# What is the scam here?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 8, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932 "2011-03-08T16:11:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/1 "2011-03-08T16:11:18Z")
My business got a call today from someone wanting to purchase something. So far, so good. The call came through a relay service that helps deaf people make phone calls. Again, no big deal.
_But_ the caller wants to buy 300 of the item, which I sell for around $35 a piece. This is where we went đ. The caller _could_ have a legitimate need for 300 widgets, however he could easily purchase the item wholesale and save a ton of money (my profit) by doing so.
Further, he was in a hurry to complete his transaction via a credit card. He wanted directions to my business so he could send a truck for pickup. Again, these widgets are available wholesale, and the wholesaler would include delivery to his door. These widgets are not rare, their sale is in no way controlled.
My receptionist asked for his number so she could call him back. He was unhappy about this, but gave an email address. I Googled the email addy and got nuthin.
So. . .where is the scam?
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/2 "2011-03-08T16:14:24Z")
> **[I'm in the process getting scammed...](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=589589)**
>
> 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...
SeriouslyâŚI got EXACTLY the same thing a few months back.
My guess is that at some point (if it was like my scam) he would say âOh, the truck is going to cost me $900, but they donât take credit cards, could you add on $900 and give the guy a check when he getâs thereâ
Either way, youâre going to be out the widgets (if he ever picks them up) and the money (since someone is going to do a charge back) and the extra money if he convinces you to charge above and beyond the amount of the widgets and give him cash back.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/3 "2011-03-08T16:20:06Z")
I think itâs sort of an updated version of the âcashiers check written for too muchâ scam.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/4 "2011-03-08T16:23:12Z")
Cool! Thanks! Iâm gonna email him and play around a bit. đ
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/5 "2011-03-08T16:28:12Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Cool! Thanks! Iâm gonna email him and play around a bit. đ
Go nuts, but personally (as you can see in my thread), I would do everything I could to make sure he didnât give me any credit card info just so that if something ever does happen with that credit card number nothing ever gets traced back to you. (âYeah, he emailed me, but I declined the sale when I felt it was a scam and I never got any credit card infoâ)
My guess is that the next thing thatâll happen is that heâll tell you that the freight truck is going to cost money and heâs going to ask you to charge it to the CC and pay them directly.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/6 "2011-03-08T16:30:49Z")
Yep, Iâm just going to string him along. Otherwise I will have to do real work here. đ
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/7 "2011-03-08T16:31:08Z")
I just needed 300 of those widgets in a hurry, and your place was close by, and I didnât really care about the price. But since your being such a pain, Iâll just buy them from someone else.
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### Author:  [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/8 "2011-03-08T16:32:33Z")
Keep us posted, **kayaker**! Otherwise I will have to go to sleep over here! (itâs 1:30am in Tokyo)
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/9 "2011-03-08T16:37:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> I just needed 300 of those widgets in a hurry, and your place was close by, and I didnât really care about the price. But since your being such a pain, Iâll just buy them from someone else.
I thought about that scenario for a second but it was all too strange. First off, as in the OPâs situation, my product could be bought locally pretty much anywhere, thereâs not much point in paying $1200 dollars in freight to send it across the country\* and then when I said no he offered me an additional $200 for the trouble of making the payment to his truckerâŚyeah, thatâs a scam.
\*actually a lot of people from all over the country do buy my hardly-unique products and ship them all over the country, but random customers spending a couple dollars are one thing. Someone spending thousands of dollars for an âeventâ wouldnât be sourcing out his perishable gift baskets this way. Thatâs something youâd get from a local company and have delivered that dayâŚprobably for free.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/10 "2011-03-08T16:51:15Z")
Scam him back.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/11 "2011-03-08T16:52:09Z")
WooHoo! I keep a couple Hotmail accounts just for this kind of thing. Got an almost immediate reply from Eric Bill, in which he is eager to do bidness!
> [@](#):
>
> it will be picked up by a shipper agent on the 16th of this month and am ready to pay with credit card now so what is the total cost
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/12 "2011-03-08T16:52:44Z")
It could be a stolen credit card, though. That would just hurt the victims even more.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/13 "2011-03-08T16:52:57Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> Scam him back. Get the credit card number and post it on 4chan. Clowns like that donât deserve mercy.
