Wedding Anniversary Invite Scam

First, let me say that I absolutely welcome potential clients, or anyone else who has a question for me, to use my website’s contact form. I have received many worthwhile correspondences from that form, including many that turned into perfectly good private commissions or other professional contacts. I always get a little thrill when a new contact comes into my email from that form. So, please, contact me if you want. I promise not to be too suspicious of you until after you insist on paying me way too much money immediately by echeck without a contract. 

Anyway…

My contact form also brings in scammers. 

A few days ago I received this from my website’s contact form: 

Name: Jason
Email: ROBERTJASON844@GMAIL.COM
Message:
Hello,

Hope this email finds you well? I would love to make an inquiry regarding our Invitation Card Design.

We would love to illustrate and incorporate a picture from our wedding event on our ready made Wedding Anniversary Invitation card design. Please let me know if you are free to take on a project such as this, so I can keep you updated with the necessary information.

Thanks. Regards

Robert

I suspected this was a scam. Why? 

They gave my form the name Jason and signed with the name Robert. The email address contains both names, but this seems off. 

Although I can absolutely do an illustration for a wedding anniversary invitation, it’s not typical for me. I’m primarily a children’s illustrator. It’s a little odd that someone would request this from me. Not absolutely unbelievable, though. I do get the occasional legit off-genre illustration requests. I created an illustration for the cover of a rap album once, for example. Odd is not necessarily a scam. But it is a concern. It is a sign that this potential client may not have looked through my portfolio and isn’t actually familiar with any of my work. 

“…so I can keep you updated with the necessary information.” ??? Keep me updated? Weird way to phrase that. How about just sending me the details? Does that seem off to you? 

I’m skeptical, but it could be legit. I do tend to get cynical real fast, but it’s best not to let that tendency scare off what could still very well be a perfectly good client. It’s happened before, someone who seemed super suspicious turning out to be a great client. So, I sent a polite response: 

Hello Jason,

Thank you for contacting me.  Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary. 

Yes, I have time available to do an illustration for you.  What sort of image were you looking for?  You say you want it based on a wedding photo.  Are you looking for a caricature based on the photo or are you wanting me to do layout work, positioning pretty text and decorative elements to frame the photo? 

Sincerely,

Karen B. Jones
Illustrator

https://www.KarenBJones.com

I decided not to include my FULL contact info at this point. If it’s legit, the website will be sufficient for now, and I’ll send more info later. If it’s not, no need to tell the scammer my street address and phone number. 

Robert/Jason responded with: 

Hello Karen,

Thanks for getting back to me regarding this project. As mentioned earlier, we already have a lovely design of an IV card made for us by a Graphic Designer, but we thought of illustrating the image of the hands in a black and white style, as it brings back great memories. 

I’ve attached some pictures in the email, and a PDF  file of the IV Card. I believe you will be able to create something nice based on your level of creativity as an Illustrator. 

If you don’t mind, I’d love the delivery date/deadline for the submission of the designs to be no later than 10th of March, 2024. Also, I’ve already made an arrangement with a printing company to handle the finished work and have them delivered to me. 

Do let me know if this project is doable for you within the above stated deadline?, and my budget for this project is $800.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Cheers.

Robert

He attached the following two images. Since I don’t know who actually owns these images, I’m not uploading them at full size and I’m superimposing a watermark to spoil them. These are NOT my images. 

Two images. On the left is an invitation. The design is not as professional as one might expect of a custom invitation. It reads: You are cordially invited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Jason & Rita Robert 17th of February, 2024 11:00 am 1005 Mateo St Los Angeles, CA 90021 The second image is a photograph of a man and woman holding hands. The image is cropped to only show the hands. The woman's hand has a diamond ring.

So, he didn’t entirely answer my question. I guess he wants me to make a line drawing out of this photo to go on the back of this “lovely” invitation he had a Graphic Designer make for them? But he didn’t actually say. For all I know he just wants me to apply a nice black and white photo filter to the photo. 

Notice the invitation says Jason and Rita Robert? I’m not sure if him signing correspondences with his last name is suspicious or not. I have known people who went by their last names among friends, but I don’t think they signed emails that way. But maybe I’m being picky? 

