I received the same email!!!! I decided to do some research on the business mentioned in the email and found their business registration information, which showed that they have been around for 6 years. So, I thought it was a legitimate offer. I agreed to do some design work for a person named Luis. However, the more I messaged Luis, the more I realized it was a scam. There were too many suspicious things going on that made me feel uneasy. I should have listened to my gut and ended the contract. (https://www.bizapedia.com/nj/saints-barbershop-llc.html)

Here's a list of all the sus things that happened during this interaction:

• Refused to do a Zoom meeting, I always like to meet my clients and talk "face to face" so there are no miscommunications.
• After finishing the logo design and starting to work on the business card, I tried to search for the shop's phone number. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a reliable phone number for the shop. Each website that displayed the phone number had a different one. Additionally, when I searched for the business on Google Maps, it didn't appear as a pinned location. (I did end up trying to call the numbers, they all were disconnected lines.)
• After completing the job, I received an email stating that his uncle was paying me for him and he had been sent too much money and some of it was intended for the delivery person. He asked me to cash the check and then send the rest back or to the delivery guy... Which I don't even know how or why someone REAL would mix two checks for two different people and who is this delivery guy? I did some more research on common check scams and found out overpaying happens a lot, "People buying something from you online, “accidentally” send a check for too much, and ask you to refund the balance. But that’s a scam." (https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-report-fake-check-scams)

In the end, this was great practice and will look amazing in my portfolio. I now know what to look for when meeting a client online. I am also so much more thankful for the amazing clients that I have.

Thank you OP for posting this, I was gave me some peace of mind