I'm in the process getting scammed...

[Joey_P]

Well, someone is attempting to scam me…
I got a call from ATT IM Service for the hard of hearing (my Caller ID said Cell phone, but I could hear lots of other operators in the background).
The IM service made this all very slow. He (the person I was ‘talking’ to) said he would like to order forty $45 gifts from my store and how much would that be and could he send someone to pick them up on 12/22 at 3:00pm? I replied that it would be $1900.80 with tax and yes, the pickup date and time would be just fine. We had a few more back and forths and decided this would be easier via email (his idea). The operator said ‘goodbye’ and so did I and hung up.
A few minutes later, I get another call, via the IM service, from him. He asked why I hung up on him. I explained that the operator said goodbye. He said “ok” and told me we would continue via email.
Here’s the email exchange…so far.

@him

Thanks for your consideration…i understand that the total cost is $1980 but i will be needing a little favor from you so i will be looking forward to hear from you soon
best regard

Okay, so why didn’t he just ask me the favor outright? Also, how did $1900.80 turn into $1980 (as I proof read this, I see how that happened now) I already felt a little iffy about this, before I even got the email, so I was sort of hoping he would ask for some sort of financing so I could just turn him down and move on. I asked him what he needed.
Here’s his reply.

Thanks for your mail…
okay fine i understand that the total price is $1251.55 so i want you to understand that the private shipper that will pick up from you will also pick it up with cooling truck and i want you to go ahead now and add extra $1250 plus the total of the food that’s for the private courier that will come and pick up the basket on the event date by 3pm so you can have the $1250 send to the courier via western union so are you ready for my credit card information as well as the courier information that you will be sending the funds…hope to hear from you soon

I considered asking for the CC number just so I could report it to the police or FBI or something, but then I decided not know just so I’m not involved when whatever he’s up to catches up with him. (I imagine the FBI looking at his emails and seeing that he sent the CC number to me). I was going to outright tell him not to give it to me until we get all the details worked out, but I just chose to leave it alone for now. Here’s my reply

I’m extremely confused. If you would like 40 x $45 fruit and gourmet baskets, the total cost, with tax will be $1900.80. Where are you coming up with $1251.55 and $1250? Also, why are you asking me to send money to a private shipper via western union?

Yes, I know what’s going to happen if I were to follow through with this. I’ll lose all the gifts AND the $1250 will be charged back to me.

Okay, just got his reply

Thanks for your mail
am really sorry for the mistake about the total cost of the baskets i do know is $1900.8…i will want you to add a sum of $1250 plus the total cost so you will have it send to the courier i do know am suppose to pay the courier myself but they did not have access to credit card facilities and they want an upfront payment that’s why i need this favor from you i would like to know if you can do this for me …so you can have everything charge on my credit card and once the card is clear into your account so you will have the $1250 send to the courier via western union so they can come for the pick so are you ready for my credit card and the courier information which you will be sending the money…hope to hear from you soon

and my reply back to him

I understand now.
I’m sorry, this is something we absolutely cannot do. Hopefully you can find someone else to help you out with this project.
Good Luck
Joey

I really wanted to drag this out. Maybe see if I can at least phish for some contact info to turn over to the police or FBI, but I really don’t want the business getting involved in something like this.
Let’s see what he says to this.

[Dewey_Finn]

Perhaps you might have replied asking for him to send you the money by Western Union?

[Joey_P]

Not a bad thought, but it would probably be purchased with a/the stolen credit/debit card or a bad checking account. (How does W.U. work, can you use credit/debit/checks?

Here was his reply
“Thank you but if i should compensate with $200 if you do this for me hope to hear from you soon”

I just repeated what I said above “I’m sorry, this is something we absolutely cannot do.” This’ll be the line I use for any further emails he sends me or phone calls he makes. I’d call him out on what he’s doing, but I really would rather my store become a ‘dead end’ for him. If I do that, he’ll start trying to convince me otherwise and it’s just not a game I want to play with him.

In fact, I’m going to block the his number so my employees don’t have to field a call from him (unless they grab it on less then one ring) and not know that it’s a scam.

[whiterabbit]

I got a relay call scam a couple of weeks ago at work. I’d never heard of such a thing, but apparently it’s depressingly common since internet relay came along. After the guy hung up when I said I had no way to do what he wanted the operator actually said, “Ma’am, that was a scam. Federal law says we have to put all calls through.” He was Not Happy. I think he’s seen a few too many of these. I told him I thought it was but I had to act as if it wasn’t just in case. I didn’t tell him that we have to pretend the obvious scam emails at work are real as well. I really want to go to upper management and tell them what a bullshit policy that is. I feel so stupid responding to that shit.

There are no words. I called my mom and said, “I’ve found a new depth of human depravity.” She was appalled.