November 18

94 comments

The “Fake Shipping Company” Western Union Scam

By Dan

November 18, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by a Japanese customer who called himself Kenny Moore and used the email address (kennymoore011@hotmail.co.uk). “Kenny” wanted to buy a series of large format framed prints. Having recently read in the news about how strong the yen is against the dollar, and how many Japanese are buying lots of American goods right now, I didn’t think anything of it.

My usual policy is to wait until I have full payment up front before beginning a print job, and with an overseas customer, I was certainly not going to deviate from that method. I waited until he gave me his credit card number, along with his billing and shipping info and credit card security code, and when my bank verified that the transaction had gone through, I send the image files to the printer. When the prints came back, I even got so far as to take them to my framer, but since they had to order more mat board, nothing was done on the job yet.

All seemed fine until the “customer” told me that instead of using Fed Ex or UPS to ship the prints, he wanted me to use his preferred shipping company, Crystal Freight. He gave me their email address and I sent off for a quote. The amount was around the same that I got from Fed Ex: $1550 for express freight from Anchorage Alaska to Kobe Japan. The red flag came when I received an email from the shipping company that they only accept international payments via Western Union.

I tried to find out some information about Crystal Freight on the web, and found Crystal Freight System, based in Lahore, Pakistan, Crystal Freight Services, based in Singapore, Crystal International, based in California, and Crystal Logistical Services, Ltd., based in London. These are all legitimate shipping companies, but according to my “customer,” they were different companies, and not “his” Crystal Freight.

That’s where I balked, and luckily so, because after doing a little more Google research, it became clear to me that the entire sale was nothing more than a scam.

Here’s how it works: Artist (You) gets paid with a stolen credit card (or counterfeit money order), completes the order and packages up the work. In the meantime, artist contacts Fake Shipping Company, who is really just the scammer using a different email, and is told to make payment via Western Union. Artist goes down to the local Western Union office and sends away his cash, never to see it again, goes home and emails the scammer the MTCN number along with shipping details. Scammer walks into any Western Union office in the world, collects money and walks away. Your art sits, packaged up, ready to go, but noone ever comes to pick it up. Then, credit card (or bad money order/check) is charged back to your account. Suddenly you’re out the $1550.00 for shipping, plus a $15.00 charge-back fee, in addition to the time and cost of producing your art, which now has no buyer.

Luckily I caught this in time. This morning, I called Chase Fraud Services and was told that the credit card that was used to pay me had been cancelled, which meant that I’d be charged back the full amount. I went ahead and refunded the transaction before that happened, and so I’m only out my time and the cost to produce six 16″x24″ Alaska Landscape prints, for which I can hopefully find new buyers.

Apparently, this type of scam is pretty prevalent, so to help alert others, here is some simple advice that will help you avoid being scammed.

1. NEVER WIRE MONEY TO ANYONE OR ANY BUSINESS VIA WESTERN UNION OR MONEYGRAM. You might as well put money in an envelope and throw it away, because it’s the same thing. It’s completely untraceable, and you never have any way of knowing who may have picked it up on the other end. In other words, you’ll never see it again. No legitimate organization does business through Western Union, and anyone who expects this is trying to commit fraud.

2. DO YOUR RESEARCH. Just about every legitimate business can be found by using Google. If you can’t find the shipping company that your “customer” gives, it probably doesn’t exists. Often, it will have a similar name to a real company, which may throw you off. You can also find examples of similar scams through google as well. If it’s happening to you, it has probably happened to somebody else who has written about it on some blog post… which is exactly why I’m taking the time to write all this!

3. AWAYS DO BUSINESS WITH A COMPANY DIRECTLY THROUGH THEIR WEBSITE, NOT THROUGH A LINK THAT SOMEONE GIVES YOU IN AN EMAIL. That “link” is usually nothing more than a link to the scammer’s other email address, which he uses to pose as the fraudulent company.

