Monday, April 27, 2009

Vendors Beware

A note to fellow Event Industry Vendors:

In the past 2 weeks, Merry Me has been targeted by two different email scam attempts and we would like to share some of the details to help avoid any of our fellow vendors falling victim to such attempts.

The two emails we received were from Jessica Farrell and Gregory Davis, both requesting our services to plan their upcoming weddings….both of which are only just a few short weeks away and are being planned from overseas.

Jessica Farrell’s first email reads:

From: Jessica Farrell

Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 05:16:29 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: We need you for our day !

Hello, How are you doing? Thriving!!!

My name is Jessica Farrell , from Enfield in middlesex UK (England ).. We will be coming to IL after my shopping trip with my Husband David Rodin who's French by nature to start his new work with the Coca-cola Co. in Chicago . And just before then we will be getting married on the 27th of June , 2009. We need a good wedding planner to take care of our wedding both reception and ceremony. We require the best for the best memories for we & our children in future and as a matter of fact we have budgeted 25000$ for this special event.

Also, the ceremony and reception event will be taking place in a location and we are expecting at most 50 guests on the day of our occassion because most of our families in Europe and in the United Kingdom will be present for the occassion.

Also, we would like you to know the reception and ceremony will be taking place @ 1 location which the ceremony event would be in a garden location or outdoor while the reception takes place indoors, we are still about to make reservation though but we are making progress with that.

Please let us know if you're able to help.

Sincerely, Jess & David

We responded with several questions to this first email, and started dialog with Jessica. She responded to most of our questions, and in detail…..this was starting to look like a very promising opportunity for another event on our calendar for the year. After being prompted to learn more about her and her future husband, she had offered a fabulous story of how they had met when she was tending to her sick grandmother and other very creative details. However, we were very skeptical through out the entire email correspondence. It wasn’t until Cher decided to Google Jessica Farrell’s name was it realized that she has hit several vendors through out the entire United States, and not just in the wedding industry. Abruptly, we put a stop to the correspondence and thankfully did not ever take this as far as receiving any funds or deposits.

The second email we received was from Gregory Davis, his first email read:

From: Gregory Davis gregdaveis7@gmail.com

Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:50:23 +0800

Subject: WEDDING

Hello,My Name is Mr Gregory Davis i need an experienced wedding planner whowill handle my wedding and arrange the reception dinner for a group ofpeople who will be attending the wedding ceremony.The wedding is expected to hold on the 11th of July 2009 and 50 to 70guests are expected to attend. As i do not know what the guests mightchoose for their meals and drinks, i will make a prepayment as initialdeposit for this booking via credit card once availability isconfirmed by you.All checks and balances will be made with you on 15thof June which is the final day of the booking, You are to arrange fora a venue for the wedding a place for the reception ,Videography,Music Entertainment,Photography,cake and flowers.If there is any these items that is beyond your capability, you let usknow so that another company can handle it. Get back to me with yourresponse as we don't have much time with us so that we can process ouraccommodation within the region more convenient for you and us.


At this point, we were a bit more sensitive to this type of email, and assumed immediately that it was yet another scam. Googling once again the senders name, the results came back with “scam” written all over it. Again we abruptly responded to the sender with threats of turning them into the authorities.

How do these scams work?

As with most email scams, the potential client/contact is located outside of the states and is requesting services (planning, photography, ect..). With very little dialog, the potential client offers to send a very sizeable deposit to retain the services you provide. When you receive the deposit it is usually even larger then agreed upon. From this point, the hope is you deposit their check. Once the check is deposited the next request is for you to send the additional funds they had sent you to another vendor, usually in another country and most likely Canada. During this time, the funds are deposited and available in your account….but the funds they had sent you were fraudulent, either a stolen or counterfeit check, money order or even treasury check. It will take up to 21 days or more for the bank to realize that the funds are unavailable or even fraudulent….and when they do, they will withdraw it back out of your account. In the meantime, you have already sent a sizeable amount of funds to another vendor requested by the scammer (and in the end, IS the scammer). You are out money, they are rolling in the money…and essentially, you unknowingly laundered a fraudulent check.

How to protect yourself?

1. Be aware of any out of town requests for your services.
2. Ask for a phone conversation prior to signing contracts.
3. Ask for SS# or NI# (National Insurance number, Europe’s version of SS#) and tell your potential client that you do a credit check on any clients outside of your immediate area.
Offer to have the potential client send the funds and a signed contract to your attorney’s office, where all of your contracts normally are sent to. (even though it may not, if you are suspicious, this is a quick way to see if they respond, most scammers really don’t want to deal with a lawyers office)
4. Google is your friend! There are many sites out there that offer information from other victims, or almost victims, from these scammer’s names and all of their aliases.
5. Check out: http://www.scamvictimsunited.com/



Thankfully, we were not a victim to this scam; however, too much of our valuable time was spent working with this potential client. Hopefully, our time and energy will save you a bit of time in return, and ultimately, keep you from being scammed.

Cheers!

Merry Me Staff

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Marvelous Michilah and her first Events with Merry Me!





Recently, Merry Me began our official internship program and happily welcome Michilah Miller to our team. Michilah has worked two events with Merry Me and has done an exceptional job at every task assigned! We are so proud to have Michilah on our team, and look forward to keeping her around long after her internship is over!


Vasya’s 5th Birthday
The first event Michilah was involved with was Vasya’s 5 year birthday celebration, held in the grand ballroom at the South Bend Marriott- Downtown. The theme was a blend of Vasya’s love of extreme sports and High School Musical. With only 2 weeks notice, the Merry Me Team had just a short time to pull off this extreme event for forty energetic kids! Targeting every resource and using our preferred vendor connections, Merry Me was able to create and deliver invitations, collect and track RSVP’s, organize the venue and entertainment, and create an overall exceptional event. Michilah’s key role in this event was managing one of the extreme sport stations, and making sure each child had a safe and memorable time. Michilah and the rest of the Merry Me team is due endless kudos for pulling together and orchestrating this “extreme” event!














Hughes-Bulgrin Wedding - March 21, 2009

Michilah also was on board for her first Merry Me wedding and has become an expert at chair rosettes! The Hughes-Bulgrin wedding, on March 21, was the perfect blend of Celtic charm and simple elegance. The reception was painted on the perfect backdrop of the Palais Royal ballroom in downtown South Bend. Simple, but stunning, the floral centerpieces atop porcelain cake plate adorned each table and were magically lit with pin spot lighting from above. Romantic candlelight was spread through out the venue; in every window sill, and on every table, offering a warm ambiance mirroring the warm emotion of the friends and family attending in loving support for the new couple. In the upstairs balcony the bride and groom offered a quaint lounge area with furniture groupings and coordinating colors to match the wedding theme. A special touch was added at the guest book table, where wedding photos of the bride and grooms parents and grandparents were displayed, surrounded by candlelight and a magnificent floral piece to pull the entire theme together. Merry Me was involved in the entire planning of this event, as both bride and groom lived out of town. From planning, time line management and vendor coordination to décor, design and floral, the Merry Me team is grateful for the opportunity to be have been part of this couples special event.

Again, much thanks to the entire Merry Me Event Team, all of our venue event managers and staff at the Palais and Marriott for assisting in the incredible success of both of these events!