Veep Drinking Game

"Hope to have a buisness with you"

As some of you know, I do a little wedding photography on the side. Occasionally in an attempt to do some free promoting, I’ll do a posting on craigslist. I have in the past received a little business from this, and since it only takes a few minutes to create the posting, it’s worth it. This last Saturday I wrote up a typical posting, offering my services, linking to my site, etc. I received an e-mail which I have cut and pasted exactly as sent below. If you read through it you will notice, the extreme lack of understanding of the English language. This seems odd, since in the first sentence this person makes the statement of being from the “Us” I’m assuming they mean U.S.


On a side not, if I’m the one correcting your spelling and grammar, you have a serious problem, as anyone who reads this blog regularly can attest to.


Next, you will notice they are offering to fly me to New York, cover my hotel, and of course my regular cost. Obviously this is some kind of scam. No one is going to fork over that kind of money on a photographer they have never met, or heard of, and found on craigslist of all places. What exactly the scam is, I’m not sure. Maybe in order to book the tickets, this person is thinking I will send them my social security number? I thought about stringing the guy out to see what happens but decided no response was the best choice.



Subject: Can You Shoot My Wedding ?


My name is Bright .I am from the Us and i would be
celebrating my Traditional wedding ceremony with my
wife who is from uk soon ,So I am emailing you now
asap my wedding which will be held on the 25th of
march 2007, I want to know. if you would be available
for that day,the cost you will charge me if you would
render service for 6hours from 9am - 3pm for the the
day.
So i ill be responsibel for your flight ticket and
your accomodation for the day,So i will want you to
give me a total cost for the service. Am in hurry for
a wedding photographer, due that i receive a call that
the photographer that wanted to shoot my wedding died
yesterday,I really need you to understand this as it
is in hurry
Hope to have a buisness with you
This is the address where the wedding ill take place
and the shooting of the wedding

Receptionsit
1314 Hydesville Rd.
Newark, NY 14513

This is the Hotel I ill Booked For You, It is only 15
minutes to the Reception

Hotel Address :
Quality Inn
Rt. 88 North,

Comments

Rooster said…
I'm glad you pointed out your own grammatical issues, especially since you typed "On a side not,..." in the same sentence. HAHAHA!!! Nice work, Monkey.
Jessie Emeric said…
I'm so glad you had this blog. I also received this email just this Wed. and for a while, I actually was falling for it. I emailed them back and said I'd be available etc. But the second email was very strange and that's when I began to look into it further. Oh, well. Live and learn. Thanks again.
MGD said…
Glad to put to word out. thanks.
Anonymous said…
I got the SAME EXACT email!!!! the date, obviously is not the same. i responded to find out more, and it just felt so wrong. The second email was telling me to take out my fee from a much larger check and to send the remaining $4000 or so to some event manager or something. yeah right!
Mrs. M said…
Wow!
We received that same post just today (07-05-07) with the date changed and now his name changed. We also received one from an Elizabeth Robinson...her wedding site is at a hotel that when I googled it was actually shut down and demolished. Anyone get that one! Thanks for the heads up!
MGD said…
Thanks for the updates people. Glad to hear no one is falling for it.
Unknown said…
I got the same email. Has anyone contacted the authorities about this? i wiould hate to see a photographer get scammed. Here is the email i got


from mattew brian mattbrian665@yahoo.com hide details 6:05 am (1 hour ago)
to Heather Parker hparker at gmail com
date Jul 9, 2007 6:05 AM
subject Payment Details Needed...
signed-by yahoo.com
mailed-by yahoo.com
Greetings,
Thanks for your response however this is the address of the Receptionist where the Event will be he4d...
1314 Hydesville Rd.
Newark, NY 14513

However i will like you to understand that i will send the amount of $6,850 and ill want you to deduct the fee of $1,800 as a fixed deposit for the day and you will have to send the rest fund to my agent who ill be responsible for the Event arrangement, Am not in the state so it is my associate that ill send you the check and make sure as you soon as you receive the check, and have it deposit in your account till it clear, and ill make sure you send the rest fee of the balance before the Event take place so that they can have all the necessary Event arrangement ready, your flight ticket ill be send to the address you will email me in your next email. Also an hotel ill be booked for your stay. Kindly get back to me with your mailing address which I'll mail out the check
payable to.
Name on the check :
Addresses Phone no so that i may call you Thank's and waiting to read from you Warmest Regards James..

Note :The Event Day is on the 22 of July 2007 And about 50 people
will be attending the EventThis is the name of the Hotel that will be
booked for You..
Hotel Address :
Quality Inn
Rt. 88 North,
North Main St., Newark, NY 14513
MGD said…
Contact the authorities? It’s a good idea, but in reality probably no point to it. The authorities might take a report, and then act like they are going to do something about it, but will just file the report away somewhere and do nothing. I post pretty regularly on the low opinion I have of the police force. Well get more done getting the word out in forums like this one.
Anonymous said…
thank u guys! we recieved the same email today. my husband posted his add on the craigslist and received this email. and he actually felt for it but asked me to check the addresses he sent us, just in case. when i was looking for the reception site i found this website. thank you guys!
here is the email we got

Greetings,

My name is James David.I am from the Us and i would be celebrating my
Traditional wedding ceremony with my wife who is from uk soon ,So I am
emailing you now asap my wedding which will be held on the 22 of July
2007, I want to know. if you would be available for that day,the cost
you will charge me if you would render service for 6hours from 9am - 3pm
for the day. So i ill be responsibel for your flight ticket and your
accomodation for the day,So i will want you to give me a total cost for
the service. Am in hurry for a wedding photographer, due that i receive
a call that the photographer that wanted to shoot my wedding died
yesterday,I really need you to understand this as it is in hurry Hope to
have a buisness with you.

This is the address where the wedding ill take place and the shooting
of the wedding......
Receptionsit
1314 Hydesville Rd.
Newark, NY 14513

This is the Hotel I ill Booked For You, It is only 15 minutes to the
Reception
Hotel Address :
Quality Inn
Rt. 88 North,
North Main St., Newark, NY 14513