Trae Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Here's the story. Got an e-mail thru my website from a man in Belgium wanting to place an order. Told him I only ship to USA addresses at this time. He respnds back and says he can arrange for the order to be picked up by a shipping agent. So he tells me what he wants and I give him the total minus the shipping fees, telling him I would total up the shipping at the end since it's such a large order, then I'll send him another money request. He was fine with that so I sent the request and last night I got this e-mail......Hello,Thanks for the total quote of my order.The total cost of my order is quite correct and okay by me and I'm ready to pay the bills . Also want you to help me Charge another $1,890.80 to a shipping agent who is going to pick up my ordered items from you.The $1,890.80 that will be sent to the shipping agent is for the shipping of my order plus other items i ordered from different countries which will be deduct from my credit card.Also, I'm compensating you with the sum of $240 for the transfer fee and for your efforts. Please note that i should have given the shipping agency my credit card for him to deduct the shipping funds but he told me that he doesn't have the facilities to charge or debit credit card , so that's why i bring my vote of confidence in you and i don't want you to betray the vote of confidence i put in you, so i want you to transfer the funds to him after you have make the charges and the money charged from my credit card is in your account,then you can now make the transfer to the agent via western union.i will have love to do this my self but there no western union here around me,So the charges you'll make on my credit card will be:Order Fee ($1160.00)Agent fee with shipping fare ($1,890.80)Transfer Fee plus Your Compensation ($240)Total $3290.80Note that my credit card will be charged for the amounts above . Please do get back to me if you are in the office right now so that i can forward my credit card details to you , then you can charge full amount and transfer the agent funds to him via western union.Thanks and God BlessSteven MoningWhat do you think? Seems a little weird to me that this person would be willing to send me over $1800 to forward to someone else. Also, makes me wonder if after sending me the money via PayPal if there's some way he can hack into my account which is attached to my busines checking. Just little things I think about because I tend to be very cautious. Also, how did he come up with that exact number for shipping and agent fee if he doesn't know what it will cost for shipping on my end? Lotsa red flags I think. Opinions please???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg_10 Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 If it to good to be true, run and run far away!!!Those are oversea scams, we all get them in emails and they always want to send you extra $$ to forward to someone else and give you extra for your time etc. It's fraudulent CC and Money order, and want to know the real deal? They just need a way to get money, they'd never come pick up or want the products. I one time, was selling a 64 inches Projection TV on Craigslist, I got the same kind of email, Money deal, their shipper to pick up, to go to AFRICA. I'm like, oh ok, you want to send over a 400 lb old TVto Africa??? Anyhow, I deleted it, I didn't bother to email him back.so, basically, if you get this gut feeling that it's to good to be true,DELETE IT and RUN from it!HTHMeg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nursenancy Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 I agree.That has scam written all over it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted May 31, 2009 Author Share Posted May 31, 2009 Thanks! All I needed to know. Canceled the money request and I'll end it there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassyQ Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 Wow, he went all out!! I was falling for it too, thinking wow 240 extra??? i am sooo glad I read this post. What do they gain from it? Can they get at our personal accounts in some way by this, or is it just to benefit them? Wow, wonder how may will fall for that? I would have looked at it seriously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twoscentsworth Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 This is just what those scammers count on...young or naive people who haven't heard of this scam before. I used to wonder how people could fall for it but now I realize it is the desire to believe and make money.This scam has been around for a loooong time and will come from different countries. These people will send out thousands of those emails a day and know they will get a "hit" from someone that's why they continue doing it.There is a reason for the saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it is." ALWAYS ask yourself ... "Why did they pick me?" (Out of the THOUSANDS of companies out there selling similar products) "Does this sound too good to be true?" "Does this seem fishy?" "Do they REALLY KNOW what my products are?" "WHY would they buy huge amounts from me sight unseen?" "Are they asking ME to add/pad the bill and take a credit card/money order etc. take MY cut and then send them the balance?" (BIG tip off there) AND are they asking me to help their son/daughter, help them transfer millions of dollars (from which I will get a cut), telling me I am a looong lost relative or I since I have the same name...congratulating me for winning a lottery I never entered and all I have to do is pay a "processing fee".... well you get the idea I hope. These are just some of the scams out there and unfortunately in a LOT of our inboxes, sigh.Please DO NOT let the idea of having a big sale or making money let you fall for these scams. Good for you for checking first....your instinct was right on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEORoss Posted May 31, 2009 Share Posted May 31, 2009 First sign of a scam - a novel sized email with words like "arrange" and "shipping agent"...lolIt's scary that people still fall for this stuff. Glad you trashed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CibariaSoapSupply Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 NOOOO! Paypal has a very big minus to using it at all... "customers" can easily call and say they never got their product... then the charges are immediately reversed. They also call their credit card company and say they never got their product and have the charges reversed... all while they end up with the product..leaving you high and dry. Bewaaaare. I am in the internet industry (and have been for 12 years), and I DO NOT recommend using paypal if you can help it. Myself and many of my past clients have witnessed the scamming that goes on... and Paypal does a horrible job of keeping it at bay. Good luck with this.. hopefully you were able to work it all out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laura9259 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I got the same email - he was offended when i emailed him back telling him he was a scammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candybee Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Anytime you have someone wanting your help in sending or transferring money its a scam. Be especially skeptical of any large orders from strangers. Also-- if you site states you do not ship outside the US and they want you too trash the email immediately. You should try to learn to spot these scammers before you even open up one of these emails. I can tell about 99.9% of the time. Once in a while I open one-- but they always give themselves away in their writing style. You'll pick up on that eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtohaley2004 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 It screams SCAM to me.......run the other way...far far away!!!!For future reference you can check here as well concerning scams:http://www.printnet.com.au/scammers_identified.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkymonkey66 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 It screams SCAM to me.......run the other way...far far away!!!!For future reference you can check here as well concerning scams:http://www.printnet.com.au/scammers_identified.htmlI clicked that link and was laughing when I saw all the gmail addresses. What Co. uses a gmail or any other freebie email address?It should be info@yourcompany.com not yourcompany@gmail.comThat would be the first tip off to me before I even opened the email. The person asking to charge X amount of dollars to pay a someone else is just a no brainer. Delete and empty the recycle bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sara Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 So glad you came and asked. People get scammed all the time with stuff like that. Interesting that laura9259 got the same one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CareBear Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 First sign of a scam - a novel sized email with words like "arrange" and "shipping agent"...lolIt's scary that people still fall for this stuff. Glad you trashed it. Well, a "shipping agent" is often used for international shipping (I am even friends with TWO of them!), so that shouldn't necessarily raise alarm bells - but... the extra "compensation" is the BIG CLUE. Businesses build their "compensation" into their pricing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted June 3, 2009 Author Share Posted June 3, 2009 I canceled the money request the day I posted here and haven't heard anything since. My gut told me it was a scam, which is why I asked here. I hate to be leery of every large order inquiry but these days you have to be. Thanks for your help everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rae Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Run..run...run. This won't be the last scam you get. They are out there. I don't even bother answering them any more.Rae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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