Credit Card Scam

[Paul]

I ahve been approached by a person to provide 350 smoke detectors.  Obviously this is a large sum of money for an individual to be forking out.

The individual asks to pay via Credit Cards (4) and the only contact I have is via a Hotmail email??

Sounds fishy to me.  But

I can not see how the individual could pull a scam from this?  
Has anyone else been approached in this way?  Is it the oldest scam in the book and I am just so stupid I can't see it?

I have all the usual stuff, from winning the Euro Lottery to opening swiss accounts for African bank ministers etc, but this???  never had such a strange one.


I would be interested to hear from anyone else who has had a simualr encounter.

PAUL

[Viking]

Could be stolen credit cards, cloned credit cards or it could be genuine.  Personally I would only accept bankers draft or only send them when the credit card company has paid up.  There are so many scams running at present it is worth the effort to check and double check.  Tried to sell a car through autotrader and, yes you guessed it, some one tried the scam of 'I pay you more than the car is worth if you give the balance to a business friend I owe money to in your country' etc etc.  When challenged for the first time all sounded genuine, when challenged for a second time, ie. let me meet the person you owe the money to first, no further replies.  Be careful.

[Paul]

Yes agree,


I must admit I'm interested to see what else She's going to come back with.


I've even priced well over the odds and told Her that I will add 10% for using Credit cards, just to see if she would tell me to sod off.  Bu no, still happyu to go ahead.

Strange but true!!

[dave bev]

if it sounds too good to be true ..............

dave bev

[Paul]

Everything that is usualy isn't

[terry]

Hi,

We have received several similar requests for products. They usually start by asking if we accept credit cards and continue with the statement that they have looked at our web site and want to order some materials. It is always a hotmail address.

The scam is that they will order the goods and which will be delivered by you when the card payment goes through. As soon as they receive the goods they will notify the card company that there is a problem with the quality of the goods you sent. The credit card company will take the money frm your account (chargeback) and refund the 'purchaser'.

You will be left with no money and your goods in an African country somewhere (probably Nigeria).

My advice is for you not to accept any credit card payments. Either do it by Bank Transfer in advance of sending the goods or Letter of Credit (irrevocable and at sight). I don't think you will hear from them again.

Best thing to do is to put them on your 'blocked senders list'

Good luck and don't be conned

Regards

Terry

[Paul]

Many thanks for this Terry.

You live and learn.  When I discussed this with the Bank they told me to go through with it, as there was nothing they could do once th emoney was in my account.

I appreciate this thankyou!!

Regards

Paul

[jimjones]

I recieved a similar offer recently via email, amsing that after all these years they're still trying this tired old scums!

[Chris Houston]

I'd recommend against it, if it turns out to be dodgy it is you who will be out of pocket.

Anyone who is serious about buying things should be more than happy to tell your their contact details and pay in a normall manner.

Why not just be honest and say "I am nervous about this, I would like you to pay by cheque, cash" etc

[Wiz]

I have had exactly the same type of emails (especially from, but not limited to, Africa). All of them ask if we accept credit card payment.

Terry's answer above is spot on.

The card company will 'chargeback' the money from your account due to some spurious reason put forward by the buyer or more likely because it will be found that the purchaser's card is invalid. It doesn't matter if your credit card terminal initially accepts the card details or even if the you have already received the money to your account from the card company. The bank will take it back and leave you to argue it out!  The 'card' rules that protect individuals do not apply to businesses.

Because of this I am stunned by the advice given by Psmith's bank. It is the wrong advice.


The golden rules in these cases are:

1) Do not carry out financial transactions with anyone who has only a Hotmail address.

2) Be wary of anyone who needs the transaction to be carried out quickly.

3) Be extra wary of doing business with people in 'third world' countries.

4) Ensure all payments are received by a 'cast iron' method of transfer.

[Davo]

Psmith

If the lady is abroad, how did they know you could provide detectors?
And why detectors? Surely you scam something a bit more marketable?


davo

[Wiz]

Psmith

If the lady is abroad, how did they know you could provide detectors?
And why detectors? Surely you scam something a bit more marketable?


davo

These people obviously use the internet to find out who can supply large quantities of product at good prices. Even when they are not intending to pay, they are still looking for the cheapest supplier to keep the credit card transaction value low enough not to 'flag up' a potential problem warning at the card company as the transaction goes through (if the card is stolen or cloned).

Anything you get for nothing is profitable when you sell it on!  Even African countries have fire alarm systems!  

350 addressable detectors in Africa would cost over £10,000 from local legitimate sources. An installationm company being offered detectors at half-price would snap them up, giving the scammer a cool £5,000 profit.

Even the big detector manufacturers in the U.K. receive these 'scam'  purchase requests from third-world countries and have had their fingers burnt in the past.

[messy]

Useful details here how do deal with such scams:................................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN3momCGyWw&feature=related

[Psuedonym]

One more crude response could be: "Foxtrot Oscar dear potential customer. You've been sussed."