Homeland Security, Credit card fraud and me.

[flying_silverad]

Mod's> Feel free to move this, I just didn't know exactly where to put this...

I recieved an e-mail from someone in Lagos, Nigeria. Instead of using PayPal on my website, he wanted to buy "alot" of 2 engine clip whips over the phone using a credit card. (Flag#1)

I responded that I don't take credit cards over the phone but would be happy to give a price and asked for his name and address. He responded that he wanted 30 2-enigne clips, and would I be so kind to also ship him 5 Nokia 6600 phones. He would pay me 50 bucks addtional PER phone for my trouble. (WOW Flag#2)

He sent another e-mail that he wanted to have everything shipped UPS global express overnight. The whole order would be around $3200(Shipping alone BTW cost #350+)
(Flag#3)

At this point I contacted my local PD and spoke to a Homeland security rep who then referred me to someone in the FBI.

Under the guidance of the FBI tack force there was some e-mailing back and forth and I won't bother you guys with all of the details, but I was able to get a a name, address and phone number of the person in Nigeria. Come to find out it was not a terrorist (my initial cocern), but rather a Credit Card fraud scam attempt.

The reason I'm sharing this is with is whether you sell stuff on Ebay or you are a full blown vendor, trust your instincts. I'm glad i did.

 

[Neil]

Man... Thats pretty scary... I wonder why he would choose you as a target, though...

How come you only hear about credit card scams coming from Nigeria? They are in the comics (see "Over the Hedge" a week or two ago), they are in my inbox (and, a second after I see them there, in teh delete box), everywhere. But I have never heard of anything from anywhere other than nigeria... What gives? is it just a coincidenc that I havent heard about anything from egypt or japan or saudi arabia or canada or the US?

 

[SecretSquirrel]

That's a great story. I'm glad you didn't get taken.

Did he need the clip whips for the phones? I didn't know you could cluster them.

 

[Mike]

Good catch John, but why would anyone want 30 clipwhips! Can't imagine them having a large street value!

 

[flying_silverad]

Originally posted by Mike
Good catch John, but why would anyone want 30 clipwhips! Can't imagine them having a large street value!

We concluded that he tried to stroke my ego with the clip whips, but what he really wanted was the phones. The phones were high price items ($400 each!) that he could sell once recieved. He probably would have thrown the clips away. He claimed they were for his "store".

I thought, "Gee, why wouldn't someone want an assortment at the very least?"

 

[flying_silverad]

Originally posted by SecretSquirrel
That's a great story. I'm glad you didn't get taken.

Did he need the clip whips for the phones? I didn't know you could cluster them.

Nope...just to get the transaction started. The phones were the main object.

 

[WiK]

Maybe he just wanted to launch 30 Dueces at once!



But that is kinda scarey though. And what made him think you had the phones?


Phil

 

[grimlock3000]

They want you to go out and buy the phones, then ship them to Nigeria

 

[powderburner]

Originally posted by SecretSquirrel
Did he need the clip whips for the phones? I didn't know you could cluster them.

Now I have something ELSE that has to get past the RSO each time?

 

[rstaff3]

Thanks for sharing the story silverad. To me it quickly had scam written all over it.

Here's a funny one https://www.vatsaas.org/rtv/misc/mail7.aspx

 

[Elapid]

Originally posted by rstaff3
Thanks for sharing the story silverad. To me it quickly had scam written all over it.

like as soon as Nigeria was mentioned...
lol!

 

[nomopbo]

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS listen to that voice that tells you something is wrong. I don't care if the person is from another country, a stranger in the mall, or your next door neighbor. That voice is there for a reason, and far to many people blow it off because they don't want to be "paranoid". That voice is usually right, and we want to "reason" it away.

When you get that gut feeling, react appropriately to it. Don't sugar coat your response. Let that person know you do not intend to be their victim.

I can't stress that enough.

 

[sandman]

Actually the last letter I recieved was forwarded to the Ebay "spoofer" who wanted my credit card info amd passwords.

