Cake Talk

Scam Alert: Sgt. Jack Dennis

This one is just plain sad.  And it is not even cake-related.  I cannot imagine someone using the U.S. military as a front for scamming people out of money, but here it is.  It's one thing when they say they are from Nigeria, but quite another pretending to represent the U.S. military.  As if the government needed help moving money...

X-Originating-IP: [212.52.84.104]
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:17:53 +0200
Subject: HELLO
X-Sensitivity: 3
From: "jack_dennis" <jack_dennis@libero.it>
X-XaM3-API-Version: 4.3 (R1) (B3pl25)
X-SenderIP: 77.209.53.123

HELLO

I am in need of your assistance, i'm Sgt.jack dennis. i'm with the Engineering unit here in Ba'qubah Iraq for the United States, we have about 9.5 million US dollars that we want to move out of the country. My partners and I need a good partner, someone we can trust to actualize this venture. The money is from oil proceeds and legal. But we are moving it by diplomatic means to your house directly or a safe and secured location of your choice using diplomatic courier services. But, can we trust you? Once the funds get to you, you take your 30% out and keep our own 70%. Your own part of this deal is to find a safe place where the funds can be sent to. Our own part is sending it to you. If you are interested reply to my private mail: (jackdennis6@gmail.com) and I will furnish you with more details.

Urgently awaiting your response.

Your buddy.Sgt.jack dennis.

Scam Alert: Mr. Prince

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 representing the best scam we've ever been hit with, this one gets a 1.  Please let us know what you think.

Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:59:04 -0700
Subject: I want to Order..............................
From: princeadewunmiademola130 <princeadewunmiademola130@gmail.com>
To: princeadewunmiademola130@gmail.com

Hello there i am Mr prince i am an environmentalist born in Ohio i am presently on a trip to west Africa to help the Lagos state of Nigeria to develop a jetty on a sandy land.

I am on this trip with my son who will be getting married by this coming month 27th to be precise . I will like to know if i could make a reservation or a order for 50 Guest that will be present at the occasion and i will be paying you with my credit card , as i will like to know the total cost for the 50 guest.

I will like you to get back to me with the quotation and then total cost for the service i will like you to charge me out of my credit card and i will be very happy if you could send the remaining fund to my shipper whom will come and pick the foods up.

Please get back to me as soon as possible ,

Best Regards
Prince.

I have just two words for Mr. Prince...."yeah, right."

Scam Alert: Mike Williams is getting married again

When I arrived at the shop this morning, my morning manager (Pat) told me we had a request for a relay call.  She had tried to explain to the operator that she could not accept the call until I came in, but the voice kept talking.  So she hung up.  Then I open my emails to discover one from Mike Williams.

Word-for-word, the same email as last June.  They must have a really big scam operation if they do not remember who they have tried to scam in the past.

The "from" email is different, so beware:

Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:04:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Mike Williams <saresowo@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: saresowo1@yahoo.com
Subject: Cake order for 24th Feb 2009.

I will like you to bake me a  chocolate or a strawberry cake  of 5 tier that can serve approximately 300 guest or more , and I want the cake to be decorated with pink roses and the cake should be  covered in fondant or in butter cream,   and let there be an inscription be writing on one as “HAPPY MARRIED LIFE”   and i want you to pack them  in different boxes after ready for pick up.. And I want you to have the cake ready for pick-up on  24th Feb 2009., 3 O'clock PM. So let me know if you can   fill in the date for me ????. Reply me back and let me know if you can fill in the date for me....??? then i can forward all the details and the picture sample of what i will like  you to bake for me.
Thanks and God bless.
Mike Williams.

I am going to reply that I am sorry his first marriage didn't work out, but really it is in bad taste to have the same wedding cake twice.

----------------

Ok, he responded with an innocent "What do you suggest?"  I replied "Try this." with a link to the blog.  Have not heard from him since.

New Scam: Surprise package for bride!

This HAS to be a scam.  Otherwise the story is just too sad for words.  Who would "surprise" their bride with a cake and wedding planner? ("Will you marry me... next month?  By the way, I hope you don't mind that I took the initiative to order you a cake and book a wedding planner...")

The short lead time and broken English sound all-too familiar from previous scams.  What "advert?"  And I don't understand the disconnect between the "from" name in the header and the name in the email.

On the plus side, he did spell "inquiry" right, and there is no initial mention of a credit card.   BEWARE!

