Texted my cell in the Hamilton, Ontario area. Requested a date for a family reunion with a very large list of cooked dishes. Requested a referral to another area Chef.
I had a request to cater a surprise party...with all the responsibility handed over to me..big list of specific food with an estimate that was well above reasonable but the acceptance was too quick and wanting to fork over half the funds by credit card immediately was suspicious. Too eager. Had email and name of Matthew Schwartz....watch out!
b]Business Scam[/b]
Well known business scam. Generally, it goes like this:
They will text or email you with a fairly large order to get your attention. Almost all communications will be by text or email (because they are foreigners and English is not their first language which is oft times obvious in the quality of the text or email) and there will be some excuse, such as they are deaf, or sick, or somewhere that doesn't have phone service (then how did the text get out?). They want to know if you take credit cards, and if so, which ones? They don't care about the price since it will always seem reasonable or low. They then tell you that they want to place the order, and have someone pick the order up, who conveniently does not accept credit cards and that is the only way they have of paying right now. So they will overpay you and tell you to send the difference by untraceable means such as Western Union to this person for them. Eventually the card they give you will be reversed and you will be out the money and the fees.