I wanted a place to post where we can let you know about another scam that we recently encountered, so why not our blog" ? I have other small businesses that we network and swap stories with, so here goes... I am doing this because every time I do post something like this, I have either helped thwart this same scammer from doing it again or notified another merchant they are not alone. Check out this facebook post, in which there was a criminal in Quebec who was stealing credit cards, buying stuff, having it shipped to them at MONIQUE MARA/ SICHOU BIANCO/ MADY RAMA 1227C DES MONTEREGIENNES REPENTIGNY, Quebec J5Y0H7 Canada. It was only because we posted to our facebook that when other merchants became suspicious or had already been scammed, they were able to confirm their suspicions. We often also google suspicious accounts when investigating whether to follow through.
So here's what happened a few weeks ago. I'm including emails so in case anyone gets these clearly cut n paste emails, they can google it and this will come up to save the merchant!!!
We get an email from "Annie" who purports to be from Holland.
Hello Dear,Pleasant day! We would like to use this medium to make inquiry aboutplacing an order from your Store down to our store in Holland. And canyou please confirm to us if you ship goods over here without anyproblem or delay? perhaps if you do accept credit card as means ofpayment? As you can see we are happy to form a good partnership withthose lovely genuine products in your store.Looking forward to read from you soon and have a nice dayBest RegardsAnnie
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Note - the name Annie is in a different colour, notice the email has a typo for 'shop'. Just a small thing I didn't pick up on til later and they don't say anything about the specific product either.
So "Annie" and I exchanged information on how we can easily ship to Holland as we have shipped across Europe before. She then tells us she is having problems ordering on our site so provides an email with her shipping info and some select items in quantities of 24.
====
From: annie marie <anniemariegiftshop@gmail.com>
Date: September 29, 2015 at 11:30:21 AM EDT
To: "Baby Wisp (Beena)" <beena@babywisp.com>
Subject:Order List From Annie Marie Gift Shop - Request Total Estimate Cost
SHIPPING ADDRESS TO:Veerweg 17226 LP BronkhorstThe Netherlands.Annie-Marie Gift Shop, Inc+31569670985Above address is for you to calculate the accurate shipping quote, andalso find below listed item, which we are interested in ordering foras follow:ITEM# DESCRIPTION LISTS:blah blah blah she lists a few specific skus...
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Then we get back to her that we can easily fedex, ups or usps this but she insists on her international broker. We contact him and this is his estimate back...for ONE SMALL BOX that fedex can do for less than $200.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Robert Elwyn<relwyn.yusenlogistics@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 12:48 PM
Subject: Regarding Shipment For Annie-Marie Gift Shop - Quote Ref (#7394-458)
Cc: anniemariegiftshop <anniemariegiftshop@gmail.com>
Dear Emily,Thank you for contacting "YUSEN-LOGISTICS CO, LTD" for your serviceand we are very sorry for delay in respond, as we been very busy withloads of shipment and through out last week was another hectic busyweeks for us. So we sincerely apologize for any inconveniences thatmight cause you. We have now ran into our data base on the locationyou provided and also rectified the customer ID number #NL013762207B48and we got to discover that we had shipped some Merchandise to Mrs.Annie Marie Rengner of Annie-Marie Gift Shop, Inc. in the past. Ourexperience serving customers in widely differing markets andgeographies gives us a unique insight when creating solutions. Weunderstand how every profile has unique characteristics and tailor ourservices accordingly to create robust and cost effective solutions.We provide solutions which range from stand-alone operations tocontrol-tower managed global supply chains, combining our expertisewith unique technology capabilities and our global service network. Asfor a shipment moving from Canada to Netherlands with the total weightand dimension you provided, below are the rates for Air FreightStandard and Express Shipment quote.Customer ID Number (NL013762207B48)Express Shipment (2 to 3 days) $892.89Standard Shipment (3 to 5 days) $754.53The freight costs includes:-Collection from your YardCustoms clearanceDuties & taxesInland transit to The NetherlandsInsuranceDoor To Door DeliveryPICK UP ADDRESS:Baby Wisp3345 Lake Shore Blvd W,Toronto, ON, M8W1N1Canada.Our mission is to contribute to global economic development andmaximize corporate value by earning the trust of our customers throughsophisticated, quality logistics services. When we receive allnecessary information from you we will proceed on the pick-up at yourlocation. Also we would like to inform you that we accept all majorCredit Card and Wire Money Transfer for now prior to pick up andcollection of package which will be paid when the order ready forshipment. Our Customer have to pay us the amount to which the weightof the goods weight for us to set pick-up arrangement and sort outpayment for tax, custom duties fees. This price includes insurance andall duties, as we have greatly reduce the price of our customershipment.We value our customers, so everything we do is focused on the needs ofour customers, wherever they may be located and whatever theirrequirements, therefore pick-up will be arrange by our agent team inthe states from your address after payment is confirmed. We need youto provide us with estimate pick-up date and time frame so that we canhave a schedule ahead, before the goods will be ready for picked up,as we normally have a lot of shipment request. As soon as we gotpayment confirmation, we will invoice our customer shipment and scanit to you, to print out and paste it on the packages.We are passionate about our service and our customers, that’s why wework outside the box, tailoring your shipping needs and processes froma unique customer-centric angle. For any further information don'thesitate to contact us.Thank you for your attention and looking forward to be of more service to you.Sincerely, The Yusen-Logistics TeamRobert.
