Very Important - Beware Scammers

Update: We've now heard from another hall with a similar story. Further information on related scams can be found here and here.

Update 2: We've had another report from a member that the scenario described below happened to them. Thankfully, due to our pre-warning, they were aware of the dangers and are currently dealing with the issue with the bank.

"We received an email this morning claiming an over payment has been made and requesting the difference is returned. We’ve since received a call from the bank regarding unusual activity and they’ve explained that the supposed client has likely used a stolen cheque book to make the payment which would get flagged by the victim and request the money is returned. The return to the victim usually takes 5 days to show on our account which in the meantime if we had fallen victim to the scam we would have refunded the difference to the supposed client."

It's been reported by one of our members that they have received very dubious booking enquiries from someone from the United Arab Emirates twice this year.

"He makes a booking, arranges a date over email and sends £50,000 to the hall's bank account, which he then asks to be returned. Whether this is money launders or some other kind of scam, it's clearly very suspect.

Whilst we don't know anything for sure, clearly contact messages like this are best treated with extreme caution!

If you receive an enquiry you think is suspicious, please report it to us and we can see if any other halls have had similar emails, and warn people accordingly.

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