- Blog
- Bios
- Boards
- Classifieds
- DIY
- Gallery
- Vendor Reviews
- Shop Weddingbee
Weddingbee boards
Oh NO! I hope you can get your money back and prevent this from happening to anyone else! !
This happened once to me many years ago when I was an avid Ebay shopper. I bought a necklace for a friend for Christmas, paid for it through paypal, and never received the item. Paypal is really great about getting your money back to you if you file a claim, although it may take a few weeks.
Good luck! Hopefully this can be resolved quickly for you!
This same person just scammed me!!! Please contact me because I'm in the process of filing a complaint with paypal. email sandy at 860-450-2626
@austenpoet: I would encourage you to avoid posting your personal contact info online. Even though the bee is a fabulous place, it's still online and it's just not safe.
@katedee:She scammed me too, on the same lanterns. Let me know what I can do to get my money back? And help you with convicting her. We need to get her off this sight. There is also a Glam Bridal that took my $ and her name was Rachael too. Coincidence????
[PICTURE REMOVED PER THE TERMS OF USE!]
This woman is a diabolical and incessant liar. Don't do business with her or you will get an endless string of excuses for why she can't deliver on the goods or a refund. . . all connected with great detail. She preys on your capacity for empathy and ruthlessly spews her unlucky and unfortunate fate. . .all fictitious!
Her latest scam is to rent a place and not pay until she is discovered. Therefore, she is a 30 day renter. When she left, she had 3 empty quart bottles of gin in her garbage. . .all from one week. . .so you know what kind of a world she lives in. . .
She has two children and came to Utah, she said, to be closer to her children, who currently live with her ex and new wife. (And they are terrific people.) But. . . .in 6 weeks that she stayed here, she only had them over one time.
The picture was taken after she felt the compulsion to change her looks so she tinted her hair brown and started wearing it down. . .so look carefully because she usually wears it blond and up in her other pics. . .
This lady is affecting young bride's lives at what should be the happiest time of their lives. She needs to do some jailtime so contact me to compare notes and to join in putting her away.
Google her, add your information on how she lied and cheated you, then file your complaint with the Holladay, Utah Police Department. And from another report on her they gave instructions on reporting her to Detective Fred Thompson at the Orange County Sheriff's Department. . .949-425-1800.
I also read that she should be reported on the Internet Crime Complaint Center. Source: http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/Body/Rachael-Ohlwiler.aspx
Here's her most recent phone number: [phone number removed per site policy]
Good luck on getting some satisfaction.
terry
Goodness... Mr. Bee, is this real?
If so, I'm not really sure this is the right place to be putting this sort of information?
this whole thing is weird. why do all of the "scammed brides" happen to have similar wedding dates listed (including the other thread posted 6 days ago)? it seems to me to be too much of a coincidence and like it's 1 person who's making a bunch of accounts on here about this woman. I don't know what the truth is, but all of this seems fishy. I advise Bees not to call any of the numbers, just in case. if this woman is a scammer, it's good to get the word out and I'm sure we'll all avoid her anyway but still, i'm kind of wary about these posts.
@elliestan: yeah, hopefully an admin will check this out soon...too many newbees responding to eachother, seems fishy to me...
WOW! Glad you warned us
FYI-the beauty of PayPal is that your purchase is covered. Let PayPal know what happened and they will refund you, once they go through trying to get it back from her.
If you used a credit card via pp, you are also covered that way, I think, Call your cc company.
I'd like to respond to the current theory that it is unusual for so many of those who got defrauded to have wedding dates that are close and for there to be so many newbies.
i just spoke with Sandy, one of those that was scammed and she was gracious enough to return my call. The fraud was real and it is my contention that those that got scammed, were recent enough that their antennae had not gone up yet. They had an a-hah! moment when they saw the fraud posting and it stimulated them all at the same time to respond. . . more probable that this is the likely circumstance. Nevertheless, it is possible that some of the posters may be duplicite. But that is a lot of trouble to go thru just to post an abbreviated description of their plight.
I am making an effort to contact the other posters in the hope that this can be verified. I suspect that "Rachael" has moved on now with a new email address, business address and is likely moved into preying on new mothers. . .
Truth be told, brides-to-be and new mothers are perfect to take advantage of. . .they have other more important stuff on their plate right now and they don't have the time to follow up nor do they want to deal with this kind of bad karma. . .and they shouldn't have to!
Bottom line and update: If you've been defrauded by her (And this is something to assign and forward to some other player in your wedding!):
1- Make a call the Holladay, Utah Police department as she is living in their jurisdiction. . .or was when she committed the crime. Their number is (801) 272-5225.
2- Then call call the Fraud Division of the Orange County Sheriff's Office at 714-647-7486 (Especially if you live in California, as they have a special interest in her.) You should speak with Linda.
3- Then, this is important. . .file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx . (The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a partnership between theFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).)
Can somebody direct me to the other related thread? It is not showing up in my search.
May you all find your bliss!
