Strange offers from businesses

[dpd1]

I'm sure everybody gets these, but I've never bothered to figure out what the deal is. I'm in the US... What's up with the email you get from foreign businesses that say they're wanting quotes for products you don't even sell? The emails are often strange in their content... I got one today where the majority of one of my web pages had been pasted in it's entirety (html) in the email. I blow off most of these, but some actually try again when they don't get an answer.

[MLHmptn]

One word....FRAUD.

Beware!

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

They wouldn't happen to start with "Do you ship to Nigeria?" by any chance? ;)

[gpilling]

I have been getting a lot of "Do you sell widgets? I need one, but I don't care which one" emails.

Except that our widgets are very specific and buying just any widget wouldn't be useful. Also, they want me to ship to Africa.... so 'delete'

[Rugles]

Ya, its fraud.

I have been getting lots of them wanting me to ship to Australia lately.

[LifeinAsia]

My first guess would have been SPAMMERS fishing for valid e-mail addresses (you answer, you just confirmed your address). But I could also see attempted fraud as well.

[Wlauzon]

Not all are fraud, some are just bad translations. And some are just spam as a precursor to CC fraud.

[jsinger]

Love the many that say: "I was at your site. you have wonderful products."

Then they ask what we sell, and whether we can ship air to Lagos or, often lately, Singapore (our site clearly says we don't)

---
I've heard of cases where scammers will ask a gullible-looking site (say, one that sells bibles) to send 50 bibles AND also go out and purchase some Iphones to include at cost.

I almost feel sorry for these guys. Their success rate must be approaching zero nowadays.

[HRoth]

I think they are mostly just not very good at English. I get a lot of these. Someone who does not know English very well does a search on a term and finds it on one of my pages and therefore wants to know how many cmt of that widget I want to sell them, and what is my price. Then if I ignore it, they email me again to know why. "Why you not reply us to widget?"

And OTOH, there are the relentless "I want to know if you accept credit cards and if so I want to have them shipped to my store in Australia." They are a little more sophisticated now in that they will sometimes actually ask for something I do sell, generically, anyhow. If I sell a handcrafted blue 16 oz. widget, they will say they are looking for widgets, for example, to send to their store in Australia.

I feel sorry for Australia.

[rachel123]

I just got one of these. Seemed legit at the beginning, just asking for a quote on some bulk quantities of my widgets; fine. I go to the trouble of contacting the manufacturer to get an accurate price on the widgets...so I email back the quote.

Next thing you know, he's wanting me to charge his credit card for the $600 purchase plus $800 (which I am supposed to turn around and wire to his shipping agent), plus $250 (for my time and inconvenience).

Arg. I can't believe anyone falls for this stuff. I am also mad that I spent 3 minutes getting that quote. I have better things to do!

[MLHmptn]

rachel123

The longer your in this game the quicker you will be able to spot fraud. Also you will learn from your lessons as most of us have. There are many many schemes they use. Fraud is not only outside the USA but heavily prevelent here in our own states. I swear anytime I send anything of value I check it out extensively now. Miami is a real hot spot I've noticed lately for fraud. Freight forwarders akin to ship fraudelent orders out and the sad part is there is nobody to track the fraudsters down.

[edited by: MLHmptn at 6:44 am (utc) on Jan. 28, 2009]

[dpd1]

Thanks... I figured most were scams, but I just didn't get what exactly they were trying to accomplish or how. Unless somebody sends me an email like a normal person, introduces themselves and talks about something that actually makes sense... I tend to hit delete. Then on the other hand, I get some pretty weird stuff from actual corporations too. Just played email tennis with 4 separate people from a big company the other day... They kept on asking me what the codes were for certain products, and all this info to put in their database. Then after all that they didn't buy a single thing. No wonder all these companies are going broke. What a waste of time.

[piatkow]

They kept on asking me what the codes were for certain products, and all this info to put in their database.

The last company that I worked kept a database of supplier SKUs but only after we have established a commercial relationship.

[sleepy_eye]

fraud or phishing scam
They try to get a dialog going with you and then later hit you up for a large order.

[JohnRoy]

The longer your in this game the quicker you will be able to spot fraud.
Also you will learn from your lessons as most of us have.

Well said!