You’ll note the address. I looked that up on Google Maps. This is a real address, but I find it unlikely that they intend to have their anniversary party at CDL Scrap & Metal. (I have no reason to think they’re anything other than a perfectly reputable metal recycling company, and I’m not implying they have anything whatsoever to do with our Jason Robert.)

Also, the date. If the party is going to be held on Feb. 17, 2024, then a due date of March 10, 2024 doesn’t make any sense. But perhaps it was an invitation template without the final details on it. But if they customized it enough to have the right couple’s names, you’d think they’d put in the correct info for the rest of it? I don’t know. Suspicious, but not definitive. 

The hands photo looks… fine. Looks like a stock photo, but it could be a real wedding photo of him and his wife. I did a google image search and didn’t find the image, but that doesn’t prove anything one way or the other. 

He plans to handle the printing himself. That’s fine. 

The real red flag is that he has volunteered a budget of $800. That’s 90% of why I’m comfortable calling this a scam. He didn’t ask me what I’d charge him, he just came to me with a price. And a high price at that. Whether he’s looking for a black and white filter or a custom line drawing, neither should cost $800. Not in any style I have ever posted to my blog or portfolio, anyway. 

He’s hoping I’m greedy enough leap at the prospect of getting $800 to do very little work, but without being at all suspicious of someone offering me $800 for doing very little work. 

Hmmm… Let’s give him just a little more rope. 

Hello Robert,

The deadline would be fine.

To be clear, you want me to make a line drawing of the hands pictured?  In a style that would go with the custom invitation you already had designed? 

Karen B. Jones

And he responded: 

Hello Karen,

I must say it’s my pleasure to work with you on this project. 

For better Clarifications, below is the deliverables the printer is looking forward to;

  • 5×7 Inch 300 DPI
  • Silver Color Palette
  • AI or Source file / PDF
  • Send with Bleed

Moving forward, I would appreciate it if you proceed to the project as soon as possible. I’m okay with a deposit payment of $400 to kick start the project, and the balance once the project is completed.

At this time, the easiest way for me to do that is via E-check. I can easily prepare the check on my Tab and have the PDF file sent to your email. All you need do is to open the file and deposit via your mobile banking app by taking a picture of the check.

Let me know if that is doable for you, and please provide your full name or payable name to proceed with the payment.

Thanks. Regards

Robert

I must say, he still hasn’t verified what, exactly, he wants me to do. A line drawing, I assume, but he has yet to say. I do know the size and color he wants. But… that’s not quite what I asked, was it? 

I will say that it’s odd that he’s asking for 300 dpi for an AI file. AI. Adobe Illustrator. Vector graphics. Almost as if he doesn’t know the difference between pixel and vector art. Now, not all potential clients that come to me would know this. That’s fine. If I still thought this might be a legitimate client, this is where I’d be happy to explain the terms and the pros and cons of each. But I don’t really want to take the time for that since he’s clearly a scammer. 

Funny he hasn’t asked about a bid or contract, while being very specific about the payment method he wants. And exactly how to do it. Kudos to him for refraining from asking for my bank account information yet. He’s also considered that throwing the full amount at me right off the bat is going to look suspicious. (No real client is going to pay me the full amount upfront, before any work has even started.) So, he’s offering half. For a project that size, it really should be half after the sketches are complete, not up front, but he’s trying to look normal. I’ll give him that. 

Let’s see what happens if I tell him, like I would any real client, that I don’t accept echecks. 

Robert,

I’m sorry.  I only accept payment through PayPal for most private commissions.  It’s safer for both parties that way. 

Thank you for sending the specifications on the size and file format.  However, you haven’t confirmed that you’re looking for a line drawing of the holding hands image. 

Karen

So, I’ve waited several days now, and I have not received any further responses. Sad. I guess he decided I wasn’t going to fall for it and cut his losses. Too bad. I kinda wanted to read how he tried to wiggle out of paying me with PayPal. 

Anyone else receive a similar scam email? What did they tell you? How did you respond? I hope no one lost anything but time. 

If you’d like to read other posts I have about scams, you might look at Scam Alert for Artists and Another Scam Alert for Artists.

Stay alert and good luck! 

