Author Topic: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?  (Read 3569 times)

Offline yoohoo

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Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« on: May 12, 2016, 07:19:05 PM »
Friend of mine is in the plastic business. One of his popular items is the plastic bags used to vacuum pack (ie mealmart deli). He pretty much has only sold to Jewish business in the tri state area.

Recently he received an email from a man in Tuvalu Island, a tiny island in the pacific near Australia.
Doesnt know how he found his business.
Strange part: He said he wants to make an order of about $400 worth bags and he will arrange shipping. He got him a quote for shipping of $2000! but said he will pay it along with merchandise and the he fwd it to shipper via check.
Credit Card payment has cleared. $ has been deposited. Items on the way.
Today he emails him to place similar order (1st order hasn't reached him yet)...he also asks to be Skyped....

Am I missing something??
« Last Edit: May 12, 2016, 07:37:00 PM by yoohoo »

Online dovy2

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2016, 07:28:44 PM »
I'm missing the party where you come in. First it was a friend and then it changed to me..

Offline Zevi16

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2016, 07:29:47 PM »
Lol... Was wondering also

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2016, 07:33:04 PM »
Sorry for the poor writing. I'm asking on behalf of him. Nothing to do with me

Offline whYME

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2016, 07:38:39 PM »
So let me get this straight.
He pays you $2400 via Credit Card and you send $400 worth of plastic to the pacific and send a check for $2000 to some shipper he found?
Smells like a scam to me.

my best guess is it's a stolen CC and will be charged back at some point.

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2016, 07:42:13 PM »
I told him not to ship again. It's just so strange that he found his business. It's not listed anywhere....

Offline Tzadik Nistar

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2016, 08:06:45 PM »
When selling international only accept wire transfer as payment and you are good to go

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2016, 09:49:34 AM »
Update: original shipping quote was 2k. Before it was shipped he wanted to more than double his order and was charged an additional 3k in freight cost.  He arranged for a label to be sent   A FedEx label was emailed 870Lbs overnighted to an address in Vernon California. Friend sent me copy of label. I googled address and cargo forwarding company did come up. Since I told him i think it's a scam I had him email the buyer a bunch of questions (such as why does label have random name on it and not his own) and that he's not passing on the additional 3k to the shipping company until he provides documents proving he's legit.
This morning he received this email:

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2016, 09:50:59 AM »
Came from a hotmail email address. Too many mistakes in it.

Offline Geshmak25

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2016, 09:59:09 AM »
Not really understanding the situation - is the buyer paying the shipping bill directly ($400 to seller and $2K to shipping) or is he paying the seller $2,400 and the seller is paying $2K to shipping?

If it's the first scenario I don't see any problem. If it's the second scenario I agree with whYME's post above.
PUTPAC = PITA

Offline sillypainter

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #10 on: May 13, 2016, 10:02:32 AM »
I have a lot of experience with this being in the e-commerce world for ore than ten years.

It's NOT uncommon for a legitimate buyer from an African nation to seek you out, they need a good supplier, that's not an issue at all.

You need to look into the following.

1. Is there is any major use for this product for a general Nigerian basement scanner. It looks like your product doesn't fall into this category.  It's vacuum packed plastics, why the he'll does a Nigerian scanner need this?

2. Ask him for a picture of his ID ANF credit card, both sides as he holds it in his hands. The picture must be made from a phones and it must have a photo of him holding the I'd card and of him holding the credit card, both sides.

3. Wait AT LEAST 15 business days until you fulfill this order.

4. Ask him to send you a photo of his office in Tuvalu where he sits at his desk. You can SEE a lot in an office photo.  Tell him to pose in a certain way, so he doesn't just Google up some random office ohotit.

If he meets the above he is good to go.

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #11 on: May 13, 2016, 10:18:37 AM »
Not really understanding the situation - is the buyer paying the shipping bill directly ($400 to seller and $2K to shipping) or is he paying the seller $2,400 and the seller is paying $2K to shipping?

If it's the first scenario I don't see any problem. If it's the second scenario I agree with whYME's post above.
he's sending 2400 to seller. Seems he used service like uship or the like and is having seller send the $ to them. the label was legit, I just don't see where he can be fooling him other than it may be a stolen credit card or he will claim he never gets it...