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So we google this Yusen-Logistics Team, it does exist in the USA, in fact is a 100 year old company but why is this guy's email a GMAIL account? Why would she want to pay $800 in shipping for this one little box? Her reason saying she had trouble getting her stuff without this guy and the customs just didn't make sense. Also, consider we have now wasted time packing up her box. Gathering all those products, creating the invoice and now in correspondence. Some packs were custom made. This is about 8 hours of labour hours now in. Oh but now, there is a problem from "Roberts"...
On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 2:53 PM, annie marie <anniemariegiftshop@gmail.com>> wrote:>>> Hello Beana,>>>> As you can see we would have forwarded our credit card details to our>> forwarder agent to charged and deduct their freight fees, but at this>> time they don't have the facilities to charged or debit credit card,>> because their bank hasn't rectify/fix the problem with their processor>> machine. So, that was the reason why we advice you to help us handle>> it, as we want to build our vote of confidence in your company and we>> don't want you to let us down in any aspect. Also, we are willing to>> offer you $100 USD as a compensation fare for your processor charges>> interchange fee and a percentage of the total transaction, because we>> appreciate you.
========
WHAT? The freight forwarder tells us he can't take paypal, square, etransfer nor credit card...only a MONEYGRAMME.
This is where we were like HUH? What is going on here. This guy doesn't even exist as an employee for the company he was claiming to be from. Everyone there was like, "never heard of this guy". Yes, we tracked the company down and made a whole bunch of calls. We are a small business, we don't have a "scam" budget we can just expense this crap out of! It's a LOSS. Any loss is a blow to us so I like to think we're diligent. Here's our email back to him:
================
> Hi Robert,
>
> Unfortunately, our company is unable to send the payment through Moneygram.
> So I wanted to see if the issue with the credit card has been solved for
> your company. Since you provided the New Jersey address for the company, we
> went ahead and contacted Yusen-Logistics Headquarters in NJ. They are not
> aware of any credit card issues or any account associated with Annie
> Marie's Gift Shop. We wanted to get your contact information but they were
> unable to provide us with it since your name did not show up in their
> company directory. We also contacted the Canadian company since the package
> will be picked up in Canada. Again, the company was unable to provide us
> with any account details or see any quotes you did for us.
>
> We don't understand the discrepancies between the information you're
> providing for us and what Yusen-Logistics has given us. The company was
> very troubled by this as it has been a reputable company for over 130
> years.
>
> We have advised them to start an investigation as this is very troubling to
> us as well.
>
> Can you please clarify and explain to us so maybe we can help resolve this
> issue?
>
>
> - Emily
=================
Then "Annie" gives us some bizarre story how "Roberts" is some rogue operator for Yusen and is doing us a huge favour and Shhhh, just pass the money to "Maria Moro" In Jersey who will get the untraceable money as cash and don't worry everything will work out.
It's at this point, I google the address she gave in Netherlands. Oh yes, it's a BRIDGE or WATER TREATMENT centre of some sort. It's also at this point that we notice Roberts and Annie are the exact same person. Their english and manner of writing are exactly the same.
[caption id="attachment_1126" align="aligncenter" width="300"] She apparently has a boutique on a bridge in a water treatment facility in a remote farming area.[/caption]
So, I hope you have found this entertaining. I'm only laughing about it now because the only money we lost was all the time and effort to deal with this clown..at least they didn't get our actual money and products too.
I hope you have found this post before you got scammed or now can watch out for this type of same fraud. To "Annie", "Roberts" and "Maria Moro" - get a real job.