rockin'robin
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — What photographer Evan Hampton sees through his camera lens usually looks flawless, but now he knows in life everything is not what it seems.
"I got scammed basically," he said.
In his eight years of doing weddings, he said has never had a bad deal until now.
He was hired via email to shoot a wedding. Hampton said that is not unusual and the job was promising.
"Her and the groom are both hearing impaired," said Hampton. "I said what a cool situation to photograph a hearing impaired wedding."
He gave the customer his contract with pricing and they agreed to pay $1,499. Hampton requested a $750 deposit – that's where his problem begins.
"The check was much larger than the deposit," he said.
The check was $2,850 and in that moment Hampton became the target of what fraud.org calls the Overpayment scam.
"I thought she was going to pay it all up front which is not unusual," said Hampton. "But it was still more than the whole wedding."
The would-be bride apologized and asked to deduct his deposit and refund the difference. She said the extra was to cover the DJ's expense.
"I just wanted to do right," he said.
He thought he was doing the right thing and went to a Western Union kiosk in a nearby Walgreens and wired the money to someone in Las Vegas.
We checked the address for the wedding shoot and it led us to a Deerwood gated community, and the contact information turned out to be a cell phone.
Hampton learned he was victim when on June 8, he discovered his bank had recovered the entire $2850 from his checking account. Fraud.org reports this is one of the fastest growing frauds.
Hampton's recourse now is to report it; he said from now on he is doing business face to face.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story...-your-side/2015/06/09/i-got-scammed/28759183/
"I got scammed basically," he said.
In his eight years of doing weddings, he said has never had a bad deal until now.
He was hired via email to shoot a wedding. Hampton said that is not unusual and the job was promising.
"Her and the groom are both hearing impaired," said Hampton. "I said what a cool situation to photograph a hearing impaired wedding."
He gave the customer his contract with pricing and they agreed to pay $1,499. Hampton requested a $750 deposit – that's where his problem begins.
"The check was much larger than the deposit," he said.
The check was $2,850 and in that moment Hampton became the target of what fraud.org calls the Overpayment scam.
"I thought she was going to pay it all up front which is not unusual," said Hampton. "But it was still more than the whole wedding."
The would-be bride apologized and asked to deduct his deposit and refund the difference. She said the extra was to cover the DJ's expense.
"I just wanted to do right," he said.
He thought he was doing the right thing and went to a Western Union kiosk in a nearby Walgreens and wired the money to someone in Las Vegas.
We checked the address for the wedding shoot and it led us to a Deerwood gated community, and the contact information turned out to be a cell phone.
Hampton learned he was victim when on June 8, he discovered his bank had recovered the entire $2850 from his checking account. Fraud.org reports this is one of the fastest growing frauds.
Hampton's recourse now is to report it; he said from now on he is doing business face to face.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story...-your-side/2015/06/09/i-got-scammed/28759183/
...hope I'll catch the news if they arrest the culprits...and hopefully, it's not someone I know.