The waiter/food blog Well Done Fillet posts news that the oil rig scam has now morphed into the Greek priest scam. Newly ordained Greek priests, at that.
(read more)
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“Hello, we are not oil rig workers anymore. Now
may we come to your restaurant?”
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Longtime blog readers know about our longtime crusade against Engineer Andy Jakes and Dr. Allan Brad, the evil masterminds behind the notorious Oil Rig scam that preys on restaurants. But now, it seems this strange scam is spreading to other industries. A tour booker who arranges tours of Niagara Falls was recently contacted by a member of the oil rig scam cartel who wanted to pay for a $79 tour with a $1000 charge on their credit card. The tour organizer Googled the guy’s name and found Dirt Candy, crying out in the wilderness, “Beware the Oil Rig Scam!”
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Then a restaurant in Washington, DC almost got rooked, but they were very suspicious of these oil rig workers who wanted to dine at their restaurant for three straight nights and pay in the world’s most complicated manner. Fortunately their assistant manager knew of the Dirt Candy blog and their suspicions were confirmed. They passed on the info to the FBI. Excitement!
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Oil rig worker caught in the act of using
internet tubes to scam a restaurant.
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Ever since I posted about Engineer Andy Jakes and his oil rig restaurant scam I’ve been getting emails from around the world sent by people who were approached by the same scammers. In some cases they saw my post when they Googled Andy Jakes and it helped them realize that this is a scam so, like Superman, I did some good! Restaurants as far away as Australia and Denmark have emailed saying they were approached by Engineer Andy Jakes and Dr. Allan Brad trying to book dinners and it took most of them as long as it took me to realize that this was a scam of the lowest order. I’ve gotten phone calls from restaurant owners and we’re all in the same boat: it didn’t sound like a scam at first, just weird, and then we started dealing with them in good faith, then we realized it was a scam and felt like idiots. So keep the word churning: the oil rig scam continues. Be on the lookout for hungry oil rig workers who want to eat at your restaurant and when they show up…run!
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But, you know, it’s sad. It’s people like Engineer Andy Jakes and Dr. Allan Brad who ruin it for the rest of the oil rig workers who just want to get a group reservation at Australian wine bars and American vegetarian restaurants.
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“I cannot get into any good restaurants now. Curse
you, Engineer Andy Jakes.”
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UPDATE: Just got an email from a restaurant owner in Argentina who received the same scam emails. As they write, “I just wanted to share with you the experience of feeling like an idiot…” Yes. There’s something about getting these emails and you think, “Hey, a group booking, awesome!” And then…the experience of feeling like an idiot. I guess all of us running restaurants have lowered our guard a bit in the current economy.
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I’m always getting emails from those poor African people who have their funds trapped in a bank and need an American citizen to help them transfer it out of their home country for a small finders fee. I feel terrible for them, but I can’t help because I’m not an American citizen. But then, right after Dirt Candy opened, I got a chance to do my part. A very kind man named Engineer Andy Jakes emailed me and said that he had oil workers who were just getting off a rig and they wanted to have dinner at Dirt Candy for three nights. I figured that I could charge them a set rate, have them out by 8:30 and still be able to turn the tables once.
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I didn’t stop to wonder who, exactly, these 15 vegetarian oil workers were. Indians who are vegetarian? Muslims who are tired of halal places? Chinese people who are bored of meat and want a change? Hippies now working for the oil industry and trying to change it from within? Did it matter? I emailed Engineer Andy Jakes back and told him “No problem!” and gave him a quote. Then I got his next email.
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We’re hungry!
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Apparently, he was going to give me a $3,000 deposit on his credit card, then book a car service to bring his hungry oil workers to dinner. But the car service’s credit card machine was bad, and they couldn’t take his card. And, as he reminded me, “…am on the high sea work on an OIL RIG. There are no bank or western union here.” So I was to get his credit card, charge it for $9,000, then keep $3,000 and give the remaining $6,000 to the car service. That’s when I knew something was up: the car service cost twice as much as dinner? I was a) insulted and b) suspicious. So I never responded.
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You wanna split some jalapeno hush puppies?
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I’m impressed that this scam is so tailored to restaurants and so specific. Don’t we all feel sort of bad for guys who have to live on oil rigs for months at a time? I’m kind of curious to know if anyone has ever fallen for this scam and I still might. Just two days ago I got an email from Dr. Allan Brad, director of Staff welfare Aiken Offshore United Kingdom. “I want to book dinner for my group of workers,” he wrote. “They will all come for dinner in your place as from January 21st, 22nd and 23rd, 2009 by 6:30pm each day. They are 15 in number.” I could probably turn the tables once after they left, and the economy’s not so great. It actually doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.
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Dirt Candy, here I come!