Kind regards,
terry
I wish somebody could do something about this thread. I have been doing some research and it is super, super fishy. Esp. because there was a picture involved (removed per the terms of service). Who gets a picture of their online scammer? There have been instances of this showing up on the Bee and on consumer sites before, where some psycho out for revenge tries to ruin your reputation online...
Hi, I'd like to speak about your suspicions about my credibility and the unlikelyhood that i would have a picture of "Rachael". The picture was posted of her as one of the vendors, I believe, on this site. I recognized her and her new "do"(Since she lived in my home apartment) and copied it before it got deleted. I believe the reference to me being a "psycho" is unjustified of me as recommended in the guidelines for posting on this site. . .in avoiding "personal attacks and snarkiness". . .(I would hope that this wouldn't apply to previously convicted felons like Rachael.) 8^)
Furthermore, what you are doing, by casting doubt, is aiding and abetting the continued defrauding of new brides-to-be and likely, by now, many others, by writing exactly what the culprit would do herself. . ..and in so doing, postpone those who have been defrauded from filing the proper reports with the authorities.
If it is true that no one got cheated by bridalblingrach, then the police reports won't get filed. . .but I know they will. . .
Kind regards,
terry s
To post #11. I am one of those brides you are talking about. I am a fifth year college student. My fiance is a 2LT in the Army, unit will be deploying in January. My mother is going thru testing for breast cancer. So I doubt I have time to make up things about people. I am new to all of this, my Sorority Sisters said what Rachael is doing should be stopped. She was only the 2nd person I had purchased anything from. I trusted her and she scammed me. What would you do? If I wanted I could post all the emails from her and a copy of paypal. But I have learned not to give out my personal information anymore. If you have been scammed by Rachael, report her. I don't know her, I just know what she did to me.
I think the thread and the responses speak for themselves. I encourage any lurkers to use google and draw their own conclusions... That's all.
Thank you so much for speaking up!
I am truly sorry for your pain, stress and involvement and deeply appreciate any effort you make to keep others from getting scammed.
Truth be told. . .it's highly likely that many other earlier, defrauded brides have just took the hit and moved on with their lives. . .and that is why you had to suffer. . .
You can Google Rachael and her many aliases but I have already done that hard work and summarized the results in my posts above. . .It's just that simple. . .1-2-3.
i wish you only good fortune in regard to how the rest of your life plays out.
Kind regards and hugs back,
terry
Well, Weddingbee members, I am likely done posting about Rachael on this site. I am awaiting one more piece of evidence before filing a report with the Holladay, UT PD.
I'm sorry to have rained on your parade for being so descriptive of "Rachael" and for trying to drum up support on this site but thought that it was justified to elevate awareness of the problem and stop her permanently.
I'm pretty sure that she is doing "business" on multiple sites and likely using a different alias now as that has been her MO.( She was last into defrauding folks on different sites buying designer jeans and jewelry.
So what that means is, since we know that she has been active on this site. . .we have a better chance of stopping her from further internet fraud overall by getting as many defrauded Weddingbee members as possible to file with the Internet Crime Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx .
Best Wishes and Continued blessings,
terry
holy cow! i posted the original warning after i'd been scammed. and i'm just seeing all of this activity now. someone contacted me directly (well via the messaging on this site) asking me to provide them with more information about what I'd been scammed out of. i declined to share that information and am reporting her directly to the Internet Fraud Division of the FBI (I believe it's the same site as is referenced above).
we have to band together on this & report her so she can't continue to scam others.
hang in there bees! we can get through this & protect this from happening to future bees.
xoxo
I am so sorry to hear that this woman still has not been caught and prosecuted. She has been scamming and ripping people of for years. I just dont understand why the authorities are not doing anything about it.
She lied and scammed 1800.00 from my friend promising her that she was taking care of renting a place for the two of them to live. All the while she was living at her house living off of her family and spending my friends money she had saved to lease an apartment. Then made every excuse in the book when it came time to go look for a place as she had no intention of ever doing so. She lied about her employment stating she was the head accountant for a local church. We investigated her and found out she had made up the story of her job and that they had never heard of her. She preys on people's sympathy by telling a sad story of losing her children to an abusive ex-husband and how she fought to keep them but he took them away from her and moved to Utah. Come to find out, he had full custody (THANK GOD!) as she obviously is an unfit mother.
We called the local authorities and made a report with Fred Thompson of the Orange County Sherriffs Department here in CA but it just doesnt seem to do any good. At that time, she was supposedly being investigated for internet fraud which is a federal offense but still, NOTHING ever happens to this woman. She seems to slip under the radar everytime.
Rachael's internet scams started when she had a website selling jeans. People would send the money and no jeans would ever arrive. Apparently she embezzeled 50k from her employer back in 2004 which she got convicted and sentenced to in house arrest and spent a little time in jail. Someone needs to stop her from stealing from innocent people once and for all.
Please keep your complaints coming on every website you can manage to post them on about her. SHE NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!!
Dont count on getting any money back. She spent it as soon as she got it!!! Good luck to everyone.
Below are the names associated with her.
