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It’s a sad day when I have to address a topic that has permeated negatively today’s society. That topic is FRAUD. There was a time when someone who was the victim of fraud called the local constable, who would respond, investigate the crime, locate the bad guy and promptly give him a roommate not of the bad guys’ choosing. Well I hate to tell you my friends, but those days are gone. With the advent of the internet, the ballgame has changed drastically. This past week we had a scam attempt on Sunburst Bottle Company. Fortunately we sniffed out the misdeed and shut it down before actually suffering a loss. Today I will share the details of the scam and provide additional info that may save you from being sucked into the black hole of this pernicious activity. We received an email from a potential customer inquiring about the costs of shipping for a substantial order. He was given an approximate shipping cost and he agreed to call us back. After contacting his own shipping company he called us back and placed the order. The man placing the order purportedly lived in Bakersfield, California. The person placing the order then told us he was working with the shipping company to handle the transportation of the order. This arrangement is quite common when shipping overseas. He was placing an order for a church located in Ghana (antenna rising?). Now just because the order was to be sent to another country does not automatically nullify the transaction. We do have customers in many different countries. However the story gets better. We took the order and immediately ran the credit card to make sure the charge would clear. To our surprise the credit card was good and cleared on the first attempt. A whole barrel of red flags starting waving however when we were requested to wire the shipping costs to the shipping company and to add this cost to the order. In 16 years we have never paid a third party shipper directly when the customer handles the arrangements. We only pay a shipper if we broker the shipping. To help legitimize the scam, the “shipping company” contact actually communicated with one of our employees via email. He was also very quick to respond to a couple of our inquiries. Since there were some irregularities. I was called in to help out. I immediately researched the “shipping company” and quickly found out it did not exist. The church where the order was to be sent did not exist either. A search on Google Earth of the address revealed a vacant lot. I then called the credit card company and spoke with the fraud division who discovered that the name of the person placing the order did not match the name on the credit card. The person in the fraud division called the owner of the credit card and confirmed that they did not place the order nor authorize their credit card to be used in this transaction. I immediately credited the credit card the amount charged on the order. For those not completely following the scenario, here it is –
Had we wired the money to the phony shipping company, we would still be waiting for the order to be picked up. By the time we discovered we had been bamboozled the money would have been retrieved and the bad guys would be on to the next victim, after stopping off at the beach for a cold one. When dealing with companies not domiciled in your country always insist payments be made via wire transfers, which can be verified through your bank. Wire transfers are as good as cash once they are verified. When we purchase from Europe for instance we are always required to pay by bank wire. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Sometimes we get so busy, even what normally would appear to be obvious scams, can sneak through our defenses. It never hurts to be a little extra vigilant in order to prevent a loss by one of the many schemes that are designed to separate you from your hard earned money. Hopefully this Message In A Bottle will remind you that not everyone out there is your friend. Ronald Reagan once said “Trust, But Verify. Dennis Gibson says “Don’t Trust, But Verify. I say this somewhat tongue in cheek because we can’t run around looking for the boogeyman under every bed. We can however investigate those things that don’t appear “just right”. As a cop I learned to “trust my gut”. You too should trust your gut and hopefully you won’t get indigestion by being scammed. As a kid, I remember stepping into “cow pies” as I ran around in the fields with my friends. I just can’t remember any of these “cow pies” smelling good. Scams are like “cow pies”, you can wash them off but the stink lingers. I think there’s a lesson there somewhere. For your information I am including two links that I suggest you review. These are links to FBI fraud alerts. There is a good chance you might learn some things about scams you were not aware of. http://www.ic3.gov/media/FraudAlert.pdf http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/fraud_alert.pdf Super product idea. We have a bottle that works great for “Message In A Bottle” ideas. You can send it individually by putting a label and postage right on the bottle. It works well for invitations and messages. It is the NATE bottle which is a clear 375 ml PET plastic bottle with a screw cap. If you have questions concerning this bottle or need ideas please call us toll free at 1 877 925-4500. The NATE can be found here: http://www.sunburstbottle.com/search-results?search=nateUntil the next Message In A Bottle ... ….. here’s to your success Dennis Gibson |
Message In A Bottle -
Don't Get Scammed!