Are You a Potential Victim?
By Cheryl Yakem
Stitch 'n Stuff
**Warning**
This article is representative of my personal experience and findings and is intended only to bring awareness of an internet scam. Please be sure to verify all credit card information with your merchant and use caution and discretion before accepting or declining any business.
We’ve all no doubt received e-mails from unknown parties promising shares of large sums of money or other similar plots that are quite easy to identify as scams. However, there’s a smarter breed of scammer making their way through legitimate businesses these days. How do they do it? They pose as real customers.
Every business from diapers to sundries to electronics and more can be a target. So long as you have a product that can be physically delivered, you have what they want. From what I have found from my inquiries, the targets seem to be small to medium sized businesses.
The basis of the scam is that they request a quote to place an order with your company. Usually it’s a good size order; probably a little more than what you’d normally expect, and certainly enough to get excited about. They say it’s for a charity, orphanage, hospital, or some other well deserving good cause, which makes you feel happy to know that your products will be put to good use for those in need. The quote is requested by a Doctor, CEO, or other high ranking person. Perhaps this makes you drop your guard, just a little, so you entertain their request for a quote and anxiously await their response. A day or two later, you get the e-mail you’ve been waiting for; your quote has been accepted. But there’s a catch; they want the products ASAP. Your mind races trying to figure out how you could possibly deliver these products in a short period of time, and since they gave you their credit card information, you know they’re serious about following through with their. They also ask that these products be shipped air freight as there’s a dire need for them, so off to work you go. You process their credit card payment when the product ships and it’s a done deal, right? Wrong.
What you didn’t know was that the credit card didn’t belong to them and they weren’t who they said they were. It turns out the credit card was stolen, or obtained by dubious means and the credit card company, once they realize this, tells you, the vendor, that they want that money back. But, by now your products have shipped, and you’re out of pocket for your inventory and the expensive air freight or priority shipping charges.
How can you protect yourself? There are a number of things that have been identified as “red flags” to watch out for. These include:
• Shipments destined for Nigeria. There are no doubt many legitimate businesses in Nigeria, but as of late many, many scams have originated there. Even the credit card companies are advising against shipping anything there, and using extreme caution if you choose to do so.
• A customer who wishes to have the payment for their order split over 2 credit cards
• A customer who wants everything, including shipping paid up front, in one transaction on the two credit cards
• A first time customer
• Larger than normal orders
• Providing credit card information over “secure” e-mail
• Ordering multiples of the same item
• A customer who asks for rush, overnight or air freight shipping
• Shipping to an international location (not just Nigeria)
• The customer may provide the CVV2 code (the 3 digit security code on the back of the credit card); this does not mean it’s a legitimate card and transaction.
• A customer who refuses to pay in installments (i.e. Put down a deposit, or be billed for shipping separately once the charges are confirmed, etc.)
• A customer who refuses to pay with Pay Pal
To protect yourself, always make sure you get all of the credit card information including the customer’s name, phone number, the credit card number with expiry date, CVV2 code and the customer’s address (as it appears on their account statement), so you can verify all of this with the credit card company prior to processing the transaction. If the information they gave you does not match the information on file with the bank, you are very possibly dealing with a scam. Visa also advises that you can request a “code 10” authorization from one of their representatives.
Taking a couple of small steps to verify the payment information you have been given will take a little bit of your time and may cost a long distance call, but it may be some of the best time you’ve ever spent.
Stitch 'n Stuff
**Warning**
This article is representative of my personal experience and findings and is intended only to bring awareness of an internet scam. Please be sure to verify all credit card information with your merchant and use caution and discretion before accepting or declining any business.
We’ve all no doubt received e-mails from unknown parties promising shares of large sums of money or other similar plots that are quite easy to identify as scams. However, there’s a smarter breed of scammer making their way through legitimate businesses these days. How do they do it? They pose as real customers.
Every business from diapers to sundries to electronics and more can be a target. So long as you have a product that can be physically delivered, you have what they want. From what I have found from my inquiries, the targets seem to be small to medium sized businesses.
The basis of the scam is that they request a quote to place an order with your company. Usually it’s a good size order; probably a little more than what you’d normally expect, and certainly enough to get excited about. They say it’s for a charity, orphanage, hospital, or some other well deserving good cause, which makes you feel happy to know that your products will be put to good use for those in need. The quote is requested by a Doctor, CEO, or other high ranking person. Perhaps this makes you drop your guard, just a little, so you entertain their request for a quote and anxiously await their response. A day or two later, you get the e-mail you’ve been waiting for; your quote has been accepted. But there’s a catch; they want the products ASAP. Your mind races trying to figure out how you could possibly deliver these products in a short period of time, and since they gave you their credit card information, you know they’re serious about following through with their. They also ask that these products be shipped air freight as there’s a dire need for them, so off to work you go. You process their credit card payment when the product ships and it’s a done deal, right? Wrong.
What you didn’t know was that the credit card didn’t belong to them and they weren’t who they said they were. It turns out the credit card was stolen, or obtained by dubious means and the credit card company, once they realize this, tells you, the vendor, that they want that money back. But, by now your products have shipped, and you’re out of pocket for your inventory and the expensive air freight or priority shipping charges.
How can you protect yourself? There are a number of things that have been identified as “red flags” to watch out for. These include:
• Shipments destined for Nigeria. There are no doubt many legitimate businesses in Nigeria, but as of late many, many scams have originated there. Even the credit card companies are advising against shipping anything there, and using extreme caution if you choose to do so.
• A customer who wishes to have the payment for their order split over 2 credit cards
• A customer who wants everything, including shipping paid up front, in one transaction on the two credit cards
• A first time customer
• Larger than normal orders
• Providing credit card information over “secure” e-mail
• Ordering multiples of the same item
• A customer who asks for rush, overnight or air freight shipping
• Shipping to an international location (not just Nigeria)
• The customer may provide the CVV2 code (the 3 digit security code on the back of the credit card); this does not mean it’s a legitimate card and transaction.
• A customer who refuses to pay in installments (i.e. Put down a deposit, or be billed for shipping separately once the charges are confirmed, etc.)
• A customer who refuses to pay with Pay Pal
To protect yourself, always make sure you get all of the credit card information including the customer’s name, phone number, the credit card number with expiry date, CVV2 code and the customer’s address (as it appears on their account statement), so you can verify all of this with the credit card company prior to processing the transaction. If the information they gave you does not match the information on file with the bank, you are very possibly dealing with a scam. Visa also advises that you can request a “code 10” authorization from one of their representatives.
Taking a couple of small steps to verify the payment information you have been given will take a little bit of your time and may cost a long distance call, but it may be some of the best time you’ve ever spent.
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