[amayausers.com] Embroidery/Screen printing SCAM alert
- From: Steve Cohen <steve20832@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <amayausers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:05:39 -0400
For those who haven't heard of this scam. It's been going around for many years
now.
I do internet sales and call everyone over $100 that does not match the
address/CVV code verification. I also call each sale that is over $500. I also
use my IT experience to verify the IP address with the city it is being shipped
to. There have been several sales that I cancelled due to people not calling
back because things just didn't add up. So far I have never had a chargeback
(crossing fingers.) I do not ship overseas for anyone. Customs is a pain in the
butt to deal with for shipping clothing. Been there, done that!
Copied from an embroidery magazine newletter I sign up to.
If you sell T-shirts, YOU are next in line to be scammed if you haven't already
been. Scammers seeking quotes on blank shirts have unfortunately scored from
coast to coast. In June, a caller from Tacoma, Wash., took RBS Activewear, a
client of mine in Argyle, Wis., for $4,500. While this transaction took place
over the phone when the owners were away at a trade show, Tina Ritschard, RBS
co-owner, says the company would have approved the shipment in any case since
the customer service rep correctly processed the credit card and the credit
card service provider approved it. After the goods were shipped to and received
in the United Kingdom, the card issuer informed the company that someone using
stolen information made the purchase. The issuer reversed the charges back to
RBS, who are simply out of luck. To add insult to injury, RBS's liability
carrier denied the company's claim due to a specific exemption in their policy
against fraudulent transactions. The word I use to characterize such lessons is
"tuition." But acquiring this education proved quite expensive. Chances are
that your own insurance policy doesn't cover fraud either. Fraud is generally
not covered except when it's committed by an employee of a firm that
specifically purchases self-indemnification coverage against employee
infidelity. You might consider implementing the policy scrupulously observed at
RBS now, which requires customers using credit cards to provide the three-digit
security code (or four-digit for American Express). But Duane Watlington,
president of Active Imprints in Monmouth Junction, N.J., and a long-term
client, told me about his being taken for several hundred dollars last month,
despite the fact that his online order form already required the security code.
The card in this case came from a buyer in Cleveland who wanted his order
shipped to Michigan. Active Imprints got approval from the merchant bank and
faithfully executed the customer's instructions — only to find out a few days
later that the card was stolen and he's out his cost. Watlington's card
processor is considering reimbursing him, but the hoped-for answer hasn't yet
come. Watlington and other clients have forwarded me a few dozen different
e-mails from would-be scammers requesting quotes and other seemingly normal
information. How often do YOU get requests for blanks? How often do YOU get
orders for blanks from a customer in one place asking you to ship to a
destination that's hundreds or thousands of miles away? Here are a few common
elements that should help you spot a scam in the making: 1. The requests are
all for T-shirts and no other type of garments (so far). T-shirts are
undoubtedly easier to fence, and printers who buy shirts at half-price from
strangers ought to know they're enabling a scammer to hurt another company.
Once you've spoken to a telephone scammer, the scammer prefers to use e-mails
for subsequent communications and ordering. 2. When you google the scammer's
address, it might come up confirming the address given or perhaps as "not
found." 3. When solicitations are made to you via e-mail, the English is
often Canadian (or British) in style, using words such as "colours" instead of
"colors." If you receive or initiate a follow-up call, the area code is usually
one found in Canada. Some e-mail requests appear to come from Africa or
Africans, using language styles that sound remarkably like those e-mail scams
you get from former "Nigerian" generals, former "Nigerian" diplomats and other
overseas businessmen who want to share their good fortune with you, provided
you send them real money first in order to get your promised bigger return on
investment.If requests for blank T-shirts are phoned or e-mailed in to you from
folks who've never bought from you before, who give you business addresses far
away and who want the goods shipped to a different far away destination, it's a
no-brainer that you're being set up for the kill. If it walks and talks and
looks like a duck, it's a duck. And be sure to explain the rash of scams to
everyone in your company who handles sales or order entry and your
about-to-be-upgraded sales policies.
_________________________________________________________________
Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Café. Stop by
today.
http://www.cafemessenger.com/info/info_sweetstuff2.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_OctWLtagline
Other related posts:
- » [amayausers.com] Embroidery/Screen printing SCAM alert