4. NEVER EVER ACCEPT PAYMENT FROM ANYONE IN AFRICA!!! realize that there are many legitimate, and honest people in Africa who might want to do business over the internet, but unfortunately, the HUGE number of scammers in Nigeria and Ghana have ruined it for them. However, be aware that scammers operate out of or pose as if they’re in any country. My own situation is proof. I’d never heard of a scam run by a Japanese person, but that’s probably why it got as far as it did. I know that he was Japanese, because he called me on the phone a few times, to “check on that status of his order.”

(Edited 1/23/10) *Please note my revision to Tip #4*

4. While there are certainly legitimate customers who reside in Africa, sellers should be EXTREMELY CAUTIOUS about any sale from a buyer who CLAIMS to be from Africa. It’s true that most scammers originate in the US, but the majority of Internet-based ‘Advance Fee Frauds,’ which is how this type of scam is correctly defined, either operate out of Africa or operate from a scammer posing as someone from Africa. Again, do your homework and VERIFY AND WAIT FOR ALL TRANSACTIONS TO FULLY CLEAR BEFORE PROCEEDING.**

5. AWAYS VERIFY THE TRANSACTION. Call the bank and verify the name, address, billing info and security code on the credit card. Even if it goes through, it can still be charged back if it’s a stolen card.

6. WAIT FOR PAYMENT TO CLEAR BEFORE DOING ANYTHING. If you do accept payment from a client who you think might be for real, wait at least 30 days for the payment to clear. If not, you’ll be out when the payment bounces.

7. IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS. I was guilty here. Bad economy, big print sale.. hey, we all want more business, right? Just keep careful track of everything that transpires regarding a job, as well as any transactions, authorization numbers and receipts, and most of all, use your head. I was lucky that I caught this before it went any further. Hopefully this post will help alert and inform a few more people so that “Kenny” won’t be able to find any more “work”.

Unfortunately, internet scams are here to stay, and they’re constantly evolving. Stay informed and be smart. For those people who are interested in reading more, check out Scams and Swindles, by Silverlake Publishing. It’s a great little book that explains in detail how most of the prevalent internet scams work and how to protect yourself from getting ripped off.

About the author

Hi, I'm Dan Bailey, a 25+ year pro outdoor and adventure photographer, and official FUJIFILM X-Photographer based in Anchorage, Alaska.


As a top rated blogger and author my goal is to help you become a better, more confident and competent photographer, so that you can have as much fun and creative enjoyment as I do.


  • Dan – great post! Thanks for taking the time to write about your nightmare of an experience and sharing it with the rest of us. Glad you didn’t loose any more than you did.

    Sherri
    Auburn, California

  • Hi Dan,

    I came across this post after googling kennymoore011 (a mysterious email I recieved today), and I’m glad I took that minute to do that. Thanks for taking the time to write about your experience or I could have been out some dough myself.

    Best, and thanks

    Kevin

  • You’re a life saver Dan,

    Same thing is happening to me right now and thought it was a bit dodgy so checked it out and now i can see it’s the same thing.

    Lucky i didn’t put the card through.

    Should i give all the details to someone who deals with these people?

  • Kindly tell me about the Western Union Shipping Corporation Limited, 365, # North Dividar, Toncolla, Australia, the company status, business, profile, is it a funding agency who provide donations to development projects, etc.

  • Hey Dan-
    We just had the same scam last week and the guy is still waiting for me to process his cards (which I wont). It burns my but when guys try to screw me and knew just how to turn the game around on him as I am a hunter/gamer myself, albeit an honest one. If it were not for the 3rd party (the victim) getting hurt believe me he (the scammer) would be out the cost of shipping.

    Thanks for keeping it real

    Anthony

  • thank you for the post Dan!
    because you took the time to write it, I could find that it is a scam.
    Good thing he is stupid and/or lazy enough not to change his email address every time he scams so I could google it and find your blog when we thought this request smelled bad.

