Beware Wedding Planners, of Fraud!!!!!!!

Recently we contacted online by a gentlemen name Eng.William Horner via email. He said that he was out of the state deployed. William said his was wife was from this area (Seattle) and they would like to get married here in Olympia. We told them that we needed to have a phone conversation at least before we could consider doing any work for him. He said he could not talk but he sent very detailed emails about what he wanted for his wedding>

This is the email we received!!!!!!! Email 1

My Name is William Horner, I and my Fiancé wish to seek your assistance and professional touch in planning our wedding.
The wedding is to hold on the 25th of June 2011{Still flexible though...}.

We will want you among other things to:

a) Plan everything about the wedding
b) Selection of ceremony and reception venue
c) Complete organization of relevant documents;
d) Guidance on Etiquette & Logistics
e) Assistance regarding the cocktail and reception, floral arrangements and Catering;
f) Photography.
g) Ideography
h) Budget Planning & Management

Expected guests for the wedding will be 60-70 Guests.
We want to have the estimated cost for the services above, as you will be handling everything from scratch to finish.
Also confirm credit cards accepted for effective payment, ok.
As i do not know what the guests might choose for their meals and drinks, i will make a prepayment as initial deposit for this booking via my credit card once availability is confirmed by you.All checks and balances will be made with you on our arrival which will be 1 week before the wedding day.
Get back to me with your response as we don't have much time left.
I'll be happy to hear from you if you can handle this for us, any other arrangements will as well be discussed along the line.

Thank you,
Engr. William Horner.


Email #2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello,
Thanks a lot for the mailman just moved to Aberdeen, Scotland from Seattle, I was transferred towards the last quarter of 2010 but the states are still my home.
Kindly find below other information’s that might assist you as I am not able to take calls now(however you can call me on this number +13476014635 ,that is my mobile number but I am charged for receiving calls which is why I prefer emailing.)
It is the wish of my fiancé to get married in your area and I have to give in to her wish and due to the fact that I do not have any one there, you will be responsible for all arrangements, Also, i would like you to know that we do not have a specific venue in mind and that's one of the reasons why we have contacted you so that you can plan everything right from the scratch, ok.
My Fiancé and I will be arriving 7 days before the wedding and I need you to also make arrangement for our accommodation. I will need you to book 1 double room for us for 7 nights and one honeymoon suite for the night of the wedding 25th June 2011.
We have a budget of about $72,000 which includes payment for your fees, all the other vendors you will be working with and that of the logistic agents in charge of Transportation and flight reservations, I am also expecting about 50Guests especially from UK,USA and Asia.
Below are other requirements we’ll also need.
My fiancé decided that the color for the wedding should be white and gold.
For flowers: majority of pink and red roses. She loves red roses and we'll want lots of
Them at the wedding. Please feel free to introduce any nice flower of your choice to make the venue more beautiful.
For music, a DJ.
Food, a Continental dish buffet will be perfect.
3 or 4 tier fruit cake
Drinks: open bar
Wedding is a civil wedding, Civil marriage celebrant
Videographer for 3-4 hours
Photographer for 3-4 hours
Venue: out door or indoor
Bridal party: 2 bridesmaid and 2 groomsmen.
Flowers for bridal party
Wedding time: 4pm to 9pm(A better suggestion from you will be considered).
Both the wedding and reception if possible should be in same venue.
Please let us know if any of the above will be difficult for you to arrange so we can work it out, though email is my best means of contact for now but I will make sure to give you a call from here when I can as we progress, ok.
I need you to get back to me with a total estimate that will cover this arrangement so that I can make a deposit payment to enable you start arrangements and bookings as time is not on our side.
I'm presently offshore and we are currently drilling, which possibly will last for another month or two and the only means of payment that will be possible for me from here will be via my Credit card, all taxes and fees will be paid accordingly so I hope this won't pose any problem.
Get back to me as soon as you have the estimate and amount payable as deposit now so that we can start off ASAP with all preparation for my wedding.
I'll wait to hear from you.

Regards
Engr William.


This is the last email he sent!!!!!!!!!!




Hello Dear,

Thanks for the mails, I have studied the contract and everything is ok so I have signed and pls find same attached.
I will send to you my MasterCard credit card details that will cover the cost of our wedding planning deposit, and the necessary arrangements for the wedding.Moreover,we've also concluded arrangements with the logistics agent like I told you before who will take care of all the guests logistics which include...Flight tickets & travel insurance for most of the guests, International Airport transfers, Transportation logistics & Accommodation, so you should not worry about the Transportation aspect for the Guests, ok.
However, because of security reasons and trust reposed on you and because they explained that their credit card facility is not functional for now, I have decided that only YOU will have to handle the credit card information.So,once you receive my card information, you are required to charge the total amount of ($10,000 + bank charges) then deduct your deposit for now which will be ($3,600) , keep ($400) for any vendor that needs some deposit immediately and send the balance of ($6,000) to the logistics company whose information will be forwarded to you once this is confirmed, So confirm this and get back to me so that I can send the card details to you now,ok.
If any other funds is required, I will authorize you to make the payments as they come. Also for the guest details, Flight schedules and time, as soon as the Logistics Company receive their funds, they will confirm reservations and then forward all those details to you, ok.
You are also to deduct the surcharge fees and taxes involved in processing this amount.
PLEASE CONFIRM IF THIS ARRANGEMENT IS OK AND REPLY PROMPTLY TO ENABLE US PROCEED.

Regards
Engr William.

So as you can see he was very detailed and had a plan. This was a scam that would have messed a company up. This Gentleman went as fair as digitally signing a contract. We want all business in the wedding industry to beware of this type of fraud.


Eric Nicholson
Owner
UniqXpressions Event & Floral Design