Dallas-based entertainment producer Richard S. Pollack of Rainbow Entertainment tells Special Events that a scam artist tried to fleece him out of $1,300 earlier this month by posing as a party host.

Pollack reports that he received an e-mail from someone calling himself "Terry" who found Pollack's company and wanted Pollack to hire a DJ for a birthday party for Terry's son on July 14 in Los Angeles. "Terry" said he was in Ireland and could not attend the event. The e-mail was followed by a FedEx package containing two $850 money orders. "Terry" instructed Pollack to keep $400 for his commission and forward the balance--$1,300--to the DJ.

WHO'S WHO?

But Pollack quickly became suspicious. "There was no address in L.A. for the party, and I got one name from the e-mail, a different name on the FedEx package with the checks, the money orders were signed by someone else, and a fourth person was to receive the balance," he says. "I've read about people being sent fake money orders, then sending money from their own accounts, which were later penalized when the money orders were bad."

Pollack has kept his sense of humor intact, though. "I appreciate that the scammers recognized my company as an entertainment supplier," he says wryly.

Photo by iStockphoto.com/ © Sharon Dominick