Warning of Sammers

Hello,
I'm the Owner/Artist for a small Furniture & Décor business in Arizona. I received a request via email a few days ago for a Large order shipped to an address in the Netherlands. This order had warning signs all over it to begin with. First some of the items they wanted had to do with holidays celebrated only here in the US. Second their emails were filled with "God Bless You" and other religious statements, most legitimate businesses don't do that unless they are religious based. Third their lack of response to questions pertaining to the order. They seemed to be only concerned with the shipping. Insisted that I use their shipper, gave conflicting emails, gave no legitimate websites for their business or the shipping company & wanted me to accept a credit card # via email address and send money via Western Union to the shipper. The biggest warning sign (and I really think they're just too stupid to notice this one) was the quick reply to all of my emails when what should have been between the hours of 10pm-5am Netherlands time. The names being used are Miriam Oneil and Paul Carter. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
the address they're claiming is Prinsengracht 2016,1710 KN Amsterdam, The Netherlands

They aren't aware yet that I'm on to them. I'm hoping to get this information out as quickly as I can before they figure it out and change any of their contacts incase they're trying to scam anyone else using the same names and emails. there's also a legitimate shipping company they're manipulating the name of to use. I hope this helps anyone else avoid falling for it. I only accept payments via Pay Pal as they require accountability for use. Follow your gut. If it doesn't sound right, it probably isn't!

thanks for posting all of those free email addresses, and welcome to scamwarners.

Was there a website in conjunction with these criminals, or were they just trying to squeeze you for payment before services were rendered ( an Advance Fee Fraud or AFF)?

Welcome to Scamwarners!

This is what we call a product lad. We have a thread full of them in the "Email Scams Targeting Businesses" section. He orders items from a catalog, not knowing what they are or even whether they exist. He tells you to contact a particular shipper (another character he's playing) for the shipping cost, which is way higher than any real shipper would charge. Then he sends you stolen credit cards to pay for the order.

Now that you have the information you need to warn others, STOP. Do not say anything else to the scammer. He will threaten you with the FBI because you have his money and have not shipped the product. Ignore him. The only information that would be useful and that you haven't gotten yet is his bank account, but you shouldn't try to get his bank account unless you know how to bait and are doing so safely.

A real customer submitting a credit card for payment doesn't insist that you're there when he sends it. A product lad does, because the card number is stolen and could be canceled any hour.

There are also pitfalls when accepting PayPal payments. A scammer can send a fake PayPal message, saying that the payment is being held until the item is shipped. PayPal doesn't do this.