Rachael L Haataja
Associated Names:
Rachael L Ohlwiler
Rachel Haataja
Rachael L Leavitt
Leavitt Haataja
I am sorry to say you are one of MANY she has ripped off! Her whole life is a lie. She scams and steals from anyone she can with every excuse in the book. There is NO MONEY to be refunded because she spent it the minute she received it. Hope someone gets something done about her. She has been doing this for years with dozens of complaints filed against her and still she is free to continue to scam innocent people.
Good luck
This woman is currently living in my home in North Salt Lake, UT. Without question, she is the person that is being described in the posts (and the picture confirms everything). I have not confronted her yet, but I have read all the terrible things about what she has done to people by finding her on google. She is currently going by the name of Rachael Haataja.
What should I do? I contacted the police in Holladay, and they said she is now out of their jurisdiction since she lives in a different city (only 15 miles away), and didn't seem to care at all because of that. She has done nothing to me personally, (except paid rent late and not the full amount) but if all this is true about her scamming people, I want to see her locked up!
Any suggestions?
If you have reason to believe a seller is fraudulent while using the weddingbee classifieds, please report them in support.weddingbee.com. Be sure to include a link to their profile so we are able to look into your complaint.
We can't do anything about your loss, but we can prevent them from using their account to scam others in the future.
May 25, 2011 Update on Rachael Ohlwiler Haataja:
I'm sorry to see above that the Holladay Police Department in Utah is now informing scammed brides that they are not accepting complaints in regard to Rachael's scamming of new brides because she was no longer living in this jurisdiction. I know that she is still in the Salt Lake City area so in order to clarify, I just spoke with a Detective Steve Hall representing the Holladay PD (801-272-2715) and this is what I was told: The complaint needs to be "filed with the PD in the Law Enforcement Jurisdiction in which the crime was committed." He was particularly evasive in further explaining what that meant and would not define where that would be, but I would take that to mean where the criminal, Rachael, resides. So use the address shown in your correspondence to report to that PD. But, if you need to further clarification, please call him at the above number.
Secondly, be sure and file the information on your case using the form on the Internet Crime Complaint Center site http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
Thirdly, seek a refund from Paypal immediately. . .I believe that you have 30 days.
Best of good wishes in your life,
terry
BTW, what is with the dates on these posts being incorrect?
@brvision: BTW, what is with the dates on these posts being incorrect?
They aren't incorrect. You just necro'd a thread from a month ago.
I'm fairly new to this site and am just sadly seeing this post. I did a transaction with this "Rachael Haataja", who is claiming to be Rachel Lawrence. She is now using a new signer name. "Raulsgirl" and using the email raullovesrach@gmail.com . I am only just noticing this because I started reading the chain of posts and read the name Rachael Haataja and suddenly realized I remember seeing that name somewhere. I just looked back at the invoice that was sent to me and it is this same person!!! Luckily, we were able to dispute the charge of $165.00 for "bling napkin rings" and I am waiting for my $$ back. Is there any way of stopping her? She keeps making these fraud accounts....
That's a shame! Why do people have to be so deceiving? So ridiculous! Thanks for info? I've seen this somewhere else too about not buying from some other person too.
@Crod8308: oh no! I hope you actually get your money back! It seems that this is what she offered most others and they never got it back ...
@Crod8308: Please contact the support team in the upper left hand corner of the screen. The more info they have the easier they can combat scammer like this.
@tksjewelry: Ok. Will do. Again, I'm pretty new so I wasn't sure where to put it. Thanks again!!
You must log in to post.
| Visit our sister sites | eHarmony Online Dating |
eHarmony Advice Dating Advice |
Project Wedding Wedding Songs |
JustMommies Pregnancy Calendar |
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
| User | Posts Today |
|---|---|
| kate02121 | 12 |
| ndreighton | 11 |
| cbeyelia | 6 |
| rivierabridal | 6 |
| ladyartichoke | 5 |
| ozpeony | 5 |
| takemyhand | 5 |
| ohmystars28 | 5 |
| bonkeyball3 | 4 |
| dressamore | 4 |
Sorry, there are no users yet.
I'm not sure where to post this but since this transaction took place on weddingbee, I'm posting it here in the hopes that all bees see it!
DO NOT, without very careful research & verification, purchase anything from Rachael H., aka "BudgetBling or Budget Bling".
Something about the transaction felt "off" to me but I did my research & figured that I had nothing to lose. The deal on the paper lanterns she was offering me was good (but not amazing enough to look like a scam off the bat).
I paid for paper lanterns (via PayPal) that I never received. She offered me my $ back (after a long chain of emails with endless excuses) and I requested the option of a refund. She put it through (via PayPal) but I still haven't rec'd it (due to insufficient funds in the "Sellers" account). I am working with PayPal to put a claim through & get my $ back.
I don't think I'm the first person she's scammed & I'm pursuing all possible avenues to report her to the authorities (local & federal). This is definitely not an isolated case as after a more careful web search, I found some postings from others who've had similar experiences.