Let them try to outscam each other.

sandman

 

[graylensman]

My best guess is that Nigeria has extremely lax laws regarding money fraud. Before e-mail really took off, at work I received two or three letters from Nigerian government officials fleeing rebels. They needed someone to help them move their money into an international bank account so that their legitimate assets would not be seized by rebel forces. In exchange, I would receive around US $100,000 for my efforts, once the account was established... and after I had ponied up US $10,000 to get the account established.

I just thought it was funny that someone would even try such an outrageous scam.

 

[BlueNinja]

I have yet to get a scam message but if I do then I will test my (creative) writing skills... :kill: You know it might be a little more fun than getting Viagra ads in my email and trying to reply only to find that the sender's address does not exist...

 

[vjp]

Don't get discouraged about ALL dealings with Nigerians, I have been involved in setting up a business deal with a former Nigerian government official for the past few weeks (getting some export issues cleared up), and he's definitely legit. We've even spoken on the phone, and I'm flying out there next week to conclude an investment deal he's gotten me in on. I stand to make a huge return on investment from only a few thousand bucks!

 

[Neil]

Lol... My mom would kill me if I replied to one of those... Once I got a

"Dear sir/maam,

My husband has been killed a while back in Nigeria... we have an account that the govt killed

We need a stable account to transfer 621 MILLION dollars to...."



It was obviously more elaborate than that, but you get the idea...

Just how stupid do they think we ARE!?

If they offered us free PML kits... Maybe....

HOok line and sinker

 

[flying_silverad]

Originally posted by vjp
Don't get discouraged about ALL dealings with Nigerians, I have been involved in setting up a business deal with a former Nigerian government official for the past few weeks (getting some export issues cleared up), and he's definitely legit. We've even spoken on the phone, and I'm flying out there next week to conclude an investment deal he's gotten me in on. I stand to make a huge return on investment from only a few thousand bucks!

I know you probably did your research. But, if you haven't already, a background check might be in order.

 

[adrian]

I'll second that warning, vjp. Unless you're pulling our collective leg, back out now. This is exactly how the scam goes - you have to put up some of your own money to start with, then you have to travel there. If you're lucky, all that happens is that you never see your money again. If you're unlucky, you can be mugged, kidnapped or killed. I am not exaggerating. Here's what the US Secret Service has to say about 419 scams.

As for mobile phones, this one doesn't need a clip whip.

 

[Mike]

There was an interesting show on British TV where an undercover investigator "fell for" one of these scams. It involved him travelling abroad to meet these people, I can't remember it too well but everything certainly seemed ligitimate, only it wasn't!

VJP, I'm sure you know what you're doing but speaking on the phone does not mean it's legit! Be very careful!

 

[vjp]

C'mon, guys....

 

[sandman]

vjp,

Careful, don't fall off of the turnip truck!

sandman

 

[karatekicker271]

vjp,
doesnt sound very reliable to me! i mean when i talk to my friends on teh fone i can easily lie and they dont no it...

 

[karatekicker271]

vjp,
doesnt sound very reliable to me! i mean when i talk to my friends on teh fone i can easily lie and they dont no it...

 

[karatekicker271]

vjp,
doesnt sound very reliable to me! i mean when i talk to my friends on teh fone i can easily lie and they dont no it...

 

[karatekicker271]

vjp,
doesnt sound very reliable to me! i mean when i talk to my friends on teh fone i can easily lie and they dont no it...

 

[karatekicker271]

vjp,

doesnt sound to reliable to me... i can talk to my friends on the fone and lie to them (only when i am jokin ) and they never no it

 

[karatekicker271]

sorry for multi posting i didnt mean to do that my comp wasnt workin

 

[mtmind]

vjp,

I'm not very good at spotting sarcasm in writing, so I'm posting just in case you were serious about the nigerian government official having export issues etc. I don't know the particulars of your situation, but if you were contacted out of the blue, he's probably not legit. We followed up on a contact in cooperation with law enforcement and we were informed that people have been flown overseas and attended "conferences" that were put on for the single purpose of convincing people to put up the initial investment.

Besides, your fist red flag should be that he is/was a government official, regardless of where he's from.

Peace
Mike