Hey all, here's a new scam that I have been getting quite a bit of lately.
It starts by a customer overseas who wishes to purchase large amounts of goods from you. Here is an e-mail message I just got today:
"I am Chris from Norway i am willing to purchase some of Your Product to my store .Product Will be Picked Up by my Shipping agent at Your Location. Payment for the Good Order Will be Done By Master CC Number if Accepted . Can i go ahead and send the list of Product Interested in , and i hope to Build a relations Between Both stores.
Chris "
First, they contact you with this basic info. Then you reply saying "Sure, we can take care of you." then they send the next mail that says they want to order about $2,000.00 to $4,000.00 worth of items from your store. Here's the deal though, they claim that they are in a particular area that has shipping is an issue, and instead of conventional carriers, they want to use "Their Own Personal" carrier that they can "trust".
The scam is this. First they want you to pay their (bogus) shipping company (out of your bank account) some ridiculous charge of $1500.00 to $2500.00 for shipping a package that normally would only cost about $150.00 USPS. They in turn, will pay you for the goods plus the over-inflated shipping charges with a bogus credit card. Once the charge is cleared and you have paid out of your pocket the shipping company with your "Good money"....someone claiming to be from the shipping company stops by, takes the package and a month or so later you get charged back for the bogus charge on the card - and you have no shipping documents (legitimate ones anyways) to show the credit card company that you actually shipped the products.
You lose all the way around.
Hope this helps anyone avoid this stupid scam. I didn't get taken, but someone eventually will.
It starts by a customer overseas who wishes to purchase large amounts of goods from you. Here is an e-mail message I just got today:
"I am Chris from Norway i am willing to purchase some of Your Product to my store .Product Will be Picked Up by my Shipping agent at Your Location. Payment for the Good Order Will be Done By Master CC Number if Accepted . Can i go ahead and send the list of Product Interested in , and i hope to Build a relations Between Both stores.
Chris "
First, they contact you with this basic info. Then you reply saying "Sure, we can take care of you." then they send the next mail that says they want to order about $2,000.00 to $4,000.00 worth of items from your store. Here's the deal though, they claim that they are in a particular area that has shipping is an issue, and instead of conventional carriers, they want to use "Their Own Personal" carrier that they can "trust".
The scam is this. First they want you to pay their (bogus) shipping company (out of your bank account) some ridiculous charge of $1500.00 to $2500.00 for shipping a package that normally would only cost about $150.00 USPS. They in turn, will pay you for the goods plus the over-inflated shipping charges with a bogus credit card. Once the charge is cleared and you have paid out of your pocket the shipping company with your "Good money"....someone claiming to be from the shipping company stops by, takes the package and a month or so later you get charged back for the bogus charge on the card - and you have no shipping documents (legitimate ones anyways) to show the credit card company that you actually shipped the products.
You lose all the way around.
Hope this helps anyone avoid this stupid scam. I didn't get taken, but someone eventually will.
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