Forum Moderators: buckworks
Today we received an order for a laptop that made the salesman (who, luckily for us, is highly experienced) very suspicious - clueless customer, precise timescale for delivery, etc. He claimed we were unable to supply the requested laptop, and offered as substitute a very different machine - this was accepted without any difficulty by the "customer".
After taking (but not charging) the order we found the address had previously been given to us for another order of a laptop a couple of months back. In this case the card was declined, and an attempt to call the customer had found that the telephone number didn't exist.
We called the number given for today's order, and the woman who answered the phone did not live at the address, and had never heard of the person who made the order.
So we have here an obvious fraud. Not only that, we have a precise timescale when the perpetrator is expecting the goods to be delivered to an address that they obviously have some kind of long-term interest in.
All it would need is two policemen in a courier's van, a cardboard box full of old newspapers, a pair of handcuffs... and we have a thief well and truly caught.
We called our local police station - they told us to call the police in the delivery area. We called them, and they told us to call our local police station. We called our local station back, and they told us to write to them and tell them of the incident.
I mean how hard is it? Three or four years ago a company I know of had exactly the same sort of situation; the police did exactly this and arrested the fraudster.
Dealing over the phone, especially with complicated products such as computers, it is often pitifully obvious when you get a fraud attempt. All it would take is a small police operation, working with retailers, and arrests could be made by the dozen - with the right sort of publicity, maybe it could even reduce this kind of fraud nationally. Sorry for the cliche, but what the hell do we pay our taxes for?
Apologies for the rant. Short of a change of heart by our revered constabulary before Tuesday there is nothing anyone can do about this incident, but it just seems to me that a minimal effort by the police could catch a lot of criminals.
Anyone got any bright ideas on how to persuade the police to do something in these cases?
Was anyone threatened? Nope, not a serious crime mate, let me work on the real cases.
Next time, get a name and a badge number.
Also, in Canada, if you say "I need an officer to keep the peace." they must respond by law. They don't have to come right away but they must attend. Does your country have something like this?
Is there a local business association that you could contact like a better business bureau or local chamber of commerce which might be able to add some weight to your complaint/opportunity.
Also, did you ask for an incident number. In Canada all police contacts are logged with an incident number. You can reference the incident number and then identify the officers involved.
Sorry they did little. They are probably over worked on cases they see as having a larger impact on society.
..... Shane
I wouldn't expect our local police station to abandon 999 calls to nick a credit card fraudster or anything like that.
However it just seems so easy for a specialist unit to deal with this sort of problem. Credit card fraud that is carried out within national borders is a very risky affair, and can only survive when the police don't make an effort:
We have a day when this person is going to be at a specific address. If we knew anyone cared it would be trivial to specify a time as well - people who make a career of credit card fraud are not generally potential Mensa candidates.
Surely the minimal outlay needed to turn up to make an arrest in this sort of case would be worth it.
It's not a case of complaining to anyone's superiors - the apathy is organisational.
These units spend a lot of time investigating serious computer crime e.g. offensive material on the internet, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover my local unit were also serious about my reports on fraud attempts, perhaps because it could possibly crack an organised ring. There are also several downloads on their website which describe what they do plus a useful links page.
Hope you make some progress with these fraudsters.
'Cos that the only way youll get the police out in the UK.
This must be so frustrating I see on a regular basis, 3 cop cars with 6 coppers in trying to catch speeding motorists, Come on guys get it together.
How silly of you to report a fraud.
Were the fraudster driving while they phoned the order in? Have they an untaxed car?
heh, should have tried that.. "Yes officer, the suspect definately made the call while driving. Incidentally he was trying to buy goods on a dodgy credit card at the same time."
Oh well, I've calmed down a lot since my initial post - sorry about the rant.
I do realise that the police probably have a few other things to do. It just really irritates me when you speak to someone on the phone and you know they are trying to rip you off - I'd just really love to get one of them sent down.
We've never bothered to report attempted card fraud before, but this time was so definate, with the previous history we had for that address and everything, that I actualy expected someone to take an interest. Another lesson learned I guess.
Last month we had a guy put a £500 order through that looked suspicious. We called the (mobile) number that he left and explained that the items he ordered were not in stock, to which he replied "Never mind - I was gonna hit you with a stolen card anyway." and hung up.