    I like Anthony’s idea of a hunt. Any ideas?

    happy holidays are when we care , so thank you Dan again.
    artbrokers

  • Hey so the same thing is happening to me right now as well. For the most part at least. He sent me a check for $3,650. I had a snowboarding helmet up for sale for $50 on craigslist haha and this is what he sends me. Anyways he said in the email the helmet will be headed for london england. He made up a fake name and address I’m sure. But he shipped the check out to me in a feddx envelope and I think the bastard left his name and address on it on the envelope.

    James Karl
    34 w pico blvd
    Los Angeles, CA 90006

    I don’t know if thats just made up to but I wonder if he could be that stupid? Is there anyone I can contact to bust this guy? I really want too. Or at least anything to waste as much as his time as he did mine? If somone knows anything….that would be great.
    Thanks

  • Dan-

    I thank you for taking the time to share your story. I was so excited to receive what seemed like a legitimate wholesale order from Australia. They wanted to give a credit card #- but over pay by more than $900 for shipping- I was supposed to by the shipping to their carrier by Western Union. Ugh. Bummed me out as the order was significant and economy is bad. Finding your story helped affirm my decision not to touch this situation.

    You are much appreciated!

  • Hello Dan,

    Thkx alot for posting this material on net cause i hav been receiving several email for confirmation of such time of scam order as name of our compnay Crystal Freight System resembel to the scammer Crystal Freight so mostly peopel search from googel n send me many email for confirmation which was quite a problem for me to tackle,but thkx to Dan after this self explainatory message of Dan we recevied no such mail any more,Plz always check things before doing any kind of business around the grob as far as field of freight forwarding is concern plz always check out website of forwarder n there location because that is not possibel a person in Japan would move cargo through a frowarder in Pakistan,Singapore or any other country because every country hav there own working term n conditions so next time if receive such mail in which u get data of compnay located in some other part of world rather then buyer location never ever sell any thing to such buyer.i hope that small technical point will also help u .

    Regards,
    Nazish
    Manager imports
    Crsytal Freight System ,Pakistan.

  • Alpha TRansport (PVT) ltd, can I check if this shipping company really exist ?? it’s realy important and I’m not able to verify it.
    by the way thanks for what u have wrote Dan it’s really useful

  • I just had someone call and try to have me run their credit card for $2500 and then wire $900 via Western Union to pay their “private shipper”. My intuition kicked in pretty early in the call and told me SCAM. I was hoping to try to get more info from them, but no luck. Pretty brilliant though…they use a stolen credit card and give you some sob story about how they are old/sick and cannot make it out to the western union to pay their “private shipper”, then ask you if you can do a “favor” and tack on some extra money for their “shipper” and then western union that money for them. OH, AND THEY — USED THE RELAY SERVICE!! Unbelievable. What a bunch of low lifes.

  • Hey,

    Thanks so much for that post. I’m a restaurant hostess and just received an IP relay call for a very large order. The credit card numbers and requests asked of us were very strange and overly confusing. It didn’t sound right. That’s when I looked online and came across your blog. Western Union Shipping Co is definitely a fake and was the company given to me as well. The person calling left me with 3 different credit card numbers and names of shipping companies on the opposite coast!

    After calling Discover and Master card, I was able to make sure they took care of cancelling these stolen cards and prevent this fraud from happening. And to think, we would’ve lost over $2,500!!

    Thanks for your post.

    Lindsey

  • same thing person used relay saying they wanted 125 large pizzas but we needed to charge their card for an extra $650 for a shipper who “doesn’t accept credit cards” sounded very fishy and turns out it is!

  • Dan….thanks so much for posting this blog, I can’t imagine how many small businesses (like mine) you have helped with this information!

