Wedding photographer outsmarts potential scammer



MUSKEGO (WITI) -- Wedding photographer Andrea Stocks of Muskego thought she was scheduling another wedding to shoot after exchanging emails with a woman named Angie -- but Stocks was tipped off the client may be trying to scam her after receiving strange messages.

The emails started in October when Angie expressed interest in having Stocks shoot her January wedding.

"She told me she worked overseas with the military and her fiancee was also overseas," said Stocks.

When the two women agreed on a price for the services, Stocks started noticing some red flags in Angie's messages.

"Prior to the money arriving, she started texting me, 'is the money there yet? Check your front door.' And this was at 3:00 in the morning," said Stocks.

Angie then confessed a mistake to Stocks.

"Apparently, she said, her soon to be father-in-law accidentally mailed the wedding planner's money to me as well, and that I had to immediately get to the bank, deposit the check and get the funds to her, the $1,800," Stocks explained.

Stocks says she messaged Angie back to let her know the money had arrived and she wouldn't mind helping her out -- as long as the check cleared first. That's when, Stocks says, Angie became aggressive.

"The messages started coming in even faster, the text messages. 'No, it has to happen today or this wedding planner is not going to do my wedding and my wedding's going to be ruined.' I figured it out, texted her back and said this is a scam," said Stocks.

After that message, Stocks never heard from Angie again and ended up destroying the check she received.

The Bureau of Consumer Protection has issued many warnings about the "Advanced Fee Loan Scam," and says it's something consumers need to watch out for.

FOX6 attempted to contact Angie but never received a return call or email.