1/29/2024 UPDATE:

I heard back from him last night. He sent this message through my comment form: 

Name: Karen
Email: roboertjason844@gmail.com
Message:
Why are you so stupid ?

So, clearly, we’re dealing with a very mature individual. 🙄

65 thoughts on “Wedding Anniversary Invite Scam”

  1. paul burd says:
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    paul burd's avatar

    Funny, I received the same email today. It looked pretty fishy, and after a quick Google search for “robertjason844@gmail.com” I landed here. Thanks for confirming what I already suspected. 🙂

  2. Alicia Buelow says:
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    Alicia Buelow's avatar

    Hi Karen, I received an email with the same wording, but from a different email address “Pettersson Reid “. Something about the wording made me suspicious so I did a web search and found your post. Thank you!!!

  3. Emily H says:
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    Emily H's avatar

    Got this email last night thinking a potential client. Then I saw his budget and decided to google the invitation address and his email address. I arrived here! Thank you!

  4. Robin Chilstrom says:
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    Robin Chilstrom's avatar

    Yes, same scam, same name, 2 messages from “Jason Robert” – I did not respond to either because he failed (initially) to give me enough info about him to be able to trust the message was legit.

    Thanks for posting your experience, Karen! I will report his messages as SCAM.

    Best, Robin

    • Karen B. Jones says:
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      Karen B. Jones's avatar

      It’s a fake check scam, I’m pretty sure. He was going to send me an image of a check by PDF. Then I was supposed to deposit it by mobile banking. The way that works is that the account is real, but he’s not the account holder so the check is fake. 

      I deposit the money and it initially goes in. Everything looks fine. It seems to clear. But then complications come up that would require me to give him a refund. Like, the check was for too much and he wants the overpayment back. Or the project falls through entirely and he wants a refund. 

      Normally, fine, I’d refund it. But he wants the money refunded into a different account than the check was from. If he’s careful about it and I’m not paying attention, I won’t notice it’s a different account number. Or he comes up with a plausible reason for the difference. Either way, I refund the money and never hear from him again. 

      Annoying, but I’m not out anything but some time, right? 

      Wrong.

      It’s about this time that the rightful account holder notices the fraudulent check and has their bank do a chargeback on my account. Now I’m out the amount of the original check! 

      I don’t expect the scam will fool most professional artists, but it might catch some. Mostly, though, I’m concerned for the newbies and the hobby artists, the ones with less familiarity with best practices when taking commissions from strangers on the internet. 

    • Jen says:
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      Jen's avatar

      got the exact same email from that same address. Got as far as almost finishing the entire pen drawing of the hands too, which sucks. But grateful I didn’t go all the way to getting fully scammed

    • MJ says:
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      MJ's avatar

      today i received the same email, with names not matching. seriously is this all people spend their time doing? do they think we are dummies. its just hilarious and annoying. thank you for this post and article because it confirmed my suspicion and so i did a Google check. this popped up.

  7. Danielle Erickson says:
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    Danielle Erickson's avatar

    Got the exact same email a few months ago. I replied to them and they sent me the same files, except they had a different the address on the invitation. I called the venue where the event was supposed to take place and they had no bookings for that date. Red Flags…but I wanted to be sure. So I sent them an email explaining that I was not a good fit for the project. They never replied.

    I just received the same email again today, but from Reid Pettersson reidpetterssoniuz48@gmail.com this time.

  10. Krista says:
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    Krista's avatar

    Oh my gosh this is literally a lifesaver. I was at first suspicious because of the Behance thing, but I was swayed after some back and forth to talk specs. I was just about to send him my address because I thought he was such a polite client and the email discourse was very well done, no half sentences or weird wording. (But now I see it’s literally the EXACT same wording, just with the dollar amount adjusted based on what I had responded with) But yes indeed I was a bit suspicious of the name and that googling the client’s names revealed no results. I only thought of this after that email saying that he won’t be able to do Paypal because of a banking restriction and to mail me the check. Which is… odd. Also the fact that he comes up with this high budget for what sounds like a simple illustration. And the wedding invite is… less than stellar. But I thought it was just an older gentleman who had a lot of money to throw around. I’m so glad I looked up “Wedding Invite 800 scam” into google and found your article. Thank you so much for saving this hobby artist who was excited to work on her first big commission.