    My husband and I own a local pizzeria in PA. We have just encountered the same thing …..a person used relay service and ordered a dinner for 200 people and wanted us to charge their credit card for an extra $980. They asked us to western union that money to shipping company that doesn’t accept credit cards…..thing was they were going to PICK UP the order!

    The name that was used was:
    PAUL STULLER
    paulj909@yahoo.com

    Thanks Again, Dan!

  • Thank you so much for posting your blog. It looks like you have helped so many people.

    I was going through the same scam, as some of the other responses. I decided to trust my gut and google my clients name. Thankfully one of you posted a name and email along with the scam.

    I have a catering company and was called via a relay service to cater a birthday party for 200 people for this guys mother. His private shipper was to pick-up the meal and deliver it to the party. Everything seemed weird but ok until payment. Then he said the private shipper does not accept credit cards and would I please charge an extra $980.00 on to his credit card and wire that to the shipper. He said I could also tack on alittle for my time and trouble. That is when I googled his name.
    Paul Stuller
    paulj909@yahoo.com

    Thanks again!

  • Thanks for the article! I’ve been questioning the validity of an order placed by a client who does not want to speak over the phone. I am going to go with my gut instinct here.

    I did the research before reading this article and contacted the shipping company that has similar in name. They said they have received a few phone calls like this lately.

    I finally was able to speak to my client on the phone and he was able to call the shipping company. He called me back immediately and asked I send the money by Western Union.

    Not going to happen.

  • You caution about doing credit card business with Africa – they now are finding, via the Internet, valid addresses in other countries and using those addresses to reduce the red flags.

  • @AC

    The exact same thing happened today at my pizzeria in West Virginia. I got lucky with mine, as initially they ordered items we don’t even serve, so that was the first indication it wasn’t a serious transaction. They used a relay call center, saying they wanted to feed 200 people, and wanted meatball sandwiches since we don’t serve pasta, and they wanted an email with the total. No credit card information was taken as I was hesitant to get the information as I had my doubts.

    I went ahead and sent the total, and within SECONDS i had a reply that was one long run-on sentence using extremely broken english asking to add $980 to the credit card and wire the money via Western Union to the shipping company which was never named, and they would send warmer trucks to pick up the food for her mother’s birthday party.

    Common sense told me not to do this, after working for an online retailer I know most of the tricks people use to scam using credit cards, and I also know at least in my state any amount under $1000 is considered a misdemeanor, while over that amount would be a felony. They know the game, and they’ll have to try to scam someone else. Be on the lookout for someone named Susan Williams, her yahoo profile that coincides with her email address said she lives in New York.

  • Eric, you are absolutely correct. The scam that I was faced with was posing as a Japanese buyer, and one year later, I’m now getting emails from people posing as Australian buyers. The latest are these emails: franklewis948 at gmail.com and bobsmithinc02 at gmail.com

  • —–Original Message—–
    From: Paul Stuller [mailto:paulj909@yahoo.com] SCAMMER!!!!!!!
    Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 9:33 AM
    To: Dick Hake
    Subject: RE: $40 Storage (Ankeny)

    Am very happy to hear from you and i will like you to know that am interested in the other one that you have and i willl like to pay down for 5months rent so i will like you to get back to me with the cost of that i’m also looking forward in renting the spot for such long period of time but i will be paying 5months in Advance and when i get to United State will pay the rest fee of the parking spot, I have already contacted my client states informing her that i was able to find a place and she was so happy for me, and she said, she’s ready to issue out the payment to you but she will need this before information of yours to Write and mail the check out to:

    YOUR FULL NAME:
    FULL ADDRESS:
    HOME AND CELL PHONE #:

    Once i have the above info the check will be made out to you immediately and will let you know once it as been sent out,I have already make contact with shipping agent that will be delivering the car to you cause it will be there before my arrival, and they will as well contact you on what date and time the car will be delivered to you.I await your soonest reply.i will have love to call you but things here have been very hard so please bear with me ok later bye.

