Recently I received an email from a individual requesting service to be married. Here’s the email that I received, “I hope everything is going well for you as I write this. Please let me know if you are available to conduct our wedding ceremony. Please read over the following wedding-related information and reply with quotes. The date of our wedding is February 1st, 2025. There will be 50 guests in all, and the ceremony will start at 1:00 PM (time varies). As we proceed, we can decide on a rehearsal day and time. It has not yet been announced what time the officiant must arrive at the rehearsal. If necessary, the officiant will get help traveling to the wedding site and submitting the marriage license to the relevant court following the ceremony. Please respond with your quotes so that we can move forward.” I provided a estimate quote and got this response - "I appreciate your response. That fits the budget exactly and seems like a nice idea. I will pay the remaining payment on the wedding date/venue after making a $250 deposit today via check. We would like to arrange everything in advance of our arrival as we are currently out of town. The time and date of the rehearsal will also be communicated to you by email. Kindly respond with your name and address so we can pay the deposit.
I’m grateful." Have anyone else received similar emails?
If you got the deposit today - leap of faith kind of thing I expect. I would probably do it because wedding crashing without crashing would be fun LOL.
I’m not a wedding officiant so don’t receive those types of communications. However, I would be careful. It appears they intend on paying via check (like in paper check). Most people nowadays prefer credit card or some type of electronic payment. If they are using an actual paper check, I would first call the bank it’s drawn on to confirm funds are available.
That’s just my cynical, untrusting nature. “Burn me once, shame on you; burn me twice, shame on me!”
Totally agree! This is one of the methods scammers use to perform fraudulent activities. " Phishing is a scam where attackers send fraudulent messages that appear to come from a legitimate source, such as an email or text message, with the goal of stealing money or sensitive data. The term is pronounced “fishing”.
Scam. You’re in FL; I’m in AR…and we both got the IDENTICAL e-mail–which lacked the location of supposed wedding while providing unneeded details (# of guests).
Adding…weddings are not a notary thing in AR.
Isn’t that interesting! That’s why as Public Officials it’s important that we stay vigilant and stay up to date on fraudulent activities. Thank you for sharing your experience…
It’s interesting how the people who write these emails have such a similar way of writing. Can’t they be any more creative? They all use the same template, it seems.
I did receive something similar to this about a week ago. I ignored it since notaries can’t marry people in my state but I thought it was probably a scam. I have never been asked to do this.
Yes, I received last week. I ignored because I am not an officiant and they asked for my name and address. Wanted to conduct by email only. Naw, I’m good.
I basically ignore any correspondence from people who are unknown to me. There is such a proliferation of scams going on these days that you literally can’t trust anyone who you haven’t dealt with in the past or at least know someone who has.
Yesssss! I got this very same email. I tried looking the person up last name (Meeks) but didn’t find anyone that was closer to me by that name. I never responded. I am a NC notary but I did not reply to it, I wasn’t for sure about the date . So did you get your deposit? Was it a scam? Was the person last name “Meeks” on your email as well??
Bogus check scam. “Currently out of town” an tell tale sign of a scam. They will later sent you a fake cashiers check, then they will cancel the event, and want to wire them most of their money back, but keep a little bit for your time.
WOW…I got the exact same email. I requested a phone convo but they appeared to only want to communicate by email. I got a similar situation about 5 years ago…due to that situation, I only speak to ppl by phone with such inquiries
