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How to spot a scammer

 
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zickit



Posts: 21857

PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:00 pm    Post subject: How to spot a scammer Reply with quote

Someone asked in another thread about how to know when someone is scamming you - or trying to. So I thought it best that we share our thoughts on this in a different thread. So here is the place.


SIGNS you are being scammed -

The buyer wants to send you more money then the cost of the item and shipping. They want you to send the item plus the excess cash to whoever for whatever reason - many times it's a birthday gift or wedding.
If they want to send you more then the cost -- BE WARE!
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poopsheet



Posts: 4865

PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As terrible as it sounds, almost all (if not all) transactions wherein NIGERIA is where the buyer lives or wants the item shipped to will be a scam.

A buyer might want to have you ship to them using their FedEx account so they don't have to pay shipping. This is not necessarily a scam but is generally advised against. It could be a stolen account number (easy to do with FedEx) or it could be a company account being used in an unauthorized way (so could come back to bite you in the end).
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ljstores



Posts: 984

PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 6:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have had many scam emails and for me they are so easy to spot but they are not if you have never had one.
There is a certain type of email that is really easy to define..........
Here are my observations...the first thing is they are ULTRA polite!!!
Secondly they add complicated words in their emails but the whole email consists of poor English and grammar.
and EVERY time they have a story where they want to give you MORE money than the product or service is worth.
The end result, if you fall for it is, you cash a fake money order for a certain amount and give a portion of the money to the scammer...the result of that is that the money order is found out to be fake and you are liable for the full amount!!!
BEWARE


LJ
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eleganzajewels
Guest




PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you have a merchant account, or Paypal Pro account, make SURE to require the CVV code on all credit card payments (the 3 or 4 digit # on the credit card that can only be accessed by visually looking at the card). Save yourself a lot of grief and $$!
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dahawaiiankinestore
Guest




PostPosted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Having the code doesn't always guarantee that the credit card isn't stolen.

My very first CC sale, years ago when I knew NOTHING about internet sales was with a stolen credit card.

The person sent me the order, the CC number, the address, the code, everything. It looked totally legit. I had a virtual terminal that I plugged everything into and it went through just fine. My processor's fraud dept called me 3 days later to tell me it was a stolen card. Since it was my very first CC order - and I had set up a merchant account just so I could take it - they thought I was part of the scam. I had to send them all the emails between the person and I so they could see I was on the up and up.

Luckily, the head of the fraud dept. was really nice, understood I was a complete newbie, and gave me an excellent in-depth education in CC fraud.
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EtchingsandCollectibles



Posts: 396

PostPosted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last week we had a buyer go through check out with payment via Money Order. A close look at the address indicated an east coast city with a Texas zip code and a fake Florida phone number...
Everything else looked like a real buyer....
Moral of the story: If it looks a little off....Whatever you do; don't ship your product!
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poopsheet



Posts: 4865

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well.. and don't ship the order without payment, of course.
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eleganzajewels
Guest




PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Having the code doesn't always guarantee that the credit card isn't stolen.


There are no guarantees of any kind in ecommerce, period. Chances are much higher, however, that if the code and the AVV (address verification) match, the card is a good one, and in the hands of its appropriate owner, versus just doing the AVV verification without the code.

That's awful it was your first transaction on a new merch account, omg, that must have been scary!
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rcfcomputing



Posts: 87

PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Example of scam email I got recently.

Hello seller, Being addressed as hello seller is a HUGE tipoff
How are you today?can i presently know if this item is still available for
sale?
Example of using English words that technically make sense, but don't sound natural to a native American English speaker. Can I presently know??

do you have presentable pics of this item?
can i ship the item locally at my own shipping taste? Shipping taste? Does he like to eat boxes?will you accept
cashier
check/money order as a mode of payment?if you have an acceptable answer to
that question above,please email me with your details for
payment,information
as follow name and address along with valid phone number and if you dont
mind kind i offer you like $15 including the exact amount that you are
selling this item and feel free to contact me
privately:

It just doesn't sound like a normal conversational email asking a question about something for sale. Also punctuation will be at a minimum. Many times, there will be nothing but a never ending string of commas with no periods to be found.
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htstore



Posts: 197

PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I
Quote:
am ready to buy the pant. Let me know the cost of it shipping and handling tax inclusive to Lagos/Nigeria.

Mail back as soon as possible, so that we can proceed.


I received this note from someone after they asked me if I had more than one qty for an item.

Since I can't do the tax inclusive thing to Nigeria - all I can do is the shipping costs - I smell scam.

I'm not sure if I should ignore this person, or response and explain the shipping policy. Embarassed
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ALikelyStory



Posts: 21

PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A lot of the scam emails I've received don't actually name the item. They say "I'm interested in your exellent item" or "this wonderful piece". Most customers will say "lovely earrings" or "great bookmark".
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poopsheet



Posts: 4865

PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

htstore wrote:
I'm not sure if I should ignore this person, or response and explain the shipping policy. Embarassed


The general advice for shipping anything to Nigeria is that it's a scam and to ignore. Certainly Nigerians aren't a bad people but I personally have never heard of anyone completing a legitimate transaction where Nigeria was involved.
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highresolution



Posts: 5

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2007 3:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a lesson I learned the HARD way on ebay:

1) The buyer contacts you outside the auction. Meaning he emails you and says he wants to buy the item, and sends details etc, but never actually places a bid on ebay. ALWAYS make them go through that step. In this case because he never actually bid for the item, ebay couldn't offer me any help whatsoever.

2) He uses an escrow service that you haven't heard about. The website looks legitemate, but after the sale it dissapeared ("due to lack of payment to the webhoster") Always make sure you use a REPUTABLE escrow service that you BOTH know.

3) When calculating shipping costs, he asks you to list the item's value (with the courier) as a small amount, say ten dollars, even if its worth hundreds. He says this is so that he doesn't pay a large tax on it when it arrives. The real reason is if you ever track him down, he'll say if he bought a 400 dollar item from you, why is it listed as only worth 10 dollars with the shipper?

4) He gives you a contact number but no one ever answers when you call.

My only defense is that it was my first ever sale online, and I made all the above classic mistakes. It'll never happen again, but it still really burns when i think about it. I reported the whole case to the police, and to some web-scamming watchgroups but of course nothing happened. And nothing usually does happen, except you get ripped off.

People often compromise on basic safety because they're desperate to sell. Always sell your item on YOUR terms, and if they're reasonable and safe there's no reason the buyer won't agree to them.

Always think twice, especially if something SEEMS wrong. Your instincts can be your best guide.
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rcfcomputing



Posts: 87

PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2007 8:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's another good email I just got. Note that none of the names match.

robbert vennesar <tee_sprong@yahoo.com>
My name is Vannesa from unite state,NJ,LOL, who identifies themselves as from "United States, NJ"

I just place a look on your item and i am intrested in immediate purcharse of your item,but before i proceed on this transaction i will like to ask some question as follow.
1. Do you accept a (cashier check/Money Order) as your mode of payment?

If my mode of payment is acceptable kindly furnish me with your full details such as:

Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zipcode:
Country:
Phone#:
Email:
Amount:

N..B... PLEASE I WILL LIKE YOU TO E-MAIL ME DIRECT TO MY E-MAIL BOX....YOU CAN

MAIL TO:tee_sprong@yahoo.com
THANKS

I've noticed a lot of these scammers use yahoo addresses with two first names as the first and last name in the sent from field IE (John Mary or Steve Linda). Not sure why that is.
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