Potential BBQ Catering Scam Alert

chachahut · 08-10-2010, 06:56 PM

Greetings all,

Cross posting to both catering forums to spread the word...

I had an interesting little episode today. The wife answered the phone to find a text to voice relay call wanting to book pulled pork sammies for 200. (For those unfamiliar, text to voice relay is used by deaf people to make phone calls. They type & a computer or person reads the typing to complete the relay). The wife took the time to try & determine when - where - how - etc. so she could get with me for a cost estimate. She also asked the caller to send us a request via email as that would perhaps make the discussion smoother than TTR.

We quickly received an email from micheal thomas ([email protected] quite adamant to get a cost & our location so he "can forward that to the carrier that will be coming to your shop for the pick up of the order." (Anyone getting suspicious yet?)

He then immediately called back - perhaps minutes after the email was sent - again pressing for a cost. We explained making 200 sammies for pick up would be pointless as most of the sammies would be mush by delivery. We recommended he get pork by the pound & buns then have his guests assemble their own fresh sammies. (Anyone disagree?) He asked for both costs.

We sent a cost for selling 200 sammies @ retail cost ($1200 plus sauce cost and tax) and the cost for 65 pounds of bulk pork ($650 plus buns, sauce and tax). Can you guess which he chose?

Yep - the $1200 plus option. Then he wanted to pay by credit card IN FULL IN ADVANCE AND wanted us to charge an extra $750 that we were then to wire to his courier to pay for the heated delivery pick up. Oh yes - and he never told us exactly where all this pork was going.

Needless to say - we told him we would only accept a money order or cashier's check and he would be responsible for paying his courier. Guess what happened?

Correct - he disappeared. After basically hitting us rapid fire for an hour by email & phone, we have now heard nothing concerning the order since we said no credit cards. Been about 8 hours. Guess he moved on.

Willing to bet this is a stolen credit card scam. Foolish caterer runs the card, wires the money then sees the transaction declined in a couple of days. Meanwhile, card thief has just made $750 off of foolish caterer.

Glad I'm a suspicious cynical bastard.

parrothead · 08-10-2010, 09:09 PM

Bet you just saved a monster headache.

brownkw · 08-10-2010, 09:23 PM

The same thing happened with my wife in her field of work (piano lessons). Luckily for us, we both thought it was too good to be true, and sure enough it was.

Just Smokin' Around · 08-10-2010, 10:03 PM

This is fairly common and has happen before. I know some folks who got emails. They troll websites etc looking for phone numbers and email addresses to try and scam you with. I hope no one has fallen prey to these slimeballs. Anyway, it never hurts to keep spreading the word to let folks know to be on the look out. In hard times, some good folks may do desperate things and end up losing.

Will work for bbq · 08-11-2010, 12:08 AM

Same thing happened to me at work except they were looking for odd ball hydraulic components and I wasn't even a distributor for the parts they wanted. I called 2 of my vendors and one told me it was a scam been around for a while now. I quoted them twice

list price and they still wanted to buy the parts, I asked them if this was a scam because my prices are high, me not being a distributor. They assured me this wasn't a scam gave me some company name and that they wanted to go with us because of our reputation.

what ever reputation we have good or bad it was not for being a Vickers distributor. They use the voice relay because its free no matter where they call from and I think they get a little sympathy because of it. So it boils down to us being taxed on our phone bill to fund the voice relay program so these Nigerian scams can target us on our dime.

grillfella · 08-11-2010, 02:57 AM

good looking out Frank

Ashmont · 08-11-2010, 07:00 AM

They use TTR and email so you dont hear their voice or Nigerian accent. Read this scam before somewhere... Good catch!

boogiesnap · 08-11-2010, 07:50 AM

yeah, someone else here i think got the same call.
nice catch.