  11. spasielski says:
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    spasielski's avatar

    I tried to post something long and informative because I had this same situation happen to me but when I tried to post the comment it made me log in and I can’t find the comment anywhere now…

  12. spasielski says:
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    spasielski's avatar

    Okay second attempt:

    Hi Karen (and others),

    I got this same request from a Pettersson Reid. With the EXACT SAME IMAGES. His email address: reidpetterssoniuz48@gmail.com as some of the others have mentioned. Weird thing was that he signed his name with one s in Petterson but the email and gmail name had two s-es. And reading this thread looks like he used the name Reid Pettersson as well – that name honestly makes more sense than Petterson Reid but I have friends with the last name Reid so, who knows these days.

    Odd but like you, I continued to respond as if he was a regular client – my “spidey senses” were up but I went through the procedure as you did. I normally don’t take cheques but he said it was a “certified cheque” and that I could wait until the cheque had cleared to start the illustration. Considerate, I thought, but that also led me to be wary of any e-transfer sent from this person I don’t know might not go through properly or there would be some other catch and I didn’t want to deal with that. I figured I could see what this cheque looked like and then make a more accurate assessment but I didn’t give him my personal address – a general address that wouldn’t be associated with me.

    The other thing I thought was SUPER strange was that the Invitation that was “designed by a graphic designer” had SIX FONTS. Are you kidding? Professional graphic designers know not more than two (maybe three if you HAVE to) I offered to clean up the Invite to make it more cohesive quality between the Invitation and Illustration on the back. Also, why would he pay a graphic designer like $5 for this Invitation (he didn’t say how much he paid for this professionally designed invitation but a five year old could make something better than that in Canva – I’m sorry. So he obviously didn’t invest much in the Invite design) and then be willing to pay between $500-$800 CAD. Also, if you live in Canada, why do you add CAD at the end of your budget? You wouldn’t.

    When I offered to upgrade his invitation he said “it’s already with the printer lady” – which it is very easy to send another updated file to the printer and also, you would be sending a further file once you receive the illustration file. I noticed you (Karen) pointed out the 300 dpi Illustrator file – I thought that was weird too but again, not all clients understand the difference between vectors and raster based images – an oversight, I thought.

    Another thing about me, is I’m more of a graphic designer with a very specific illustration set. I don’t illustrate often other than what I call “faceless portrait illustrations” and like you, I sent my portfolio and even an image within the email to make sure he knew what kind of illustration style he was getting. I let him know that in my CONTRACT that it states, “Client has spent a satisfactory amount of time reviewing Designer’s portfolio and style of work and that they agree that dissatisfaction with Designer’s style is not valid reasons for termination of the agreement.” So I tried to confirm that they were satisfied with my style but didn’t get legit confirmation on that. It was in the contract I sent him though, so if they didn’t like it and signed the contract, then I had a leg to stand on in court.

    So I got a little farther with him that you Karen so I can shed some light on what he was after:

    After I sent him my contract to sign and retainer amount (which he offered a higher deposit than my asking amount to start the project – almost my whole estimate – another red flag) He replied with: “I acknowledge the receipt of your details, and will work on the payment check tomorrow morning.” Then he asked me to PAY FOR THE PRINTING COSTS out of the money he’d send and I was like NOPE. 100% SCAM.

    This is what he said exactly:

    By the way, I was wondering if you will be kind enough to help me handle the payment to the Printer that will work on the printing of cards and shipment. She insisted that the only means of payment available is Paypal or Interac, and I unfortunately don’t have any of them available. 

    I hope you don’t mind if I add the printer’s fee to your payment, so you can help advance it to them via paypal, or Interac on my behalf. I’m open to giving you additional $50 CAD to cover any future posible tax, and to appreciate your assistance. 

    So once you receive the payment, deduct your deposit of ($300 CAD) for the project, and forward the remaining to the Printer lady on my behalf. I hope that is understood ?

    Thanks. Regards

    Petterson

    Excuse me? “I hope that is understood?” No, people don’t talk like that. And how does he know I have either of those payment options?

    I told him no, I wouldn’t pay his printer fees and I figured he’d ghost me after that but I also asked the following questions:

    Where did you say you were located?

    What printer are you using?

