Scam Alerts! Be informed, protect yourself
By now everyone is familiar with the "Nigerian letter" or "upfront fee" scam that goes something like this: Someone contacts you from overseas offering you a share in a large sum of money on the condition you help them transfer money out of their country. While these scams originated in Nigeria, they now come from all over the world.
This latest version has a new twist. My business was contacted by one of these yesterday.
Someone contacts your business by phone or e-mail from overseas offering to place a large order for goods. The scammer requests that the goods be shipped overseas and the price plus freight charges billed to credit cards (sometimes more than one). The scammer INSISTS that the business use a particular shipping company and provides a phony email address for the shipper. The business then contacts that “shipping company” which requests the freight charges be paid up front by cash wire transfer. The sting is not about goods but the shipping charges.
The "Shipping Fee Scam" works because the business is fooled into making the wire transfer after having checked that the credit cards have sufficient funds and don't appear to be stolen. But the shipping company's e-mail address is a front for the scammers and the credit card details ARE STOLEN, probably from online card accounts which may take several weeks or months to discover.
At the end of the day, the business can be out of pocket for shipping costs which can amount to more than $5000 plus the cost of goods and chargeback penalties. The use of wire transfer to offshore accounts means that your monies cannot be traced or recovered.
Businesses need to be very cautious when dealing with overseas orders and need to verify who they are dealing with before sending money or goods. If anything about it sends up red flags, do not proceed with the order.
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