From: ajibola smith <ajrealworth@live.com>
To: <paulhommie01@yahoo.com>
Subject: inquiry
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:34:16 -0800
Importance: Normal

Hello,
  I am Paul Donald ..I saw your advert and i try to check you out .. I will be getting married on the FEB 20, I love to know if you could bake a cake for me then and also  looking for a wedding planner,  want a surprise package for my bride.
  I will be expecting your reply urgently.
    Thanks .
    Paul Donald

Scam Alert: Wedding Cake Enquiry!!!

Folks getting married anywhere near Alabama don't make "enquiries." Perhaps, according to the dictionary, enquiry may mean a formal request for information, but I can assure you nobody here would ever use that word.

And I have said this before, but apparently the scammers were not listening, men do not buy wedding cakes.  Signing an email request for information about a wedding cake -- or (the most recent) an outright intent to purchase with no questions whatsoever about the cake except the price -- with a man's name is a HUGE red flag screaming SCAM!!

So, bakers, beware if you get an email from Paul Christiano (@hotmail.com) or Terry Wofford (@live.com) - and yeah I know Terry COULD be a woman's name, but probably not.  He (or she) actually looked at my website because there ARE cake photos with the names "Wedgewood Blue" and "Veil Detail" in the album of bride's cakes.  In both cases, the English is better and the blatant Christian references are gone since the last round of scams a few months ago.  I got both of these emails yesterday:

"Order for a wedding cake"
Dear sir/ma
       I am Terry Wofford and i will like to order for a wedding cake and i will like to know the price of wegewood blue and veil detail that will serve 250 people and i will like you to know that i shipping company that will come and pickup when it is ready and my wedding is on the 31st december 2008. i urgently await your reply .
 
Thanks

Wedding Cake Enquiry!!!
Good day,
i will like you have a wedding cake baked for my upcoming wedding. My wedding is
coming up on the 24th of January 2009 so please let me know if this is possible
and also get back to me with a quote of a 3 tier cake capable of feeding 150
guests. Please note that you need not worry about shipping cuz i have a personal
shipper who will handle it and also do you accept credit cards??
I hope to hear from you soon.

Paul Christiano.

New email scam: birthday cake and 400 cupcakes

We must have a scam attractor.  Now "they" are looking for a two tier cake and 400 cupcakes for the scammer's "son's" birthday.  All packaged and ready to be picked up.  "Do we take credit cards?"  I am writing back to say no, we only accept cash to see what they do.  Here is the text of the email, which came from "marcustrego@yahoo.com."

Good day,
My name is Mr Marcus Trego,I came across your email contact when I was searching for cake bakeries,I will like to order a birthday cake and 400 cupcakes for my Son birthday.
Here's the cake i want as stated below.
Basic Cake Flavors....White Specialty
Fillings...Raspberry
Flavors... Chocolate Fudge
Icing.......Buttercream
Tiers........2

I want the cake to be well decorated and the cake should be covered in fondant,and let there be an inscription be writing on it as (HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLOS) and i want you to pack them in different boxes after ready for pick up,I want you to have the cake ready for pick-up on the 14th of October 2008. Email me back and let me know if you can fill in the date for me.Do you accept credit card for payment?

Thank You.
Mr Marcus Trego.

I am just curious as to whether there are several spammers out there or if it is the same person (or group) trying over and over.  It reminds me of a former boss who used to quote Albert Einstein who once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

Someone must be falling for it.  I am hoping they will soon move on from bakeries to some other industry.

New cake scam

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.

ANOTHER wedding cake scam

They just don't give up.  This time the request is from "Alex Bryant", with an email address of alexbryant23@yahoo.com

Hi,
 
 I will like you to bake me a chocolate or a strawberry cake of 5 tier that can serve approximately 250 guest or more, and I want the cake to be decorated with pink roses and the cake should be covered in fondant or in butter cream, and let there be an inscription be writing on one as (HAPPY MARRIAGE LIFE) and i want you to pack them in different boxes after ready for pick up. And I want you to have the cake ready for pick-up on 19th of September 2008. 11 o clock A.M. So let me know if you can fill in the date for me?? . Reply me back and let me know if you can fill in the date for me.?? then i can forward all the details and the picture sample of what i will like you to bake for me.
 
Thanks and God bless.
 Alex Bryant.

Do me a favor, send this guy an email, in fact, send him several emails, and tell him to give it up.
PLEASE!!!!!

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 a 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...