Wedding scam: 54 couples sue Mandaue-based wedding coordinator

More than 50 individuals, mostly couples, visited the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) on Friday morning, June 7, to file a complaint against a wedding coordinator who allegedly scammed them and cancelled their wedding packages with no explanation. | CDN Photo/ Emmariel Ares

CEBU CITY, Philippines – A total of 54 individuals, most of them couples, are suing a wedding coordinator for allegedly scamming them of more than P4 million.

Instead of feeling excited to experience the wedding of their dreams, the couples are now seeking the help of the Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) after they were allegedly scammed by the coordinator they hired to make their dream wedding a reality.

The wedding coordinator reportedly cancelled their wedding packages with no explanation.

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The month of June is widely popular for lovers to tie the knot as there is a belief that their union will be blessed and protected by the goddess of marriage and childbirth Juno, for whom the month was named.

In addition to this, June is considered an off-peak season when the weather is favorable.

The dream however, turned into a nightmare for the victims of the wedding scam who rushed to the NBI-7 office at around 10:00 a.m. on Friday, June 7, 2024, to seek redress.

Their complaint is against a wedding coordinator by the name of “Darlene” of a wedding and event planning company based in Mandaue City, Cebu.

The issue became a hot topic online after one of the alleged victims posted on Thursday, June 6, her grievances of losing her money through a wedding scam.

According to the complainants, they decided to avail of different kinds of wedding packages from the coordinator for their weddings scheduled this month and the coming months.

However, they discovered that the planner allegedly did not book the necessary services they paid for and randomly declared that their packages will be canceled. The coordinator also allegedly would not give them a concrete reason for the sudden cancellation.

A compiled list made by the victims shows that they paid over P4 million in total for the different packages to the company that were abruptly cancelled with no explanation.

Two of the complainants, a couple from Lapu-Lapu City, shared to reporters how their supposed wedding on June 20 was destroyed by the wedding coordinator even if they have already paid for their package a month in advance because the planner allegedly prodded them to complete the payment early.

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The couple, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, said that they paid the full P83,898 to the coordinator and P6,000 for their pre-nuptials in May. When they followed up on the progress of the preparations, they said they received no reply. A wedding scam entered their minds.

“Mixed gyud siya ang emotion nimo. Murag naa pa gyud ang shock sa imoha ba. Nag-expect man gud ka nga kay wedding man gyud nimo. Kalit gyud kaayo siya,” stated the groom who goes by the alias “Noah.”

The groom said that they were asked to come into the office of the company earlier this week. When they arrived, they were allegedly given a simple document with blank spaces for them to sign showing their agreement to cancel their initial contract with the company.

The couple, however, opted not to sign as they were not given a guarantee that they will be receiving a full refund. A portion of the document states that the company will be giving them a timeline for the scheduled refund in a span of 3 weeks after signing.

Despite the disappointment of having their wedding plans disrupted, the couple shared that their priority is getting back at least P50,000 of the money they paid to use as downpayment for the venue.

Aside from the couples, there were also vendors and suppliers who came to NBI-7 on Friday to complain that they too were not paid by the company for services rendered in previous events they did together.

One of them is a woman from Liloan. ‘Mary’ not her real name, was contacted by the company to provide catering services for a debut and wedding back in December 2023. However, she said she did not receive her payment of P26,000. Worse, and the company stopped replying to her.

Following the complaint of the couples, NBI-7 assistant regional director Lawyer Dominador Cimafranca said that they will be evaluating the allegations of the victims in order to determine the next steps of the investigation in an obvious wedding scam.

“Ang initial namo nga nakita, this is a cyber scam so it will come into RA 10175. It’s the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. We would evaluate kung unsa ilang allegations sa ilang complaint,” he said.

Meanwhile, CDN Digital tried to contact the subject of the complaint to get her side but did not receive any reply up to the time this story was posted.