Just missed being scammed
 

They are still "working" me, but we will not process the transaction.

A guy calls up and wants pricing for some solar parts which we do not stock. I get a price and he says that is fine. His e-mail address is an AOL e-mail address. This strikes me as funny.

The guy sounds Asian, very broken accent. His name is "George Mason". He doesn't sound very old.

A week later, they finally contact with credit card information. It is from upstate New York with a different name. They also increased the order to 5 parts for ~$10,000.

The REALLY REALLY smells.

So, while I'm typing this, a person with a really hard to understand accent calls (sounds like they are from Africa) and says they are "Thomas O Connell", yeah he's "Irish decent". Area code on the phone number is Dallas Texas. This is the name on the credit card.

Spokeo says the above name is an 80 year old man. I was able to get a phone number and I called. I even verified the last 4 digits of the credit card. Obviously, the guy is going to cancel the card.

Holy CRAP!!!!

AND they just called me up again.

Wow.

Thankfully you read the warning signs correctly.
Glad for the old geezer too, old people getting scammed is just plain sad.

Nice work, James.

Would be interested in knowing how the elderly gentleman's card info was grabbed....

James. Thanks for saving another of us "old geezers" from a scam.

Baz. My wife & I got our credit card # scammed twice from a restaurant at a reservation. I remember at the time the card was gone for quite a while. Three days later, we got fraudulent charges on our card. I went back after the second time and looked at our charge history. The only common factor was three days after visiting the restaurant, we got fraudulent charges on the card, and was the only place on the charge history where we used our charge card twice. One of the charges was at a kid's clothing place and the second charge was from a place in LA. The credit union told me they copy/skim the number and then it is sold to another actor who sells it to people who want to charge against it. This wasn't some kind of international operation although I imagine the card number could have ended up anywhere.

Since having been caught up in the Target store's hacking and having to go through those hassles, we've gotten more into using a card as little as possible while carrying more cash. Yes, there is a risk there...but I tend to dress "poor"...cheap jeans, tennie runners, T or sweat shirt, cheap watch. Not likely to attract a mugger.

Eating out, I always pay cash...and NEVER let your card out of your sight..

Yeah, I just don't dress in much but the same type of thing and have been using cash more too. Later I told the manager of the restaurant about it and the word got around really fast.

Not sure about computers these days...but maybe...
If he bought anything online his info might be automatically saved in a personal profile.
He clicks on an 'Important message from the IRS' email attachment, and malware or keyloggers do the rest.

A fake website might do it.
HTML, headers, and other ident info from the real website is copied over.
The guy enters his CC info onto the stranger's web page.

Card skimmers attachments on ATMs are getting more common.
They look perfect.
I've seen a store surveillance video of two guys distracting a gas station clerk and slapping a skimmer onto the front counter machine in under half a second.
Slick dance move. Middle of the day. Customers behind in plain sight.
Everyone else in line was compromised.

Credit Card phone apps and RFID chips only add insecurity...imo.

Oh well, there goes my new boat that I was going to buy!
Glad you caught it in time.

I've never used Spokeo.
Is that only paid subscription? How good is it?

All of this...but other than counterfeiting, pretty hard to scam buying with cash.

Last week I bought fast food for lunch - the price was $7.06. I pulled out a $10, gave it to her, and then said "I think I have a dime".
This immediately freezes her, you can see the wheels turning in her head because she's already entered $10 in the register. I got back $3.03. SHE SCAMMED ME FOR A PENNY!

Actually, that was close enough and there were people behind me, so I let it slide.

see? i would have played nice and volunteered the answer.

"here the dime..now you only owe me $13.04!" (dont forget - big toothy smile)

Once they sell the number it could end up anywhere. First time my card got hit, charges were made in New York City and London. Second time, Utah and Paris France. I do not travel much and never outside the USA. Even though it is no big problem for me, I still hate scammers and thieves. If I had to pay for that stuff, it would be a big problem.

Fortunately, my CC company is tops at recognizing fraudulent charges. I really have no idea how they do it, but they do. They usually/often block the charges so I don't even have to claim them as fraudulent.

So who loses in this game?
If the CC company blocks the charges, is the merchant on the hook? Or once the credit card company sends back an "Authorized", then are they on the hook?

Scam the scammer. Tell them that you need 10% a cash deposit on orders over $10,000.

You accept cash, FedEx.

Yes, about $19/mth. I'm on a "free month", because I needed to find a phone number for an Amazon sale with truck shipment.

Seems to work pretty well.

I do! If I shipped the $10,000 worth of equipment and the Credit Card company reverses the charges, I am out $10K.

Thanks for the input, Marv...glad you were able to get that resolved! Most credit card companies these days are pretty good about helping their customers when fraudulent charges occur. Letting your card go out of sight is a terrible practice for any retailer to participate in. That would be a big red light for me. Pretty common in restaurants, i guess, which is just one reason more I'm not big on "going out" to eat.

Did you get a shipping address?

I insure businesses. You would be stunned if you knew the frequency and amounts that are being hijacked through scams today. It is just staggering.

mental note to self: Do not use the aol account when ordering over the phone, and be sure to wave the Amelican Frag.

Yep. I'll give you one better. Sold a brake system to a customer who paid with Amex. Card was valid, we shipped to the billing address on file, delivered to him and he signed for the package.

The he disputes the charge with Amex saying "I don't understand the charge". He freely admits to ordering and receiving the products, only "don't understand the charge". Amex does a chargeback. I'm out $5k. They refuse any explanation.

...this is why I do not take Amex and anyone outside the us pays by wife transfer for orders over $500

This seems ridiculous. Isn't there any organization in the US that can mediate in such cases?

We have the Gov Ombudsman in Aus. They handle disputes between ordinary people and credit/banking companies.

About 4 years ago, I got taken for $7,500 in race parts in an order placed on my online motorcycle race store. They used this exact same scheme and I fell for it. Product went to Kona Joes coffee in Hawaii to an employee there. I presume he was part of an Indonesian scam. I was out the $7,500. I filed a police report and spoke to the police on the big island, but they refused to do anything about it.

Suppose you robbed a bank for ten grand, and crossed state lines, you'd think someone would care..

Wow! What if the wife isn't that hot? Do you send her back, pre-paid?

They listed an address in the Houston area, that is a small shopping center.

My card info was stolen last year. Since then, I've set up text alerts for any purchase over $20. This is from Chase.

I made a trip one weekend then noticed two small charges one for $20 at a coffee shop the a $50 donation I didn't make.
I called the CC hotline and they told me it was skimmed and the scammers were testing the card to see if it worked. They thanked me because next would be a bunch of big purchases.
They canceled the card, new one FedEx next day and the $70 was off the my charges.