Biz Scam: Pre-Pay Shipping

MSNBC:

As soon as the TTY operator told me the call was coming from Nigeria, while the woman had me on hold, I knew something was up,�? notes Bruce Webber of Webber Floor Covering in Maple Heights, Ohio.

Webber had received calls from TTY operators before, working on behalf of the hearing impaired.

In this case, it was a call from a woman who wanted to order tile for a church in Alaska. But when she put him on hold for a few moments to try to send him an e-mail, Webber commented to the operator on the lengthy wait.

“I’m not sure if she did it on purpose or just let it slip…typically they don’t tell you where the caller is calling from, but she did�? says Webber, who had read in a floor covering industry magazine that such scams were going on.

The idea of using a TTY operator is to make the call untraceable and possibly to play on the sympathy of the victim, who believes he or she is helping someone with a hearing disability. When Webber told the operator he didn’t realize the call was from overseas, the caller overheard him and quickly got off the line. She never rang back.

“It’s a pre-pay shipping scam,�? explains Eric Appleby, director of electronic sales and marketing for Ohio Valley Flooring in Cincinnati, who had heard of the scam from several colleagues “They give two credit cards to the retailer–both are valid and go through. Of course, you find out later that they’re stolen credit card numbers.

Then they order heavy items to bring up the shipping charges and ask you to pre-pay the shipping to a P.O. box at a distant location,�? explains Appleby, adding that they often select special order items that the company will have a harder time disposing of, making the victim more likely to front the shipping bill for the big special order.

Don’t ship any products to a buyer on a pre-paid basis unless you’ve done business with the company previously or can verify the legitimacy of its payment method.

Photo by arizonarips.

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