Cake Scam

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about a pretty serious scam that is being done to pastry chefs around the country. This almost happened to me, until things just didn't make sense and I researched it on line. I would hate to see this actually happen to any of you, so here is the information on what happened.

I am the pastry chef of a multiple outlet retail store and also several wholesale accounts in Bend, Oregon. I received a phone call from our order desk with a question about a wedding cake for 300 people. I asked for the phone number to contact the person, but the only contact information was a name Sarah Armen and e-mail. I sent an e-mail asking for more information about what kind of cake, how they wanted it decorated, etc. I got a response that seemed pretty typical except for a couple of things. They sent me a picture of the cake and asked if I could make it. I said yes, based on the picture they sent I could make the cake, but needed more information about flavor, etc.

I got a response that said she needed an expert cake baker to make this cake, and had these sentences as well. I copied and pasted directly from her e-mail.
I have make arrangement with my shipper for the pickup of this order at your location when the cake is ready then my shipper will call you just to confirm your convenience time for pick and send one of their staff to your location with refrigerator van.

I will provide you my credit card for the full payment of this order also you will charge an extra fees for the shipper of $1600 which you will send to the shipper to pickup the cake via western union, i will offer you a $100 for your assistance, expecting to hear from you and have a nice day..

Why would i send the money via western union to pay for your shipping?!! I was still a bit naive, thinking I just misunderstood it.

I sent a price quote of $700 for the cake, and got a response saying shipping was taken care of and it would be shipped directly to this address: Kelly Smith
6731 Bellevue Road
Forest VA 24551.. and these sentences:
Just want to conclude thing with you before the wedding day, so i can provide you my credit card details which you will charge for the full payment of this order with the extra shipping cost also let me know if you accept my offer for assistance me on the shipping fees?

here is where the red flags started waiving! Did she really want to ship this cake across the country?
I sent an e-mail explaining that we are in Bend Oregon. and I needed to speak with her personally, could I please have a phone number to call her. after a few e-mails back and forth, I then got a phone call via relay service (for deaf translation) from her. I explained that there is no way I could make a wedding cake and have it hold up, assembled, with fondant, to ship across the country-regardless of what kind of van it was in. I also explained that with the price she was paying to ship it, it would be cheaper to fly someone out there to make the cake there. I said I could not do the cake with this in mind, because I can not guarantee the quality of the cake. I even offered to help her find someone closer to where the wedding is do to the cake for her. The phone call got fairly nasty, as she began to question my professionalism and why couldn't I just make the cake for her.

After this call, I came home and told me husband about it and he said he has seen things like this before it is a scam. So we did some research online and found that this has happened to several other people. If you google "cake scam" and read the 1st article that pops up, you will see basically word for word what happened to me. Basically, she was trying to scam us out of the cost of the cake $700, and the $1600 for the shipping that she was going to have us charge her credit card, then we would pay for the shipping.

I wanted to post this information here, because I would like to prevent it from happening to anyone. For a small business, this could be detrimental.