    I’m sure you can look into using a different printer that can work with you for payment methods.

    He didn’t respond for a couple days – and I wanted to make sure I was done with him so I cancelled my contract requesting a signature through Adobe Acrobat and I emailed him to let him know I cancelled the contract. His response was SO TELLING: I actually forgot you exist LOL Rude! So many confirmations/red flags along the way that indicated this person is a scammer.

    Karen (or anybody following this post) – Is there a way we can report the email address or something other than this post? I’m so glad you posted about it as he’s obviously done it to many people but I wish there was a way to stop him before he does it and just in case people don’t google this situation.

    Signed, another graphic designer, Samantha ❤

    • Karen B. Jones says:
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      Karen B. Jones's avatar

      Thanks for sharing all that. It was interesting to learn what happens if you let the scam progress farther. Hopefully it’ll help others. 

      I wanted to point out that, unless things are done differently in Canada than the US, a certified cheque is not actually safer than a regular cheque. If the fake check comes from a stolen account, which it will, the check will clear like a legit check would. It’ll look like it’s all good and the money is in your account. But it’s only a matter of time before the rightful owner of the account notices and has their bank do a chargeback on the check, yanking it out of your account, maybe weeks after you thought it had cleared. So, don’t fall for it just because it’s certified or whatever. 

      The safest thing you can do is use a third party service like PayPal or Square or (since you’re in Canada) Interac to take the payment. They do take a fee, but it’s better than taking the risk of a direct payment from a stranger. If the guy can’t use PayPal then I want to know what PayPal knows about him that I don’t. I’m not taking a check from a guy that PayPal won’t take a payment from. 

      Having you pay the printer is insane. That’s between him and the printer. You’re just doing the illustration. (Spoiler alert: There isn’t actually a printer.) 

      And I agree with you about that invitation design. It’s bad. Really bad.

      I know of some ways to report these scams if you’re in the US like me, but I’m not sure who the proper Canadian authorities are to report this to. You’ll have to do some googling if you want to find out. 

      I wonder where the guy actually lives. He might not actually live either in the US or in Canada. 

      • spasielski says:
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        spasielski's avatar

        Ya I was hoping that it would help people somehow, if they happened to get further in the scam’s progression.

        Interesting, good to know that certified checks aren’t safe either. I thought they were like money orders so the money was already there but that makes sense that it’s a legit persons bank account and then that person flags it and it disappears from the receiver of the scams bank account and then you owe your bank that money – which is never fun. I googled certified cheques and found this: Bank drafts and certified cheques are considered to be more secure because the funds are guaranteed by a bank. So I thought it was safer. Glad to be informed otherwise.

        They didn’t mention the PayPal thing until after the cheque was going to be sent. So I didn’t make the connection of why doesn’t PayPal trust them? It was like just sign up for an account, it’s not hard.

        And yes – never pay the printer!

        Ya, I doubt they (who knows if it’s a guy or a girl even) live in either Canada or the US.

        I still can’t get over the fact that they said, “I actually forgot you exist LOL” and what they said to you, “Why are you so stupid” Who does that? I’m sorry that happened.

        Just sucks that now we’re all suspicious of real potential clients who reach out to us. Anyways, I hope whoever needs this blog/article – finds this! Thanks for sharing your experience and it looks like it helped a lot of people. xo

  13. Olivier says:
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    Olivier's avatar

    Same story here. Same non-brief and ambiguity.

    And James didn’t want to make a video call cause is a steward on a boat. Sounds fishy.

    Also, I have called the place in Dallas, a real and legit one, about the wedding anniversary taking place in april 5th. They know nothing about all this.

    So I have James. Simple as that.

    cheers.

  14. Karen B. Jones says:
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    Karen B. Jones's avatar

    So, a guy named Bruce contacted me yesterday about his experience with this scammer. He sent me screen shots from his Facebook post where he explained what happened. I won’t link to his FB page because he asked me to hide his last name, so he wants to stay anonymous. But here’s the screenshots: 

    [Bruce <obscured>
    2d

    My daughter was approached by a scammer via email to do some graphic design work. She sent a screen shot of the request text to me to see if I thought it was a scam….I said…oh it sure is…GIMME THE EMAIL….so the next 3 days of me emailing back (with a shiny new proton email address and a VPN on the go) finally had him offering to send me a money order with EXTRA money to pay a printer for him…..So, I gave him the address for our police department.

