by Nik Edser
URGENT SCAM WARNING: From our professional links in the wedding industry it has come to our attention that there is currently yet another DJ scam making it’s rounds in Australia targeting unsuspecting brides & grooms to-be of their hard earned cash.
A company with a web-site is taking out Google AdWords advertising to get their ad onto the front page of Google. Once potential customers follow this through they meet with the “DJ” who convinces them to pay their deposit (or even the full amount) and also to leave them with an iPod if they have one so that they can “get an idea” of what sort of music the customer likes. They promise to return the iPod the next day.
The “DJ” alledgedly takes the money and the iPod never to be heard of again. This has apparently been reported to the police, but as with all these sort of things once they feel they are too close to being caught will change their site and even city or state and continue.
The strangest part of it at the moment is the taking of the iPod, but if they take this away from the scam (which they probably will) it would be very difficult to spot them as scammers. After all, it is perfectly normal to find a DJ advertising on Google, meet the DJ and pay a deposit.
Current reports are coming out of Adelaide, but as with these things it can spread quickly or be moved without too much of an issue. This scam comes not long after another well known wedding DJ industry scam (which is still going) and seperating cash from brides and grooms to-be.
What can you do?
The best thing you can do is ensure that ANY of your wedding suppliers are the real deal. It’s difficult when anyone can create a website that looks genuine. We recommend checking that your supplier is a member of a professional association. The Australian Bridal Industry Academy is probably the most trusted wedding industry professional membership. You can find them here at www.abia.com.au. Check the supplier you are dealing with is a current member.
Another way of checking is to ask what venues they regularly work at and then contact the venue to check this is true and what the venue has to say about them.
If you are more technically minded, you can verify the age of their website by doing a WHOIS lookup on their domain to see how old the site is. Most scammers websites will probably be less than 12 months old.