  • I have just been contacted to buy wine from a customer in Japan who said that his name was Gerald Lewis and same thing wanted to use a private shipping company, I thought that it was suss when the spelling and language in the email seemed unprofressional. Thanks for the information.
    Emma

  • I got this email this morning, it looks like another variation of the same Western Union money order scam. Beware!

    ———————–

    CRYSTAL ART WORLD INC.
    166 felthamn road,Unit 16
    Ashford/London/TW15 1YQ
    United Kingdom
    Registration number: 3699677
    VAT registration number: GB832 6732
    +447035975536

    My name is Paul Anderson and I am an artist. I live in the United Kingdom,with my two kids and the love of my life.I have been doing Art work since I was a child.That gives

    me about 23 years of experience. I specialized in Art work in high school and took a few college Art courses. Most of my work is done in either pencil or airbrush mixed with

    color pencils. I have recently Started designing and creating Art work on the computer.

    I have been selling my Art work for the last 3 years and have had my work featured on trading cards,prints and in magazines. I have sold in galleries and to private

    collectors from all around the world. I am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my Art works in America and Canada, they are always offering to pay with

    a US POSTAL MONEY ORDER, which is difficult for me to cash here in United Kingdom.

    I am looking for a representative in the states and Canada who will be working for me as a part-time worker and I will be willing to pay 10% for every transaction,which would not

    affect your present state of work,someone who would help me receive payments from my customers in the States or Canada.I need someone that is responsible and reliable, because

    the cost of coming to the State or Canada and getting payments is very expensive, I am working on setting up a branch in this areas, so for now I need representatives in the

    united states and Canada who will be handling the payment aspect.

    These payments are in money order, checks and they would come to you in your name, so all you need do is cash the money order deduct your percentage and wire the rest

    back. But the problem I have is trust, But I have my way of getting anyone that gets away with our money, I mean the FBI branch in Washington gets involved.

    It would not cost you any amount, you are to receive payments which will be sent to you by FedEx or ups from my business partners, which will come in form of money

    orders or travelers checks then you are to cash it and send the cash to me via western union money transfer or money gram money transfer, all transfer fees should be

    deducted from the money.

    If you are interested, please get back to me as soon as possible with the following informations requested below on the application form to enable us proceed.

    Regards,

    Paul Anderson.

  • We were also contacted by Paul Stuller through a relay service. We own a cafe in CA and he wanted to place a catering order for 200 people. He also asked that we western union $980 to a shipping service with the following information: Name….Leona Sullender
    Adress……133 bloom dr. west union ohio 45693
    He attempted to process 5 different credit cards but they were all declined.
    Wish there was something we could do to help track him down. At least for now we can get the word out.

  • I own a local pizza shop and I too was contacted through a relay service and was given the same story of placing an order for 200 people and to western union $980.00

    He called me after I emailed him that I would not be able to do this. On the relay call I confronted him with this scam and emailed him all the scam info. He signed off the call!!!

    Thank you Thank you for all who post this!!! Thank you !!!

    Re: Don Merino’s Pizzeria‏
    From: Paul Stuller (paulj909@yahoo.com)
    Sent: Mon 12/28/09 8:49 PM
    To: geofrey MERINO (dmoises@msn.com)

    Hello am very happy to hear from you i will like you to help me with the shipper fees cause they always help me with my consignment so kindly help me send the funds to them so that they can come and pick up the food from you hope to hear back from you.

    ——————————————————————————–
    From: geofrey MERINO
    To: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Sent: Mon, December 28, 2009 7:33:36 PM
    Subject: RE: Don Merino’s Pizzeria

    Paul,

    I would not be able to western union the private shipper. Unfortunately, we are a local business and cannot access that amount by the 30th because it takes three business days for the credit card to clear with the payment processor. Is there any way that you can do this yourself?