Well, you wouldnât be scamming him, youâd be scamming the person who actually owns the credit card, who might not even not that itâs been stolen yetâŚmaybe itâs yoursâŚ
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### Author:  [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/14 "2011-03-08T16:53:35Z")
Sounds to me like itâs a stolen credit card (or number) that heâs trying to milk for all he can before it gets cancelled. Hence wanting to complete the transaction quickly and send someone other than himself to pick them up. (Of course, it would be him, but heâs posing as the rightful cardholder on the phone.)
If he sells 300 of your $35 widgets on the street or eBay for $10, thatâs a pretty good haul.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/15 "2011-03-08T16:54:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> Well, you wouldnât be scamming him, youâd be scamming the person who actually owns the credit card, who might not even not that itâs been stolen yetâŚmaybe itâs yoursâŚ
Yeah, that occurred to me right after I posted it. :smack:
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/16 "2011-03-08T16:56:37Z")
Yabbut if **kayaker** could get the CC number, then the CC company could be informed as to the person who stole it. Or am I being naive?
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/17 "2011-03-08T17:01:23Z")
I emailed him a total. I purposely doubled the cost per item, yet he is still saying it sounds like a good deal! Wish I had more customers like him. Turns out Eric Bill is battling cancer.
> [@](#):
>
> The price sound good,so can i have your store address so i can forward it to the carrier that will be coming for the pickup once my payment have been confirmed,Okay I got the address, I will need a little favor from you cuz i havenât pay the private carrier that will be coming for the pick up of the foods coz they does not have the facility to charge and am asking for this favor so due to the cancer problems i am facing at the moment,the price sounds Good and I would like you to add an extra $950 to the total price of the order so that you can have all that charged on my credit card now and you will have the $950 send to the to my private carrier in cash via western union Money Transfer for him to be able to come for the pick up so can you add it all and let me have the total price so that I can get you my credit card for you to have the total cost charged on it.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/18 "2011-03-08T17:05:28Z")
Being approached with this sort of scam is fairly common in the auto repair business. Typically the car is hundreds (maybe a thousand or more) miles away, needs brake work or a transmission repair, and the caller wants it towed to YOUR shop becauseâŚwell, I donât think they ever have a plausible reason. And of course the whole premise is absolutely ludicrous. I _ALMOST_ think a shop owner deserves to be hosed if he really thinks someone is going to tow a car that far to deal with someone he doesnât know from Adam.
I gather they use TDD to give an air of legitimacy, and maybe to prevent the victim from hearing the scammerâs clearly foreign (Nigerian, most likely) accent. From post #4 in the thread **Joey P** linked: _After the guy hung up when I said I had no way to do what he wanted the operator actually said, âMaâam, that was a scam. Federal law says we have to put all calls through.â_ The operators are legally obliged to relay the conversation but not intrude or add anything (like a scam warning) during the conversation.
I wouldnât worry about taking the credit card number. Thatâs what businesses normally do in good faith. Report it to the CC company and it may do some good in sparing the card owner (victim) some trouble.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/19 "2011-03-08T17:07:19Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#):
>
> Yabbut if **kayaker** could get the CC number, then the CC company could be informed as to the person who stole it. Or am I being naive?
I doubt the scammer would be identified, and even if he were heâs probably overseas and canât be brought to justice. However, it could be helpful if the card had not yet been reported as stolen.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scam-here/573932/20 "2011-03-08T17:11:26Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#):
>
> I gather they use TDD to give an air of legitimacy, and maybe to prevent the victim from hearing the scammerâs clearly foreign (Nigerian, most likely) accent.
My receptionist says that the extra time that a TDD call takes for her to handle made her want to complete things quicker.
Just got another email. Eric wants to tip me!
> [@](#):
>
> Card type isâŚMaster card and exp date is..[deleted] and card number isâŚ[deleted] ahead and charge it now and add the tax fee and also 100$ for your tip and 100$ for western union charges to have the money send to the shipper thats coming for the pick up and email me back to let me know if the card has been charged through.
>
> Thanks
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