email? Not to mention the whole Western Union thing...
- I assume "abroad" means the girlfriend is in the U.S. and the boyfriend is not. He surely would not be looking for an American bakery to send a cake to another country. However, if he is using an event website like Gathering Guide, why doesn't he look for a bakery in whatever city the girlfriend happens to be living?
- And if he is in the U.S. with a girlfriend abroad, why can't he write better English?
Hopefully nobody will fall for this one.
Comments