Possible scam prevention assistance needed

[mrblaine]

Received a contact via email for the purchase of 6000 dollars worth of product. Wants to have a freight company do a will call, pay with a credit card and then have us pay the freight company. I explained that I will never pay a freight company and instead will pay for shipping to any freight forwarder with a US address and we can go from there. They are still insistent on me paying the freight company which I will never do.
What is the scam and how does it work?

 

[Mr. Bills]

It is definitely a scam.

The credit card will turn out to be bogus, you will be on the wrong end of a charge back, and to add insult to injury you will have paid the shipper to deliver your inventory to a third party who very well may be another victim of the same scammer.

 

[mrblaine]

It is definitely a scam.

The credit card will turn out to be bogus, you will be on the wrong end of a charge back, and to add insult to injury you will have paid the shipper to deliver your inventory to a third party who very well may be another victim of the same scammer.

I explained how we will do it and how that is the only way we will do it and that I will never under any circumstances pay a freight company one dime that is here to pick up anything. Not gonna happen. Interestingly, he did call and say he was shipping the stuff to Bermuda. Google maps shows the location as not being a well travelled road, at least by the camera car.

 

[S.McArthur]

Sounds like they are going to send you an invoice from the "freight" company, you pay, they don't show up and are out the shipping charges.
Similar to the " I'll buy your car for more than asking, then you send me the remaining cash".
Are they asking to pay the freight service via credit card, cash on pickup, or check?

There is no reason they can't pay for the shipping and schedule the pickup. Some, but not all shippers require an account to schedule pickups, and it's easy as shit to do; you probably already know that though.

 

[mrblaine]

Sounds like they are going to send you an invoice from the "freight" company, you pay, they don't show up and are out the shipping charges.
Similar to the " I'll buy your car for more than asking, then you send me the remaining cash".
Are they asking to pay the freight service via credit card, cash on pickup, or check?

There is no reason they can't pay for the shipping and schedule the pickup. Some, but not all shippers require an account to schedule pickups, and it's easy as shit to do; you probably already know that though.

I won't let an atypical freight company do a will call. I only ship to freight forwarders who then do what they do. The rest of this I suspected but having not been ripped off, I wasn't entirely sure how it worked.

He does keep throwing out a term I've not seen used, proforma invoice. I'm sure there is some significance there but I don't know what.

 

[Chris]

It is definitely a scam.

The credit card will turn out to be bogus, you will be on the wrong end of a charge back, and to add insult to injury you will have paid the shipper to deliver your inventory to a third party who very well may be another victim of the same scammer.

I agree with this. One of my biggest clients sells thermal and night vision scopes (https://pr-infrared.com), and these guys get this scam all the time with the exporting thing. So much so, that it's almost a daily occurrence.

Your instinct on this one is right Blaine.

 

[S.McArthur]

It's like a quote, not even close to a sales invoice, its no official. No one uses them for domestic shipping, seeing as "he" intends to export the product, it can be used to make a commercial invoice without having the items in his possession. ***Edit: That is the only reason why you'd send a pro forma, and to reiterate, it is NOT an invoice at all.***

I can't really give good details on this, I don't use them when I do our exports. Exporting is a pain in the ass, you are correct to collect payment and drop at the forwarder; you would have fulfilled your contractual duties at that point.
If you care any further than that, I can dig through our export stuff and try and find a better answer.

 

[DaveC]

Walk away. Similar attempts are made at my company's stores regularly. We're primarily a contractor's supply house, but do sell to the public. We have some very specialized equipment that the general public would NEVER buy; it's highly specialized and dangerous for someone who's not a skilled professional who knows how to use it. For these reasons, we ONLY sell those products to contractors with active accounts whom we can bill for the purchase, and we will not sell this equipment to anyone wanting to pay with a credit card.

It never fails... Someone comes in wanting to buy this very specialized equipment 'right now', but they're not a contractor, have no account and only want to pay with a credit card. Every time someone's gotten enamored with the thought of a big sale and gone outside the established process, it's been fraudulent and charged back..every...single...time.

Bottom line is that anytime someone asks you to go a completely different route outside of widely accepted/industry standard practice...and their plan is oddly and surprisingly detailed in its deviations from accepted standards...it's time to walk away.

