need advice on ship-to Nigeria

looks like fraud but not sure

[Christi]

We got two orders in this morning--I haven't processed them yet--with bill-to in the UK (where we often ship) and ship-to in Nigeria. Smells like a rat to me. AVS=N. On the other hand, I'd be willing to ship to the UK if I could confirm by e-mail and get the correct billing address with the "customer."

I dunno. Should I just void these and e-mail the purchaser to say we won't ship to Nigeria (even though the site says "We ship worldwide"--kinda).

Thanks for any advice!

Christi

[bcolflesh]

Never ship to Nigeria unless it's cold cash up front.

[Christi]

BTW, I checked the custom report...no declines on this card number before authorization went through.

[Christi]

Thanks. That's my gut feeling too. But should I offer to ship to the UK address if I can get a better (AVS matching) address?

[bcolflesh]

Talk to the card holder in the UK on the phone first.

[Christi]

Okay, thanks. Hate to call the UK but I guess I'll have to.

Christi

[PCInk]

I would cancel the orders and spend my time on real sales.

[moneymancn]

Wire transfer only

MM

[Rossv1]

Wire transfer only

99.99999% chance it's a fraud. I would NOT give them a bank account number for a wire transfer!

[Leosghost]

I only ever saw 2 Nigerian scams that didn't use a UK email address ..they both used Nigerian ones ..Kept them all they're so cute ...

I actually got friends in Nigeria who say they have other variations on these things that they use on tourist on the street ...sort of like mimes in the US..

Do you suppose they get a cut off your phone bill?

[Christi]

Thanks, all. I'm gonna void them out...avoid any chargebacks, lost product, phone call to the UK, yadda yadda. Not worth the effort. I will have to e-mail the UK address though and say sorry, no dice.

Christi

[bcc1234]

I had a lot of those orders lately.
Don't waste your time on it, just stop replying to that person.

I had one guy in chat asking if we would ship to Nigeria, and I said no. So he hung up and reoponed chat in 3 minutes (same ip and session) and asked if we ship to Washington, USA :)

So don't ship it even if that customer gives you a US or UK address. Apparently, they ask for a tracking number later on and divert the package to some forwarding company.

[Christi]

Thanks for that tip...I'll watch the IP addresses. I voided the orders and wrote a nice (but not *too* encouraging) e-mail suggesting if he wants to send a money order, etc., we'll ship. Oy.

[sundog]

I would not even take a M.O. from there if you do make sure you hold it for 2 or 3 weeks to make sure it does not start a fire....

[PCInk]

> Apparently, they ask for a tracking number later on and divert the package to some forwarding company.

They often do this by telling you which courier to use. They have accounts with the courier and can get a redirection because of this. AVS becomes null and void.

> Money orders or Cheques

They may send too much money (by mistake). Then they will contact you and apologise for sending too much money, so they'll ask for that £150 back by cheque, when you send the goods. Of course, in this situation, you have lost £150 cash, the goods, and time.

Glad to hear you cancelled the orders. If they sting you once, they will be back. And their uncles. And their cousins. And their fathers. And their friends...

[luckychucky]

(I guess I need to widget-ize my product line for WebmasterWorld but) I sell highly valuable, compact shiny precious metal widgets with twinkly rocks, of which women are especially fond--in bulk, wholesale.

I am a huge, huge, huge nonstop target of Nigerian scams and I've seen 'em all. My advice:
-whether it's a wire-transfer
-whether they want you to ship to England, Switzerland, the moon
-whatever
Run for the hills.
If it comes from Nigeria, you know it's bad, and
hit yer delete button.
If that's not clear enough for you: NIGERIA = BAD.

It's a shame, there certainly must be honest businesspersons in Nigeria struggling to make a living, and all these criminal miscreants are giving Nigerians a bad name. These honest businesspersons are not sending you unsolicited eMail. Let's all take a moment to shed a tear for them, and update our Spam filters.

If you want someone to take your money, you don't need to send it all the way to Nigeria. I'm local. Please consider me at your service.

[edited by: engine at 6:48 pm (utc) on April 17, 2004]
[edit reason] snipped the e-mail stuff [/edit]

[glengara]

They recently jailed one in the UK, first ever, so it said.....

[dvduval]

It seems the credit card companies don't even take an interest when a Nigerian scammer is using someone else's credit card number. Isn't this true?

[Jon_King]

There is always a chance to be taken. Start with small order values, something you can afford to lose in case of the worst.

We keep a Paypal account for accounts without credit history. Have them put money into your account and wait until the funds have cleared before you ship. A signature should be required on the receiving end.

As a relationship of trust is gained gradually increase the amount you will ship.

Caveat: Nigeria has long been known for scam email enticements and although I have never heard of someone actually being taken I would be very careful.

[Leosghost]

jon king ...i have snowball for sale ..I can do you a deal ..

[Jon_King]

Leosghost,

I live in Haiti. When can you ship? Doesn't matter, just ship COD asap. Everybody knows me here, just ship to Haiti :)

[Symbios]

It seems the credit card companies don't even take an interest when a Nigerian scammer is using someone else's credit card number. Isn't this true?

Its not just the Nigerian scammers its becoming more of a problem with some of our UK customers now, seems that many make a little on the side by ordering from websites then disputing later on, as a result we end up having to deal with chargebacks, in every case we have evidence that products were ordered, delivered and signed for, we even have photo copies of driving licenses etc faxed to us before we ship on higher value items.

My point is that these people regularly making chargebacks are commiting fraud and its about time the credit card companies took legal action.

[SlowMove]

You could just pass the email address around, and ship them some fast food wrappers and empty soda cans.

[Jon_King]

>>My point is that these people regularly making chargebacks are commiting fraud and its about time the credit card companies took legal action.

I agree. I have seen this fraud especially in online software sales. The software is downloaded, the CC transaction is charged back as fraudulent and the product is gone with no recourse.

[Christi]

Wow, the things I never considered...like a cc owner in the U.K. taking a cut. Yikes. We have a lot of customers in the U.K., but we also put a lot of individualized service into our processing, like e-mailing if there's a question about <widget> format, for instance. Mostly we fly under the radar, which helps, but it's true the cc companies don't give a rat's behind.

Anybody wanna talk about Indonesia? Had a bad one once, ordered 10 widgets going not to Indonesia but to some other (legit) country. Wrong. Damn good thing UPS refuses to redirect to another country. Lost the product, but our margins are pretty good so we just ate it and had UPS destroy the package.

Okay, happy weekend! I'm goin' to meet the Easter Bunny.

Christi

[Christi]

The latest news. Here's the response from the guy in the U.K. to my e-mail. (I've already voided the orders.)

>hello,
you are telling me that you cant ship my order to nigeria after taking out of my money from credit card,pls if you dont want problem ,pls ship my order to the nigeria address i gave to you.OR.i will travel to u.s and sue you to court of law.for rubbering,and i will contact my advocate in u.s and i will make sure you web page be seized be government o.k,pls reply now,<

LOL. The irony is, our product probably wouldn't make it past customs in Nigeria!

[bcolflesh]

sue you to court of law.for rubbering

Rubbering normally keeps one out of court.

[Christi]

I don't even know what rubbering is. Any help?

[PCInk]

Have you taken money from the card? If you have, refund it. Then he has no legal course for action.

[Christi]

After getting your advice here on Friday, I billed the orders then immediately voided them. I know he's got no recourse. And I suspect he's *not* from the U.K., given his use of language, but from Nigeria. Maybe with a stolen card, I don't know.

Christi