This scam has popped up again here in the US. My band was contacted through our website with a sort of generic "Hey, we need a band for a wedding" email. We emailed back asking for details. The gig would be about a 3 hour drive away. The guy sounded very genuine, decent grammar and had enough personal details to sound legit. He asked for an address to send a check to which I thought was a bit weird. Who pays musicians in advance? Anyway, an email a few days later said there was some trouble, blah blah and how about just sending our bank account number, etc and the money would be wired. Well that sent up all sorts of red flags. Emailed the guy back saying, no just send us a check, it'll get here soon enough and haven't heard back. Can't wait to hear what tragedy prevents the wedding to be cancelled.

Like Skivee who started this, we haven't been ripped off but just want people to know about this scam. Now that we know there are bogus gig offers out there we will have to do more to verify the legitimacy of any offers that do come from strangers. This becomes a bit awkward though questioning a potential offer...Any thoughts? We googled the address which ended up as an apartment complex rather than a "new home" and of course we didn't have an apartment number to go with the address.

This wasn't even a "sounds to good to be true." It was a reasonable gig offer.

Performers Beware!
Emily