 

[mrblaine]

Bottom line is that anytime someone asks you to go a completely different route outside of widely accepted/industry standard practice...and their plan is oddly and surprisingly detailed in its deviations from accepted standards...it's time to walk away.

Yeah, this is his reply after I told him the only way I would do things.
Hello,



Thanks for your email, I will still prefer to use my refer forwarder Total Transport Services and i will be happy to arrange the will call things with my shipper and i will be needing you to have the total weight & dimensions sent to us so that we can give our refer shipper to request a shipping cost. In addition, Once we have the shipping cost has been quoted we will notify you and i will like you to add up this shipping cost to my final proforma invoice as i will like to know my total budget for this order including the freight and i will be directing the full credit payment to your company upfront. Once the full payment transaction has been successfully processed and cleared through your bank then you will be helping me in paying the freight charges to the forwarder as i can not make separate payment transaction the them directly myself due to my current location. Then when the order has been packed together and ready for collection then we can have our shipper to schedule the pick up date and time with you but they will need to be payed by you so that they can secure all necessary taxes prior to collection.



Thanks for your co-operation and hope this is well understood.



Thanks,

Dave

 

[Mr. Bills]

. . . Thanks for your co-operation and hope this is well understood.

Thanks,

Dave

Dear Dave,

I understand completely. What part of "no" didn't you understand?

Warmly,

Blaine

 

[mrblaine]

Dear Dave,

I understand completely. What part of "no" didn't you understand?

Warmly,

Blaine

That is the next step. The one after won't be so nice.

 

[Chris]

Just the way that email is written sounds like a scam

 

[cliffish]

Here will be his next response:

"OK my other offer is a post dated, out of state, cross endorsed check....please tell me where to send it"

-Dave

 

[DaveF]

Just the way that email is written sounds like a scam

Agreed. I deal with phishing/scams/etc at work as part of my job and just the combination of phrasing/grammar/punctuation positively reeks of scam... they all sound the same if you look at them that way.

 

[Chris]

Agreed. I deal with phishing/scams/etc at work as part of my job and just the combination of phrasing/grammar/punctuation positively reeks of scam... they all sound the same if you look at them that way.

Yep, I’ve read so many of these scams and the one thing they all have in common is incredibly bad grammar, as well as trying to get the seller to go above and beyond to get them the product.

 

[L J]

Thanks for your co-operation and hope this is well understood.
Thanks,
Dave

Agreed. I deal with phishing/scams/etc at work as part of my job and just the combination of phrasing/grammar/punctuation positively reeks of scam... they all sound the same if you look at them that way.

It reads as if it was composed by a Nigerian prince.

 

[jjvw]

I saw this scam pretty often when I brokered a lot of shipping for clients.

 

[Apparition]

I agree with this. One of my biggest clients sells thermal and night vision scopes (https://pr-infrared.com), and these guys get this scam all the time with the exporting thing. So much so, that it's almost a daily occurrence.

Your instinct on this one is right Blaine.

Forum discount?

 

[mrblaine]

Yep, I’ve read so many of these scams and the one thing they all have in common is incredibly bad grammar, as well as trying to get the seller to go above and beyond to get them the product.

See, the problem with trying to sort the wheat from the chaff with grammar as the discerning factor is too many of the phone users suck at even trying to sound like they are from here.

His first point of contact wasn't terrible, or not much worse than I see on here daily.

Hello, I will like to place orders for some of your products, I will like to know if i can place orders with my credit card and if i can arrange pick up from your store/warehouse by a private freight company. I will be looking forward to your quick response soon. Dave Adamski

Certainly not worse than I get daily from folks who should know better.

 

[someguysjeep]

i ran the shipping dept for my co for 9yrs. it doesn't sound that odd to me.
he placed an order. he's asked for weights and dimensions, both legit info for international shipping.
total transport........... i've had customers use, to make p/u's.

proforma is an itemized value list used for customs paperwork. i forget if it also acts as the certificate of origin. it may be an all in 1 customs paper....... i've not worked down there in 5yrs now.

sounds like he's willing to pay b4 anything ships + the cost of what you'd cover for him paid to the forwarder.

if the $'s not legit then the truck doesn't get loaded.