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #12 on: May 13, 2016, 10:20:11 AM »
It was a 3rd person in Texas who got in touch with him regarding shipping. He sent a label and then asked for money to be sent.

Offline DealHunter

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #13 on: May 13, 2016, 10:50:24 AM »
I'm sorry to say, but unfortunately this is 100% a scam. A few key flags:

- sending you a cc payment which can be a stolen number, and asking for you to shell out cash to someone else. Big no-no.

- suddenly upping his order with MORE cash for you to shell out, once he realizes he has you.

- hotmail email account as you mentioned. Untraceable. I'm sure their government has official email domains and don't need hotmail.

- this one is an interesting catch. Notice in the email he sent you, how there are a few "double spaces" in the text. Two spaces in between words, instead of one space. Those extra spaces are around words and sentences that would need to be customized for your particular scam case. Meaning, he has a standard boilerplate email that he uses to scam people, only he has to customize it here and there with the details of each case, and hence the double spaces there because he is not being careful with the editing. Which makes it easier for us to spot ;)

And if that didn't convince you, finally, the damning proof:

http://glassmagazine.com/glassblog/warning-fake-shipping-company-scam

Sorry to disappoint you. But a good lesson for all of us.
Best of luck..

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #14 on: May 13, 2016, 11:01:19 AM »
I have a lot of experience with this being in the e-commerce world for ore than ten years.

It's NOT uncommon for a legitimate buyer from an African nation to seek you out, they need a good supplier, that's not an issue at all.

You need to look into the following.

1. Is there is any major use for this product for a general Nigerian basement scanner. It looks like your product doesn't fall into this category.  It's vacuum packed plastics, why the he'll does a Nigerian scanner need this?

2. Ask him for a picture of his ID ANF credit card, both sides as he holds it in his hands. The picture must be made from a phones and it must have a photo of him holding the I'd card and of him holding the credit card, both sides.

3. Wait AT LEAST 15 business days until you fulfill this order.

4. Ask him to send you a photo of his office in Tuvalu where he sits at his desk. You can SEE a lot in an office photo.  Tell him to pose in a certain way, so he doesn't just Google up some random office ohotit.

If he meets the above he is good to go.
. Tx. Passed it on

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #15 on: May 13, 2016, 11:02:21 AM »
I'm sorry to say, but unfortunately this is 100% a scam. A few key flags:

- sending you a cc payment which can be a stolen number, and asking for you to shell out cash to someone else. Big no-no.

- suddenly upping his order with MORE cash for you to shell out, once he realizes he has you.

- hotmail email account as you mentioned. Untraceable. I'm sure their government has official email domains and don't need hotmail.

- this one is an interesting catch. Notice in the email he sent you, how there are a few "double spaces" in the text. Two spaces in between words, instead of one space. Those extra spaces are around words and sentences that would need to be customized for your particular scam case. Meaning, he has a standard boilerplate email that he uses to scam people, only he has to customize it here and there with the details of each case, and hence the double spaces there because he is not being careful with the editing. Which makes it easier for us to spot ;)

And if that didn't convince you, finally, the damning proof:

http://glassmagazine.com/glassblog/warning-fake-shipping-company-scam

Sorry to disappoint you. But a good lesson for all of us.
Best of luck..
thank you

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #16 on: May 13, 2016, 03:31:35 PM »
This is the scam in detail:

http://www.sevencolonial.com/seven-colonial-targeted-international-shipping-scam/

After pressing for more info he actually sent a copy of a DHL label and I confirmed it with DHL that it's real.

He obviously will void the label....

Offline mgarfin

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #17 on: May 15, 2016, 09:44:46 AM »
Nice, if you pm me his email, ip, I can get you lots of info.
I deal with this every day.

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #18 on: May 15, 2016, 10:18:02 AM »
Nice, if you pm me his email, ip, I can get you lots of info.
I deal with this every day.
where do i find that?

Offline yoohoo

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Re: Looking for advice - am I being scammed in any way?
« Reply #19 on: May 15, 2016, 10:18:47 AM »
where do i find that?

1 was hollywoodship1@gmail.com
Another: mullerchris25@hotmail.com