    Geofrey

    ——————————————————————————–
    Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:24:52 -0800
    From: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Subject: Re: Don Merino’s Pizzeria
    To: dmoises@msn.com

    Hello am very happy to hear from you an am ok with the price i will like you to include extra $980 plus the total price of the order so that you can have all charge on my credit card now and you will have the $980 send to the private shipper to be able to come for the pick up with their warmer truck so can you add it all and let me have the total price all together so that i can get you my credit card for you to have the total cost charge on it and also i will like to let you know that you will have the to send the $980 for the shipper agent via Western Union Money Transfer after you have charge my credit card through and you add all the taxes that you will need add additional money to your food payment ok hope to hear back from you as soon as possible so that i can give you my card details thanks.

    ——————————————————————————–
    From: geofrey MERINO
    To: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Sent: Mon, December 28, 2009 7:21:24 PM
    Subject: RE: Don Merino’s Pizzeria

    Paul,

    The quote is for 300 pizza’s of cheeseburger pizza’s and ten salad trays. I am giving you a 23% off on the pizza’s.

    With tax the amount is:

    $3675.80

    Due to the volume we will require payment in advance.

    Thank you,

    Geofrey

    ——————————————————————————–
    Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:09:32 -0800
    From: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Subject: Re: Don Merino’s Pizzeria
    To: dmoises@msn.com

    His my friend John the refer you to me that you can handle the catering for me that is why am contacting you and am hearing impaired.

    ——————————————————————————–
    From: geofrey MERINO
    To: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Sent: Mon, December 28, 2009 7:05:32 PM
    Subject: RE: Don Merino’s Pizzeria

    Paul,

    She is ringing this up now. How did you hear about us?

    Geofrey

    ——————————————————————————–
    Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:04:16 -0800
    From: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Subject: Re: Don Merino’s Pizzeria
    To: dmoises@msn.com

    Yes i know it will be 300cheese burger pizza that is wll i want with the salad so can you get me the total cost now.

    ——————————————————————————–
    From: geofrey MERINO
    To: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Sent: Mon, December 28, 2009 7:00:26 PM
    Subject: RE: Don Merino’s Pizzeria

    Paul,

    Ten salad tray’s will feed 100 people, for a hundred people each eating 2-3 wings the order that would satisfy 23 orders of our hot wings (8) in one order. On the pizza’s I just want to make sure because that would be 300 cheese burger pizza’s.

    Geofrey Merino

    ——————————————————————————–
    Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:47:11 -0800
    From: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Subject: Re: Don Merino’s Pizzeria
    To: dmoises@msn.com

    I want Cheeseburger pizza and i want 10salad tray so can i get the total cost now.

    ——————————————————————————–
    From: geofrey MERINO
    To: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Sent: Mon, December 28, 2009 6:36:52 PM
    Subject: RE: Don Merino’s Pizzeria

    John,

    What type of pizza’s would you like to get and how many. Each salad tray would feed ten people.

    Geofrey.

    ——————————————————————————–
    Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:28:35 -0800
    From: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Subject: Re: Don Merino’s Pizzeria
    To: dmoises@msn.com

    Hello am very happy to hear from you have seen your menu list and i will like to order for Turkey & ham Salad for 200people so i will like you to get back to me with the total cost of that as soon as possible including tax and i also want Hot Chicken wings for 100people so i will be looking forward for the total cost hope to hear back from you thanks.

    ——————————————————————————–
    From: geofrey MERINO
    To: paulj909@yahoo.com
    Sent: Mon, December 28, 2009 6:16:38 PM
    Subject: Don Merino’s Pizzeria

    Paul,

    Thank you, for calling and inquiring about our pizza’s. We love making good pizza and I promise you will not be disappointed. Attached is our menu and keep in mind that we have three pizza’s that are not on the menu. I will describe them as follows:

    1. Greasy Delight: Bacon, Artichokes, and onion
    2. Three Cheese Pizza: Mozz, Pecorino, and Parmesean
    3. Cheeseburger pizza

    We have salad’s which you may see on our website: donmerinospizzeria.com

    For appetizer’s we can do Breadsticks, Cheese Bread and Garlic Knots. We also have hotwings.

