I’ve been telling you guys…NC is getting crazy with scams! I was contacted regarding a wedding ceremony at a venue that’s not that far from my house. VERY rural setting. Initial contact was text then went to email. Wanted to send me a deposit. Told this “bride” we needed to talk first. She was out of town. Wanted to verify my address. Next email was to verify my banking information. Of course, I told her absolutely not she needed to find someone else. A week goes by. I get another email. This one stated that her boss was being generous and had sent me a check for my complete services, but he was confused and had also paid the photographer and asked that when I received the check and cashed it would I please contact her.
I was civil toward the end of my response when I stated that if a check was received I would turn it over to authorities! I do hope I can’t lose my license for the body of my email before I said that!
Notaries are really being tested in everything we do! Be careful out there! I’ve actually heard this similar scam happened to someone selling their car. It doesn’t have to be a large sum of money. They are happy with just a few hundred.
I would probably have blocked them before I ever got the email about the photographer and the cash. If I got that email, my mindset would have shifted from “suspicious” to “definite scam”. At that point I would have sent a warning to the town clerk and the other justices of the peace in my town. And I would ghost the scammer, not send any kind of response.
Yes, I have received the similar communications.
So have I… and AR notaries don’t ‘do’ weddings.
I received the same request via email a couple of weeks ago with very little info except a date, 40 guests. I responded with some info about me and asked where the wedding was located (im in AVL) and they responed back with $250 is an acceptable fee and we are out of “the state” and wanted my banking info to send $200. I didn’t respond and I haven’t heard back from them.
They went one more step with me and gave me the bit about boss sending me a check including photographer fees and when I cashed it, I should contact them. That’s when I said if I received a check, I would turn it over to authorities. I haven’t heard back from them.
I’m so sick of scammers. I wish we could track them. I would start a new career in just prosecuting them…free of charge!
I used Kelly Blue Book recently to check the value of my 2023 Colorado. They wanted DNA samples from my great-great-grandmother and the maiden name of my aunt’s husband’s mother’s sister. Yes, it was that ridiculous. I backed out of the call and went back in with a fictious name. Do you know that this fake woman I created now has access to Medicare? She receives phone calls and mail on a regular basis. Yes, it was Kelly Blue Book and no, they did not ask me if they could sell my personal information. Warn everyone you know off of them!
It almost as if @cryman.notary knows the intimate details of my story: I became a Notary Public 25 years ago, when I worked for a bank. A client of the bank received a $13K cashier’s check and he asked before he deposited the check, when the funds would be “available”. NOTE: The word in quotes is the operative word here; it is different from when funds are “cleared”.
Now I did not ask the reason for needing to know the “availability” of the funds as that would have been an invasion of his privacy but he also did not offer any information either. Turns out this was a transaction to buy his used car but was issued for twice the value of the car and required him to return half the value of the check. The issuer ultimately cancelled the purchase and requested our client to return the remaining money, which he did.
Lo and Behold, two weeks after he deposited the check, returned the first half of the money via Western Union (you already know where I’m going), and then the second half of the check (also, through Western Union!), the check bounced. So not only did our customer lose the sale of his vehicle but was bilked for twice its value - wait for it, by a Nigerian Doctor! Had he asked when the funds would “clear”, I certainly would have advised to wait a minimum of two weeks before using any of the money.
Once it was revealed the nature of the transaction and who was involved, it became abundantly clear, he got scammed. He took the issuer’s identity (a Doctor) as a fellow professional and allowed himself to be scammed.
So if the “bride” in your scenario issue a check to you for more than your services as a Notary Public performing a simple ceremony and you were to forward money to a third party (the Photographer?), one or both are in on the scam - of you.