Loria Stern, owner of Eat Your Flowers, initially welcomed the $7,500 order, seeing it as a significant boost for her business and employees, according to the local outlet KABC.
But the massive order soon proved too good to be true.
Stern told KABC that the “odd” order did raise suspicion, largely because her bakery primarily specializes in cakes and cookies with edible flowers, not cupcakes.
As a result, after receiving the check for just over $7,500 by priority mail, she told KABC that she went to her bank to verify its legitimacy.
Stern told the outlet that the bank informed her that if the funds cleared, which they later did, the check was likely legitimate.
So, once the money appeared in her account, Stern began purchasing supplies to fulfill the order.
However, according to KABC, shortly after, the person requested the order be reduced by half and asked for a 50% refund.
“I responded and said, ‘No, there’s no way we can do that. We’ve already bought all the ingredients. We’ve already made the batter,'” Stern told KABC.
She said the bank had reassured her that she would be protected if she had an invoice and email correspondence regarding the order.
But KABC reported that the funds were withdrawn from her account the next day.
“They said, ‘Oh, it’s been cited as a counterfeit check,'” Stern told KABC.
“Essentially, what the scammer did is they stole another company’s checkbook and wrote checks out to different vendors,” she added.
When Stern contacted the company listed on the check, she learned she was the 15th person that day to report the scam, she told KABC.
Check fraud has been on the rise in recent years.
According to the US Department of the Treasury, check fraud has increased by 385% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A joint public advisory by the US Justice Department and Public Safety Canada said counterfeit check scams always use the same basic scenario.
“Fraudsters send counterfeit checks to potential victims and con them into depositing it in their bank account,” it said. “The fraudsters then ask that part of the money be returned in cash or by wire transfer.”
It notes that many counterfeit checks are of high quality and “likely to deceive even trained bank personnel at first,” and that you should look for signs of alteration on a check and not proceed with a transaction if the buyer insists on overpaying or requesting a refund.
Stern ultimately managed to sell some of the cupcakes, but she was left with a significant amount of leftover ingredients, resulting in a financial loss for her business and an emotional toll on her wellbeing.
She told KABC that the experience left her feeling “disheartened about humanity.”
“I wanted other business owners, and maybe just people in general, to be wary of scams that could happen because they can be really disruptive,” she added.
Business Insider contacted Stern, but did not immediately receive a response.
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