Scams to avoid in 2024

If you do business online you need to read it! If not for yourself , for your loved ones!

I recently was contacted by a random phone number inquiring about a surprise photoshoot for his wife’s 50th birthday party. The phone number was +1 806 805 3719

As a photographer and it’s not uncommon for people to reach out to me randomly via email, text, phone call, website, social media, other wedding link resources because my phone number used to be posted publicly.

I get a text about a few weeks ago that states :

“Good day, I’m John Decaro. My wife's 50th birthday is coming up Jan 31st, I need a photographer for her surprise special birthday party am throwing for her while am currently on a business trip.

Celebrant Name : Linda Decaro

Duration: 3 hours photo coverage from 2pm - 5pm of both candid and group/posed photos

Guest : 35 people

Let me know your availability for Jan 31st and how much is your estimate. “

So I send him the estimate / tell them i can accept payment via my client management system and credit card and etc.

He responds : we share bank account’s and I don’t want to alert her that I’m paying for photography and event services —which seems valid to me as well —

So I say go ahead and send me a certified check , via certified mail and once that is received we’ll go forward with securing date and time.

He states that his secretary mistakenly put my payment and the other vendors payment together and if i could send that payment to them after my funds have settled —which also isnt uncommon, people make mistakes —-

I get the check — and it was sent to my studio and not my personal address . Everything checks out, certified mail, certified check— I don’t look at checks daily so I’m like it looks real but let me call the bank and let them know I’m a little apprehensive about depositing it, they said go ahead and deposit it, if it’s a bad check it’ll recognize it as such and move forward

I deposit the check, wait for the funds to settle , then begin to process a transaction with the other vendor,

After it’s all done, I get a refund sent back to me for both of the funds…that’s I never requested , so I say hmm that’s odd…

Called my bank and PayPal , basically all

Of the things check out and luckily both transactions were declined and refunded.

Lol I tell you what. These scammers are becoming sophisticated if this is a scam, and if it’s not a scam I’m still not working with this person. This was probably the first 1 off clients I worked with in a few years that I was planning to work with without a contract /using my client management software.

What are the Takeaways from this ? : BUSINESS OWNERS, USE YOUR CLIENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM COMPLETELY. Unless you played T ball with them and know them well, YOU ARENT UNSCAMABLE. I thought I vetted this potential client pretty good , and this story was a pretty solid one. AND THE PERSON HAS AN IPHONE ! Hahah man BE CAREFUL CREATIVES /Business Owners and those who sell goods and services.

I was on the verge of giving away close to $2,000 because I believed dude was throwing a surprise birthday party for his wife who is 50 years old .