    Do you know what that moron did….he sent the fake money order via fedex to the police…..So

    This morning I gave copies of emails to the police and now they have the ball, and the login to my shiny new email. …and now I can’t use that email.

    I did make a pdf of the convo.

    Let me see how hard it woud be to convert to JPG and post here.

    So much fun.]

    And he also sent the screenshot of the email about the tracking number. 

    [Alright, sounds good. Probably a good idea if you give me the traking number from FedEx when they send it. I can sign up for and email alert when they do.

    From: Petterson Reid <reidpetterssonluz28@gmail.com>
    To: brucejohnwayne

    Hi there Bruce,

    Here is the FEDEX tracking number for the package 7755 1479 2876
    (Bruce added a red arrow here pointing to this section that reads: this is a real tracking you can track it on fedex.ca)

    Please keep an eye on the package and keep me informed once you receive it.

    Thanks. Regards
    Pettersson]

    Bruce went on to tell me:

    HE did send me 2 more emails asking if I had received his fed ex, one that he had verified it was delivered. 

    I waited a day and asked him if he had found his money order. 

    I did get one final email, which I won’t share unless you want it, but it is somewhat vile. 

    Just thought you would like to know. 

    Anyway, I hope you all find that entertaining. 

  15. Samosa says:
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    Samosa's avatar

    First of all, thank you Karen. I almost got taken as well, but throughout the whole thing I had a tingle in the back of my neck that wouldn’t go away. I’m so glad I found your post before I bothered writing my proposal.

    This time, they were going by Kelvin Chris (same 2 first names pattern), and asking for a design for a mug for their 10th anniversary. Same MO otherwise. Very polite, reasonably legit sounding. It was just something about the way they wrote that seemed off. Makes me wonder if the emails are AI or if English is their second language, but still… weird enough to make me suspicious.

    Listen to your gut, people!

  16. Jen says:
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    Jen's avatar

    same issue, different name! I got one from a Maia Tanner and the latest from a Dale Reyes. Similar asks, same weird language. 🙄

  17. Lisa says:
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    Lisa's avatar

    I got this one this morning from Will Cannon.

    “Good day are you available to work on a wedding design invitation card, my wife and I would be having our 10 years wedding anniversary, we would be glad if you can help us illustrate a pic of ours into the invitation card,  just  in case  you are not available  you can referr anyone else to  us to  We will be looking out for your reply  as soon as possible. So I can send more details 

    Best Regards” ( no signature ).

  18. Shaylee R. says:
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    Shaylee R.'s avatar

    I’ve been getting a lot of these scam emails lately, I got one today from someone called “Michael Tyson” who wants me to make them a birthday invitation and they found me through my Artstation.

    Now, I’m a graphic designer and cartoonist, I have been having no luck finding work in my field and I am sceptical of this person because someone on Artstation came to me for a art commission and I almost got scammed. It makes me angry when scammers go after vulnerable people to scam them out of not only their money, but their work.

    I’m sceptical if this is a legit client because of the spelling and grammar errors, it’s a odd email (like it’s michaeltyson6666@gmail.com ), and I don’t want to be conned.

    • Karen B. Jones says:
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      Karen B. Jones's avatar

      I’m sorry to hear that the scammers are bothering you, but glad to hear you know they’re scammers.

      It’s so sad that we all have to be skeptical of anyone who contacts us supposedly looking to hire us. I want to be all friendly and welcoming towards any potential client (Oh gosh, you really like my work enough to commission more of it!?!) but in reality, I have to ask a bunch of questions (phrased as friendly as possible) to determine if they’re legit or not. I hate starting off a potential new client relationship so cynically, but have to do it. I’m particularly sad about the newbies and hobby artists without the experience to know that these professional-sounding AI queries are really just scams. It must be quite disillusioning.

      A gmail with a number isn’t necessarily a scam, since it’s not uncommon for regular people to have that sort of email. And private commissions usually come from private emails rather than corporate ones. But it is a matter of concern.

