They tried to scam us!!!

[Running Mommy]

It's a scary world out there!! In the last few months we have had our shop website hacked by what appeared to be a Turkish terrorist group, and yesterday we had someone try to scam us. We are a small mom and pop shop, so to be the target of stuff like this is scary- and shows how widespread it is!
So Yesterday a call came into the shop by a man with a thick accent. He asked my husband if we had full suspension mtn bikes (we do of course). Then the red flags started flying..
Red flag one: He needed a medium, didnt care about brand or price. Any legit buyer would call looking for a specific model.
Red flag two: He wanted us to ship it to Los Angeles... Ummm they have no bike shops in L.A????!!!
He told hubby that he "saw us online"..... Hubby questioned him for a few minutes about it, and he became aggitated.- Red flag #3!
He gave hubby the shipping address, phone #, CC #, and email addy.
We are instantly suspicious. Hubby then calls the guy back to get the billing addy for the credit card. The guy actually called back! Of course the billing addy is here in AZ. The guy gives some flimsy excuse as to how he lives in AZ but is in CA for awhile or something..
So we call our merchant svcs company who puts us in touch w/the fraud dept of the card issuer bank.
So the fraud investigator tells me that the name, cc#, and billing address match, and its a valid card. But the phone # doesnt. And when I tell the guy what he's trying to do he asks to put me on hold to call the card holder. I was on hold for quite some time before the fraud dude came back on. Sure enough... FRAUD! BOGUS, NO BUENO...
So I gave him the addy and phone # of the perp. The guy called us a couple of times on the phone, so I know it was a good #.
So now the guys in the shop are coming up with ALL KINDS of things they can send the thief!! The most popular right now is a rabid raccoon..

It's just so sad to see that this is what the world has come to....

sigh...

[Aggie_Ama]

Even a rabid animal should be treated humanely, thieves should not. Dirty diapers?

[alpinerabbit]

Roadkill?

[kfergos]

A dead skunk?

[derailed]

Good catch!

[Tri Girl]

I hate thieves- get a job like the rest of us who actually work for what we have, not steal it from others. Grrrrr... that makes me so angry for you.

I think you should send them dirty used band aids. I had a nasty cut the other day- I'd happily dig the band aid out of the trash and send it to them for you. Pretty gross, but I think they deserve it.

[GLC1968]

Wow, they suck. Good for you for catching on in time!

If you tell me their address, I'd be happy to send them a box of real chicken $hit...since that's what they are.

[Aint Doody]

In our business we get them as the "deaf phone calls." If I'm not swamped, I will play along long enough to get the crdt crd info in order to call the banks. They always ask if we sell guitars. I say yes, and they ask for a price. I always quote something outrageous. They have no problem with the price, and they'll want half a dozen shipped to Nigeria for a church program. It's a shame that they use a system designed to help hearing impaired people use the telephone.

[Running Mommy]

My manager got them on the phone this am! They called to check on the status of the order.
I can't believe the cajones these people have!
He just put them off and said we are working on it...
Yeah, hatching an evil plan... lol

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

In our business we get them as the "deaf phone calls." If I'm not swamped, I will play along long enough to get the crdt crd info in order to call the banks. They always ask if we sell guitars. I say yes, and they ask for a price. I always quote something outrageous. They have no problem with the price, and they'll want half a dozen shipped to Nigeria for a church program.

Oh that's too weird!...I got one of those phone calls yesterday!
Doody, I notice in your profile you have a small music-related business. So do I- for years I've had a small side business selling t-shirts with my musical instrument designs on them.
Yesterday I got a call from a woman with a Spanish accent asking if I spoke Spanish. (I do, but I didn't) I asked instead who was calling, and she then asked if I sold guitars.
I told her no, I sell t-shirts. She thanked me politely and said goodbye, so I didn't get the chance to become suspicious. I guess she couldn't very well continue her ruse without the guitars to buy. She never would have gotten past me when it came to ordering stuff on credit cards anyway though.

One of my pet peeves is strangers who ask me a question when I pick up the phone instead of identifying themselves first. Like I exist to provide them with my personal information just because they want it?

[Biciclista]

speaking of Nigerian scams, that's an interesting deal too. Imagine, you're in Nigeria. You are poor and so is everyone that you know. But there's big money to be made in the USA. And people so gullible and avaricious that you can sucker them into giving YOU money while they think they are making money off you. I don't think they consider us to be people, and there are tons of us that fall for their pitches every day. "I have a sum of 324,000 british pounds and i want to put it into a US bank. I'll give you some money too"
some people see dollar signs and go for it. Even if it's only one out of 10,000, just a little american money goes a long way and before you know it, 10 more Nigerians are trying to bilk gullible rich americans out of more.
You guys all sound pretty sharp, what's sad is many senior citizens who apparently are too trusting and get taken on these things.

[ridebikeme]

Ahhh that can be so frustrating! I too, have had that happen a number of times. They always seem to call for a large order,,, 12 pair of Mavic Krysium Sl wheels, 5 mtn bikes etc... They would call, email a number of times and will continue to do so; I still receive calls/emails daily from people trying to do the same thing. What I normally tell them is that I would be glad to help them out, if they could only visit the shop . I also mention that I do not take orders over the phone or through email. Obviously that can change if you know your customer well. You can also ask for the CV number on the back of the card, generally they won't have that because they don't have the card in hand.

I'm glad that you were able to work all of this out before taking the plunge! Unfortunately, I think this type of thing will only get worse before it gets better...especially with the poor economy.

[lunacycles]

I routinely get email inquiries from someone (usually in Taiwan) who wants to order 6 (or 60) build kits of Campy Record and happy to pay what ever I charge....the first time, I actually replied, asking further questions. but in the end , it was obvious came down to a scam--they want to give me a cc # and ship rightaway!!

Haven't you all gotten numerous emails from someone claiming to be the legitimate heir of a throne in some third world country who wants you to launder their money?

I also get scams from businesses saying how important it is to protect my intellectual property before multiple people (they have talked with, of course) want to steal it from me.

It is a dangerous world out there as far as consumers and small business owners go, and I imagine scams will get more prevalent as the world economy, er, "adjusts" to the new reality.

[smurfalicious]

In our business we get them as the "deaf phone calls." If I'm not swamped, I will play along long enough to get the crdt crd info in order to call the banks. They always ask if we sell guitars. I say yes, and they ask for a price. I always quote something outrageous. They have no problem with the price, and they'll want half a dozen shipped to Nigeria for a church program. It's a shame that they use a system designed to help hearing impaired people use the telephone.

Ugh, yeah we got that nonsense at T-Mobile too. I think my general distrust in the human race helped a lot. I caught sooo many fraud accounts and fraudulent phone orders. We have policies in place to prevent that but ya know enough calls and people catch on and learn to work within them. The fraud department loved me, every time I talked to them I had everything in a row and I stopped tons of bogus orders from shipping. I'd go back there in a heartbeat if I could work in that department. I hate selling anything on Craigslist for that very reason. I get all excited that maybe I have a legit response and it's not.

This site is rather amusing. Some people apparently have enough spare time to screw with these jerks: http://www.419eater.com/

[mtbdarby]

Sorry to hear about the scam RM but glad you caught it.

I was contacted by my cc company this morning - someone stole my number and was making charges under the company name "craigslist". At least they noticed it and contacted me. I just paid my bill so I wouldn't have caught it for month. The account is now closed and a new card on the way.

Some people need to get honest jobs.....