    I hope this helps out. We are excited to be able to serve you. We hope we can do this for you. Please let me know if you need any additional information.

    Let us know who referred you so that we can send them a thank you card.

    Don Merinos Pizzeria
    Geofrey Merino
    801-352-2066

  • I also received the following scam email: BEWARE OF PAUL STULLER!

    Subject: CATERING ORDER
    From: Paul Stuller
    Date: Sat, January 16, 2010 9:10 am
    To: jadotwo@aol.com (This person was copied- appears to be linked to a legitimate business- I emailed this person to let him know about PAUL. I believe he was also a target but could be involved I guess- not sure)

    HELLO THIS IS PAUL STULLER I WILL LIKE TO ORDER FOR BARBECUE AND TOMATO SALAD FOR 200 PEOPLE ON THE JANUARY19TH AND IT FOR MY MOM BIRTHDAY PARTY AND IT WILL BE PICK UP BY PRIVATE SHIPPER AGENT AND AM READY TO PAY FOR THE FULL PAYMENT NOW WITH MY CREDIT CARD SO CAN MAKE IT FOR ME ON THAT DATE.

  • By the way, I attempted to report this to Western Union, and they make it nearly impossible to send an email with any information- You would think a company that deals with cash might have some method or forum for reporting things like this but they do not seem to.

  • Paul Stuller contacted my business last night. He also wanted barbecue and tomato salad for his mother’s birthday party on January 25th. He said he had a $1200 budget and he wanted food for 200 people. We are not a catering company and did not have what he wanted so he tried to get other food from us. We sent him an email telling him what we could get him and he hasn’t responded. It was all too weird. I am so glad that I googled his name. Now I know not to do any business with him. Thank you to everyone who posted something about him.

  • You are a bloody idiot! How can you advice people not to accept payment from ANYONE in Africa and even more idiotically state ” the HUGE number of scammers in Nigeria and Ghana have ruined it for them.” Are you suggesting that a 1 billion people should suffer because of a handful of thugs from Nigeria. There are more Internet thugs in the US than there are in the whole of Africa combined. You bloody idiot, it is such sentiments that get you Americans in trouble all over the world.

  • Kimkay, thank you for calling me names and for pointing out the true fact that there are more internet thugs in the US than there are in Africa. You are right, I shouldn’t stereotype the people of an entire continent based on the actions of a very small percentage of its people. I certainly don’t like it when people make generalizations about Americans based on the actions of a few of our less-than articulate or educated citizenry.

    Although documented information shows that for its population of over 150 million people, Nigeria has a disproportionately high number of scammers, and the following statistics show that Nigerian based scams account for the highest dollar loss per incident, I shouldn’t make such unfair generalized comments.

    However, I will point out that while more scammers operate out of the US, the majority of US-based scams involve identity theft and phishing-based fraud, whereas African based scams account for more “Advanced Fee Frauds,” which is the exact type of fraud that I outline in my post.

    Even so, I still shouldn’t advise people not to do ANY business with ANYONE in Africa, rather they should be EXTREMELY suspect about any email-based buyers who CLAIM to be from Africa. So thank you again for kindly bringing this to my attention. With this in mind, I will take the initiative to edit my idiotically stated post.

    • According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, the Nigerian scams accounted for the highest losses per incident of any reported Internet-related financial crime in 2008 with an average loss of $5,100.

    • A Dutch private investigation firm which has studied the problem for a decade estimates that U.S. companies and individuals lost $720 million dollars in 2005.  Consumers in the United Kingdom lost $520 million.  Nigerian scam losses from 37 countries in 2005 approached $3.2 billion dollars.

