Order from Nigeria

Should I fulfill it?

[diamondgrl]

Our average order is $40.

We just got an order of $4000 for 80 items from Lagos, "Niger". The customer has a Yahoo address.

Should I fulfill it?

[Pause ...]

[Pause ...]

[Trying desperately not to laugh]

[Rugles]

I got a bunch of credit card numbers from Lagos yesterday. Maybe they are the same numbers.

[phantombookman]

There's a guy on a book related board who lives in Nigeria and is campaigning against these people.

He complains, understandably I suppose, that it is all but impossible for anyone in his country to legitimately order on the internet.
Regards
Rod

[otc_cmnn]

I imagine that somewhere along Main Street in Lagos there is a great little shop where you can choose from a wide selection of quality designer goods at UNBELIEVABLY low prices.

Someday we should organize an eCommerce junket to Lagos. Maybe that is where the next Internet Retailer Trade Show should be held....

[bakedjake]

In my previous e-commerce experience, if we even had to ask this question:

Should I fulfill it?

The answer was "no".

[diamondgrl]

bakedjake,

it's sort of like the rule i developed a long time ago when i was having a dream and i was worried about whether it really was one - either because i was scared or because i was going to do something i might later regret. and it took me thinking about this when i was awake to realize the answer: if i ever wonder whether i am dreaming, i am.

from then on, i could apply the reasoning in my dream and chill out.

[Essex_boy]

Im getting hit heavily with these recently, its really odd I dont sell easily resaleable or high value items.

Reoccuring theme is they ask do ship to central bugga bugga or they have a large order they'd like to place and how quickly can I deliver.

...About as quick as i can press the delete button

[Rugles]

I do feel sorry for the honest souls in Nigeria, it must really suck. Every time you try to contact somebody from outside of your country they think you are a crook.
Like everything else in the world, it is the few who ruin it for the many.

[CanadianChris]

Use AVS (Address Verification System) on the card that he used to pay for the order. If the address on the card is anywhere outside of Nigeria, cancel the order. If the AVS succeeds, then there's a fairly good chance that the order is legitmate and that your products are being paid for honestly, which will then be used for a pyramid schemes ;)

[diamondgrl]

Cool! Just got another order from Nigeria for $2000. Soon we probably should focus all of our sales efforts on Nigeria.

[seunosewa]

"I do feel sorry for the honest souls in Nigeria, it must really suck. Every time you try to contact somebody from outside of your country they think you are a crook. Like everything else in the world, it is the few who ruin it for the many."
What really sucks is when you want to sell online, and no third party payment processor will accept sellers from your country (Merchant Accounts are out of the question). Technology 'leaders' in the country like to eloquently describe the Internet as something to help us bridge the "digital divide". But wait, we can't buy, we can't sell, and it doesn't matter what we have to offer.

[gpilling]

I got a cashiers check from Sweden last year - it was from Bank of America and the manager at the local branch even thought it was real....

The sender was buying a classic car from me, and wanted me to use the money to pay for shipping as well as the car - and just to include the extra as cash with the car.

It took the bank about an hour to figure out it was fake. Amazing that they were that slow, even when I told them it probably was.

[luckychucky]

Use AVS (Address Verification System) on the card that he used to pay for the order.

CanadianChris, my understanding is that AVS doesn't work internationally, outside of USA/Canada.

[cotc]

Yes that is my understanding (and my payment proccesor's) that AVS is only of use in the same country as you are trading from.

for example if i was trading for the UK then no problem if credit card billing address is in the UK, but if the order was placed in the US then because my credit card issuer is in the UK the AVS will come back as "not checked"

[Import Export]

Anytime these orders come in we send out a generic sorry notice along with a refund. It's just not worth it..

[MrFishGuy]

I think all of you are wrong. You think that these high priced sales from Nigeria must be fraud, but I know this is not true and I can prove it! I just got an email from a guy in Nigeria who is the son of a dead political leader. He offered to share 30 millions dollars with me if I help him get it out of the country. That proves there is lots of money to spend from Nigeria!

Gotta go now. I'm off to my bank to get money to send him to help get the thirty million out. Woohoo! Huge payday for me! ;^P

[seunosewa]

Hope you know that some of the people who send these mails are not Nigerians, or residing in Nigeria.

[Automan Empire]

Now, why exactly would someone from outside Nigeria pretend to be from Nigeria when soliciting by E-mail? I could see it the other way around...?

BTW, these guys love to hit up auto repair shops with odd orders, like 20 fuel pumps for one not-so-new BMW model. Usually it is done by phone relay service, so by the time you get to the order, a lot of time and exasperation has been invested... makes it hard to hang up if you sniff fraud.

[wattsnew]

On...and on Nigeria. So is there any way to accept payment from Nigeria short of diamonds in possession of my lawyer? No, not diamonds, maybe US Treasuries (but the dollar is falling....)

Seriously, I get these orders too, and waste time emailing "International Bank cashier's check only when cleared" until there is no more response. I've never got a check. But how would the legitimate buyer in Nigeria be able to pay? I heaven't heard any foolproof, semi-convenient ideas.

W

[seunosewa]

a) Bank wire transfer.
b) (maybe)Services like e-Gold.
c) A few people have credit cards.
d) More people have relatives abroad who do.

[walkman]

"Technology 'leaders' in the country like to eloquently describe the Internet as something to help us bridge the "digital divide". But wait, we can't buy, we can't sell, and it doesn't matter what we have to offer. "

I feel your pain, but if you're Visa or a store owner and let's say 30% (I'm probably being generous) of the sales from a country are fraud, you have to protect your business, divide or not.

[incrediBILL]

To stop the rash of fraud sales which still have very real transaction fees, we removed NIGERIA, INDONESIA and a couple of other countries from our country list during checkout. The credit card won't clear if they can't specify their country so it solved that problem.

I hate to scare people, but also be on the lookout for what I call "multi-country transactions". My cart alerts me when the origin IP address of the order doesn't match the user selected country. In most cases when this happens the email address origin is yet another country. For example, we have had orders that originate from a vietnam IP address, email host in france, with a canadian ship-to address. A quick phone call verified it was a fraud.

Enjoy.