10/07/2025
Home bakers, please be cautious with all these scammers out there. This is a bit long, but if you can, please take the time to read. I recently moved to North Port, FL and therefore have to rebuild my clientele, so I was so excited when I received a message for a 5 dozen cookie order. Even though its not a cake order, an order is an order, and I was just excited to get anything. The more we talked details, I asked where she was located. She didnt answer, but instead asked for total price and my address and time to pick up. I gave her the total price and deposit amount but NOT my address. I also told her I was in North Port and asked AGAIN where she was and all she said was that she was local and can pay me via Venmo. Because she wouldnt tell me where she was located, this raised a red flag for me. I gave her my Venmo name for the deposit, and she said she received an error because Venmo flagged the payment as a possible scam, so she asked for my email. I never had this issue with my Venmo account before so this raised a 2nd red flag. I really wanted this to be a real order so I gave her my email address. Shortly after she said she sent the payment. I checked Venmo and no $ received (3rd red flag). I told her that once I receive it, I will let her know. She said the payment confirmation was sent to my email. I checked my email and the body of the email looks like its from Venmo, but since I already have red flags, I checked the "from" email address. *** TIP *** check the from email address ... this one came from: [email protected] - working in the corporate world for years, how to spot phishing emails have been engrained in the way you think, so you just notice when an email is not right. I mean, WHY WOULD VENMO HAVE A GMAIL ACCOUNT?!?! 😡🤬😡🤬 When I called her out that the email is NOT from Venmo, she all of a sudden became "not available on Messenger". We now live in a world of technology and in person interactions are not as prevalent, so when something doesnt seem right, don't ignore it.
