Booking Scam!
Believe it or not, there is a food truck booking scam out there! If you are a trucker be on the lookout. It is your basic Craig's List style scam: I am going to send you more money than your asking price, so you need to send me (or someone I know) the difference.
It started out like a regular booking. The guy, Larry, was trying to book a truck for his mom's surprise birthday party. He happened to be deaf (so he said)--this could happen, there are deaf people in the world. But I think it was an excuse to avoid phone calls. He gave us the details for the 120 person party, but he didn't have a venue yet. Here is were the scam started! He didn't have a venue yet because his party planner hadn't finished those details. Well, wouldn't the party planner be booking the food vendors for you? Hmmm...
We gave him all the catering information that he wanted anyway. We didn't want to pass up a job until we were sure it was a scam. We sent him a link to our credit card service so that he could pay online. He sent us another email, and all he did was confirm that it was a scam. He liked the price, everything looked good, but he was hoping we would do him a favor since he is deaf and his party planner doesn't take credit cards...textbook scam stuff! "Help me out..." "Do me a favor..." Throw in a disability for added sympathy, and basically they are hoping you are a sucker!
We wasted a little time on this one, but we didn't lose anything else. I think most people are aware of these kinds of scams, but in the event you have never encountered this kind of thing I thought I'd share. And if you are a trucker maybe you won't waste your time on deaf Larry.
