23rd August, 2010
In a continuing effort to warn other small businesses about these fake shipping / order scams and to expose these scam artists, below please find a collection of these fake orders I have received recently.
Seriously people, this stuff is for real and not just urban legends! I just met an exhibitor at the CGTA Gift Show recently who got ripped off by one these assholes. She lost $10,000 and the police are doing nothing about it. Here’s a quick summary of her experience:
My friend is a talented designer of diaper bags. She got one of these emails from a buyer in Japan (by the buyer I mean the scam artist). She was really excited that a store so far away was interested in her work so she emailed him back with catalogue and purchasing info for her company.
The scam artist wrote back right away and they exchanged a few emails back and forth, going over styles they’d like to order. The whole thing was very real. They even spoke on the phone a couple times.
For every style that was discontinued or not available, the scam artist would order another style. He kept adding styles until the order reached about $15,000.
When the order was complete, the scam artist tells my friend that he wants to use a certain shipping company he always deals with. He gave her the shipping company’s contact info and address. He asked that she pays the shipping company for shipping($10,000), then he would pay her for the goods ($15,000), plus the shipping costs (so $25,000 total), with a credit card.
Now my friend is no spring chicken so she googled the shipping company and the store in Japan that the scam artist allegedly owns. The shipping company was based in Atlanta Georgia. Both the shipping company and the store in Japan had a legitimate websites, contact info and by all accounts came across as real businesses.
So she pays $10,000 to the shipping company with her own money, then as promised, the guy gave her a credit card number to ring through all the charges. She rings through the charges and everything seems hunky dory.
Here’s the scam. Unbeknown to my friend, the credit card number the scam artist gave her is from a stolen card.
When the credit card company found out that the card she used is stolen, SHE’S the one on the hook! Not the fake buyer, not the shipping company and not the stolen credit card owner. SHE (the merchant) had to pay back the $10,000 (plus they kicked her off the debit / credit card machine program).
** Keep in mind people, the scam is NOT for your goods. They couldn’t give a crap about your goods! The scam is for the money you pay to the shipping company. In this case the $10,000. **
The credit card companies just need to find someone to pay for that $10,000. In their opinion you’re the idiot merchant who accepted payment from a stolen credit card so you’re the one paying that back.
When she asked the credit card company if there was something she could’ve done to prevent this to have happened. The un-sympathetic customer service rep said, “Yeah stop being so stupid next time”.
When she went to the police for help with catching this guy (’cos he was still calling her AFTER she realized it was a scam, how creepy is that!?). Even with a slew of contact info, print outs of all the emails exchanged, IP address, names and phone numbers of the culprits, the cops said they were unable to help. They said it was a “Victimless Crime”.
My friend is a smart cookie and not an idiot, she just didn’t know better in this instance. Her biggest mistake was to open herself up to these people in the first place. By responding to that first email she opened herself up to these assholes.
Hulk Mad!! It seems especially malicious for these jerks to target small businesses and not every small business can take a $10,000 hit like this. PLEASE let her misfortune be a warning to us all. Be careful out there!
I hope everyone out there who gets one of these fake shipping scam emails are doing their homework and Googling the buyer’s name. And I REALLY hope they will stumble on this blog post!
Everyone else who’s reading this and have received a fake shipping scam email, please post a a copy of the email you received in the comments section. Hopefully we can stop these bastards from ripping off anyone else.
So here it is, the new fake shipping scam emails I received recently. And for a list of other fake shipping scam emails I’ve received, please click here.
******
Good Day
This mail is to make an inquiry on the below Questions.
Do you Ship oversea or do intend to start Shipping oversea? (though i already know of a Freight Forwarder that will pick my packages from you,since they ship at a lesser price than any other courier and they are so effective in shipping my goods to me here in my remote area in Victoria, Australia is estimated to be 3-4days. I have used their service in the past and it was splendid and Cost Effective.
PAYMENT MODE……………….CREDIT CARD
kindly send me price list of your TOP 10 sales item and their availability or inventory list of your latest collections as an attach file to my emailbox so we can proceed with the order.
Should you require and further clarifications do not hesitate to contact the undersigned.
Fred Palmer
Owner
Fredretailstorex
******
Dear Seller,
We are a trading company based in West Africa ( Ivory Coast ), also have our branches in Mali, Togo and Bokina Faso, we are interested in making a trade relationship with your company in terms of ordering and it is on this, that we have writing this mail to you and also to let you know that we are interested in your products for purchase:
1 - Can you export your products: towards Africa VIA UPS, DHL or EXPRESS POSTAL SERVICE?
2 - Can you give us wholesales price ?
3 - We also want you to know that we usually make payment with our? corporate credit card account since it is fast and effective due to government restriction on money transfer outside the shore of Ivory coast to check mate opposition funding.
NB: Please confirm all this by E-mail to us so that we can make our order.
REGARDS,
MRS. MARY TAYLOR
MARY B. CLOTHING STORES
RUE BLVD DU VINCENT
COCODY, ABIDJAN.
IVORY COAST( COTE D’IVOIRE)
******
Good day,
I want to place an order in your store,and I will like to know if you ship to Tokyo,JAPAN and my payment will be remitted via Visa/Master Card issued in US bank. So please let me know if you can assist me with the order,and please do not forget to include your website in your reply.Your quick response will be highly appreciated,I will be very glad if you treat this email with good concern.
Regards,
Tom Mark
****
