Forum Moderators: buckworks
Three weeks ago I received an URGENT email from a person whose email address had an .au on the end of it wanting me to ship a bunch of wigits to Canada. The wording was very similar to the Nigeria fraud emails everyone gets.
I explained that our wigits are only one of a kinds (looked like they picked the first things on the first page they got to).
Got return email offering to give me their credit card number if I could tell them how much Canadian customs tax might be. Replied I had no idea, they should order on line (like all the rest of our international customers).
Today I get another email asking for 15 each of 3 very inexpensive items to be sent to Canada immediately.
If this doesn't remind me of the Nigerian order scams! Obviously, I politely told this person: nothing doing, get lost. Anyone else out there get something like this lately?
Why?
Because it's totally out of character with my order history. I seldom sell more than 5 or 10 units of *any* product to a single customer, and we don't offer international ordering. Nobody (except the fraudsters) has *ever* sent an e-mail demanding immediate delivery of 100 of my most expensive widgets. Red flags all over the place.
So I delete the e-mail. I figure that if the "customer" is serious, they'll e-mail again in a few days and maybe warrant a second look. So far, I've never heard back from any of them...
When you answer their e-mail, the game is on, as you've found out. Ignore them and they'll go away.
If you give a mouse a cookie...
Has anyone else out there received similar emails?
Note: Actually, I have had legitimate requests to wholesale my wigits to small retailers in small dusty Canadian towns, and I have wholesaled them to small retailers in equally small and dusty towns in the US of A.
When you answer their e-mail, the game is on, as you've found out. Ignore them and they'll go away.
If you give a mouse a cookie...
Got an order from a 'Jacky Sullivan' shipping to an address in Germany. Noticed the eMail address is a_very_arab_name @ hotmail. .com. Got spooked, figured it was surely a fraud attempt, deleted the order.
A week later I get an international call from an irate American woman named Jacky Sullivan...turns out she works for an Arab German immigrant boss who wanted to sample my stuff prior to a possible huge purchase for his nationwide chain of shops there.
I apologized, tried to explain about how many fraud attempts we get hit with, esp. out of Germany. Told her she sounds legit to me, that I'd be delighted to fill the order now that I know I'm dealing with a real person. She kept repeating that she couldn't believe I'd cancel an order without any notification. I told her doing so would only tip off scammers, give them feedback and entice them to re-try with improved tactics. It was all to no avail. She was livid.
I lost the buyer.
'Prince' Joe Eboh contacts me with a classic 419 opening letter. I decide to make him jump through a few hoops before I'm prepared to agree to his proposition, and the results are amusing AND profitable, to the tune of $80 + $49 DHL shipping, so our scammer is down a whopping total of $129
An excellent and detailed experience of how one clever guy scammed a Nigerian Scammer. Funniest thing you've ever read.
[419eater.com...]
If that link get's taken down, search Google for:
"church of the painted breast 419 Eater"
Enjoy. It made my day.
