I know there have been discussions here regarding Craig's List rip offs and Nigerian scams, but I thought I'd pass along info of a credit card scammer seemingly operating in the Tucson, AZ. area. I say seemingly because most of us know they tend to use some form of forwarding service to have their new loot sent to yet another location.

Near the end of last week I received a sizable online order. The credit card is legit. Name, billing address, etc., etc., are all accurate according to my processing company, and belong to someone from Gilbert, AZ.

First red flag: the request for a drop shipment to Tucson when you live in Gilbert.

Second red flag: an email address with a totally different name @hotmail.com

Third red flag: they don't respond to your messages

Glad you caught the tell tale signs. Some are not so obvious.
One thing that we do after the normal cc/bank call, when we receive "a bit odd" order is goggle and call the cc owner and ask if they placed the order.

I googled one cc address and did the street view of the house and saw a BMW in the driveway, as I spun around the view to see the house across the street, found it had a brick facade.
I called the cc owner and asked about the order and they confirmed the order was correct. As we talked I asked how the weather was there and I said somthing about owning a convertible BMW and he said he wished he owned a BMW. I then asked him what color his house is and the color of the house across the street.
BEEP! Wrong answers. Told the guy the order is on the way, called the local police to report the card stolen and the cc company also.
The police were to busy to respond and the cc company acted as if I was the crook. Found the real cc owner after a few seconds of work and informed him his cc was hacked, again I was the crook until I told him of the order. Got a nice email from him a week later letting me know how much him and his wife appreciated my honesty. Guess they caught the neighbor kid thief and found lots of mail addressed to all the neighbors.

For what its worth, I was told by the local sheriff's department detective, that only 8 to 10% of the crooks are caught and of those only 10 to 15% are prosecuted and found guilty.
I asked the detective if he enjoyed his job and there was a slight pause before he said yes. I made the statement that it is a lucrative business to be a identity thief because the chances of being caught and going to jail we're very slim at best. He did not respond to that statement, I thanked him for his hard work and told him that some of us really do appreciate what they do.
Credit Card company's don't really care about credit card theft because they can always go back to the person who did the transaction and retrieve their money. It's part of the business, that's why credit card interest rate is so high. Someone has to cover the cost of theft and it's not the thief.

Good job guys for paying attention and doing the right thing.

same issue came through my web store yesterday as well. Also in Tucson , AZ. A total of 4 different payments came in within a 5 minute period from 2 different people. All info was correct and they purchased gift certificates (which now I no longer offer after yesterday). Total was around $2k. Then immediately after these are purchased all the certificates were used to purchase one Ozone kite to a totally different name. All 4 purchases had different emails .. made things very easy to spot. Seems like 9 out of 10 times a scam attempt happens its for a ozone. I guess the criminals like Ozones

Quote: Originally posted by DAKITEZ

Seems like 9 out of 10 times a scam attempt happens its for a ozone. I guess the criminals like Ozones

:o :wow:



ATB,
Sam

i just had one come in for Glendale, AZ. CC was in OKLA CITY.

Yes Ozone must have a definite appeal. Mine was for a large Frenzy. But I am always suspicious when I receive an order from the USA. Why would anyone want to go through the increased shipping, customs delays and possible import fees by ordering from Canada when there are dealers within their own region.

I also tried approaching the bank on a previous instance. Asked to speak with someone regarding fraud investigation. I spoke with everyone from the receptionist to the department head. They were all convinced I was on some con and they weren't falling for it. Finally I just said "Look, you have a client whose card is being used to purchase expensive product online, quite likely without their knowledge or permission. Just thought as a courtesy you might like to follow up on that possibility. I will give you the clients name and card number as well as all the contact information I received from the crook so you can report it to the authorities or what ever you do in these circumstances.

The reply...." We only investigate irregular card charges when brought to our attention by the cardholder". Ya that was a shocker. Why should they make an effort to prevent the fraud when they can just back charge the transaction to the poor schlep who trying to earn an honest buck.

I did try to locate this most recent cardholder, but Google gave me nothing but a bunch of "pay for service " sites.

I have done the same in the past. The card company starts to treat you like a thief. You are 100% correct. The card company does not care because they will not be responsible for any charges. They just stick it to the seller. I dont even bother with it any more. I just instantly refund the payment and cancel the order. If the person is legit they will contact you. The criminals never follow up when you cancel the order.