08-10-2010, 06:56 PM	#1
chachahut Full Fledged Farker Join Date: 10-30-09 Location: Roxbury,NY	Potential BBQ Catering Scam Alert Greetings all, Cross posting to both catering forums to spread the word... I had an interesting little episode today. The wife answered the phone to find a text to voice relay call wanting to book pulled pork sammies for 200. (For those unfamiliar, text to voice relay is used by deaf people to make phone calls. They type & a computer or person reads the typing to complete the relay). The wife took the time to try & determine when - where - how - etc. so she could get with me for a cost estimate. She also asked the caller to send us a request via email as that would perhaps make the discussion smoother than TTR. We quickly received an email from micheal thomas ([email protected] quite adamant to get a cost & our location so he "can forward that to the carrier that will be coming to your shop for the pick up of the order." (Anyone getting suspicious yet?) He then immediately called back - perhaps minutes after the email was sent - again pressing for a cost. We explained making 200 sammies for pick up would be pointless as most of the sammies would be mush by delivery. We recommended he get pork by the pound & buns then have his guests assemble their own fresh sammies. (Anyone disagree?) He asked for both costs. We sent a cost for selling 200 sammies @ retail cost ($1200 plus sauce cost and tax) and the cost for 65 pounds of bulk pork ($650 plus buns, sauce and tax). Can you guess which he chose? Yep - the $1200 plus option. Then he wanted to pay by credit card IN FULL IN ADVANCE AND wanted us to charge an extra $750 that we were then to wire to his courier to pay for the heated delivery pick up. Oh yes - and he never told us exactly where all this pork was going. Needless to say - we told him we would only accept a money order or cashier's check and he would be responsible for paying his courier. Guess what happened? Correct - he disappeared. After basically hitting us rapid fire for an hour by email & phone, we have now heard nothing concerning the order since we said no credit cards. Been about 8 hours. Guess he moved on. Willing to bet this is a stolen credit card scam. Foolish caterer runs the card, wires the money then sees the transaction declined in a couple of days. Meanwhile, card thief has just made $750 off of foolish caterer. Glad I'm a suspicious cynical bastard. __________________ Frank Davis Cha Cha Hut BBQ : 43311 Route 28 (corner of Route 28 & County Road 38: Arkville, NY : [URL="http://chachahut.com"]chachahut.com[/URL] Backwoods Pro Jr. Backwoods Competitor busted Backwoods Fatboy Weber 22.5 Kettle some stainless wood fired thing

08-10-2010, 09:09 PM	#2
parrothead somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 08-13-03 Location: Port Saint Lucie, FL	Bet you just saved a monster headache. __________________ Greg American Picker Blog

08-10-2010, 10:03 PM	#4
Just Smokin' Around Full Fledged Farker Join Date: 11-13-07 Location: Frederick County, MD	This is fairly common and has happen before. I know some folks who got emails. They troll websites etc looking for phone numbers and email addresses to try and scam you with. I hope no one has fallen prey to these slimeballs. Anyway, it never hurts to keep spreading the word to let folks know to be on the look out. In hard times, some good folks may do desperate things and end up losing. __________________ Bill Just Smokin' Around Competition BBQ Team BWS Fatboy, BWS Competitor Medium BGE, Weber Kettle and gasser, other toys

08-11-2010, 12:08 AM	#5
Will work for bbq Babbling Farker Join Date: 06-23-10 Location: NorCal	Same thing happened to me at work except they were looking for odd ball hydraulic components and I wasn't even a distributor for the parts they wanted. I called 2 of my vendors and one told me it was a scam been around for a while now. I quoted them twice list price and they still wanted to buy the parts, I asked them if this was a scam because my prices are high, me not being a distributor. They assured me this wasn't a scam gave me some company name and that they wanted to go with us because of our reputation. what ever reputation we have good or bad it was not for being a Vickers distributor. They use the voice relay because its free no matter where they call from and I think they get a little sympathy because of it. So it boils down to us being taxed on our phone bill to fund the voice relay program so these Nigerian scams can target us on our dime. __________________ Chalupa 00 Slowskys Racing Agent 000 (Double O Zero) Certified MOINK Baller When all else fails just ask yourself, WWGALD??? *Super sexy Farkernaut Avatar by N8man*

08-11-2010, 07:00 AM	#7
Ashmont Babbling Farker Join Date: 12-13-05 Location: St. Louis MO	They use TTR and email so you dont hear their voice or Nigerian accent. Read this scam before somewhere... Good catch! __________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ashmont Proud member of Brethren Weber's for life (Rescued 7 kettles in 2007, 1 in 2008, 2 in 2009 and 1 in 2010 Three of which I have and 8 that have gone to Brethren. PM me to get on the waiting list) Weber Kettle Dabomb Weber Kettle Justintime Weber Kettle (Yet to be named by Daughter) Evil Twin Suggested! Weber Kettle Grace WSM "Winni" WSM "Dumas" One Smokey Joe UDS "Peggy Sue" http://ashsmoderndayclubhouse.blogspot.com/

08-10-2010, 09:23 PM	#3
brownkw On the road to being a farker Join Date: 07-19-10 Location: Charlotte, NC	The same thing happened with my wife in her field of work (piano lessons). Luckily for us, we both thought it was too good to be true, and sure enough it was.

08-11-2010, 02:57 AM	#6
grillfella is one Smokin' Farker Join Date: 02-13-07 Location: Best BBQ in south whittier los angeles	good looking out Frank

08-11-2010, 07:50 AM	#8
boogiesnap Babbling Farker Join Date: 04-22-10 Location: NEW ENGLAND	yeah, someone else here i think got the same call. nice catch.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Cross Post: Potential BBQ Catering Scam	chachahut	Catering, Vending and Cooking For The Masses.	5	08-27-2010 04:55 PM