      What you really need to look for is if they are real quick to tell you how they’re willing to pay and that they want to pay with a check (business check, personal check, cashier’s check, certified check, money order, electronic check, etc.). That’s a telltale of a fake check scam. To verify it, just tell them that you only accept payment through PayPal (or some other reputable 3rd party) for private commissions. No exceptions. Then you’ll probably never hear from them again. If, by some chance they’re legit, then they will accept paying by PayPal or whatever.

      It’s good practice to only accept payment through a reputable 3rd party for jobs that come in from strangers on the internet because those 3rd parties provide protections for both sides. The fake check or stolen credit card scams literally won’t work through PayPal, so long as you stick to your guns and use a little skeptical common sense. (Don’t ever issue a refund to an account other than the one initially used for payment.)

      Also, write up a formal contract, including exact terms of how payments and refunds are to be handled and how the final product is to be delivered, and anything else that seems relevant. When you create your PayPal invoices, attach the signed contract. That way, if there is a dispute, PayPal can see what was agreed to.

      I wish I could offer you advice on finding work as a freelance graphic designer and cartoonist, but I doubt I know much that you don’t. Good luck with it, though. And watch your back.

  19. Barbara says:
    Reply
    Barbara's avatar

    I received the same one last week from Will Cannon from Kamloops, BC. Two pictures and a sad-looking invitation done by a ‘graphic designer’. We exchanged a couple of emails, he was looking for an illustration of one of two engagement photos (the same ones you received). I needed some clarification once it came to his project then asked when was a good time to get a better understanding of what he was looking for. I thought it was a bit strange because I am a designer specializing in reports, manuals and multi-page documents, I have done illustrations but that is not usually the type of design projects I work on. At this point, I hadn’t priced out the project, and like you, he had a set budget of $650 this time (no suckers so obviously the price is going down). Needless to say, communication just came to a grinding stop. I didn’t quote, start the project or get a deposit. I hadn’t done anything. I followed up and heard nothing.

    Thanks for the heads up. I’ve had a couple of these come through in the past. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a scam email for design work. I don’t get why they continue to scam designers.

    • Karen B. Jones says:
      Reply
      Karen B. Jones's avatar

      Glad to help.

      They continue to scam designers, I would guess, because some of us fall for it? Otherwise, I wouldn’t think it would be worth their time, even automated as it is. Which makes me sad to think of.

  20. Megan says:
    Reply
    Megan's avatar

    thanks for this, now I won’t waste my time again! I got a similar email about making a logo for a fake furniture company a few years ago and when they refused to pay me a certain way while making up the contract and noticing they were from the states (I’m in Canada) I knew something was wrong. Now I got another just like yours for a wedding invite… but also apparently an anniversary invite 🤨 From carollclap005@gmail.com at least they have a format 🙄

  22. Nay says:
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    Nay's avatar

    Will Cannon is still at it. I just received an email from them for anniversary photography services. A search of willcannon43@gmail.com led me here. My thanks to you for posting this and to the people in the comments section for sharing their experience.

  23. Stephanie Otteson says:
    Reply
    Stephanie Otteson's avatar

    I received the following scammer email:

    gracequang4@gmail.com  

    Write a message:

    Hello,

    I go by the name Grace. We want your service as a Graphic Designer
    to work on our Invitation Card. My Husband found your profile on Behance,
    and suggested contacting you.
    We want a professional Wedding Anniversary Invitation card design, I
    might want to know how we can continue, and your charges too. Please,
    get back to me if you’re available so we can discuss further on this
    task.

    Regards,
    Grace.

    • Karen B. Jones says:
      Reply
      Karen B. Jones's avatar

      Oh, now that one is tough. Nothing is wrong, exactly, but it does seem kind of off. Telling you that she goes by Grace, when that’s what both her signature and email address already say, seems a little unnecessary. Feels like something AI would do. Lots of legit people have a number or two behind their gmail username, and using gmail isn’t inherently suspicious… However, scammers do usually use gmail. The spacing and wording is a little disjointed, but with the last name Quang, this might be someone where English isn’t her first language. Or perhaps she was typing on her phone’s tiny keyboard and they’re just innocent typos. Yeah, it’ll probably turn out to be a fake check scam, but if custom wedding anniversary invites aren’t unusual work for you, you might respond. Just be wary.

      Good luck.

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