    • Of the Nigerian scam criminals who could be traced, 71% lived in the U.S.  Nigeria accounted for the next highest portion, 7.9%.

  • Our pizza restaurant in West Virginia was contacted by relay call for an order of 120 cheeseonly pizzas for a birthday party.
    She asked to be contacted by email, the email is carlajenna01@yahoo.com
    After I contacted her she asked for an extra 950 to be charged for her shipping agent for me to pay for her via western union. When I asked questions, she said it was for party planner and party will take place in my state. Obviously, she did not even know where I was. It all seemed very suspicious, then I googled her name and nothing came up. Then I googled call relay scams and here I am.
    Just wanted everyone to know the name the scammer was using and to beware!!

  • I called the cc company and gave them the card number
    and spoke to the owner of the cc and he was not trying to buy 120 pizzas and get 950 cash for a shipper agent. The owner of the card lived in California and I gave him what info I had on the worthless cons. Just wanted to share the info

  • Hi all,

    First of all I would like to thank Dan and everyone for helping me to NOT fall into these scammers traps.

    I am located in the UK, only 18 years old, and have recently started my own business with my brand new product. I have only very recently started selling trade, so as you can imagine I was rather excited when I received an email expressing interest in buying stock for a store in Australia.

    When I opened and read the email the layout etc look pretty genuine, but after reading it over again, the wording, grammar and content started to ring alarm bells, especially when it had no reference to the product.

    I decided to do a bit of research on this “COMPANY” and could only find a jewellers that had any link to the supposed buyer (and I could not for the life of me think what a jewellers wanted with my product) after a bit more research, I just typed in the email address that was used to send the email… It was then when almost every search result shouted SCAM!

    This blog, and ‘www.xmission.com/~daina/known_scammers.html’ were both very informative and helpful.

    The other thing that I found a bit strange, was that other people contacted had very similar names to myself, as well as several others having some involvement in pizzas, again, like myself.

    Scammer Details (going by):

    Name: FRANK LEWIS

    Company: FRANCO PTY STORE

    Address: 5655 Bourke Street Level 34
    Melbourne
    VIC 3000
    Australia

    Phone: 61 3 8641 41600

    NOTE: Wording and grammer of the email was awful.

    I hope this will give further help to any one concerned about these scammers & I wish every one the best of luck with avoiding these scammers.

  • Yo,

    Hey this is a great blog…I own a restaurant in Boston and the exact same thing happened to me tonight…Paul Stuller tried to order 200 bacon cheesburgers throught relay to be shipped to him. Obviously I asked for his credit card. He then asked me to do him a favor and charge an extra 1000 dollars to send it to his shipper via Western Union.

    I thought the whole phone call seemed off from the beginning…I thought it was a prank call…but since they were using relay..I didnt want to offend anyone…but as soon as he asked me to charge extra, I googled the name.

    My question is this…why use the same name…and why order 200?…and if he’s paying 1000 dollars for delivery…then Im in the wrong business..haha..

  • I have just had one from this Frank Lewis in Australia. They were easier to spot when they were from Indonesia, but it is getting more dificult when they are from Australia or America.

  • We own a small pizza place in Iowa. A person calling himself Cole Hadeez with the email address colebabyone@yahoo.com contacted us via TTY wanting 100 pizzas. They were going to have a shipping company pick them up for $650. We were to charge a credit card number the price for the 100 pizzas plus the $650 for a warmer truck to come and pick them up. Of course the shipping company could only take money from Western Union.

    I knew it was a scam and asked him to email us the name on the credit card, the number, expiration date, three digit code, and address of the card holder. To my surprize they emailed it back to us. I then contacted Mastercard who are taking care of the situation.

    Be careful out there and thanks for the info everyone!

  • Same thing Happened to our place last night in North Carolina. Called from the automated caller service for the hearing impaired. Used the email address danmoore002@gmail.com. Wanted to order 500 BBQ sandwiches and wanted us to charge $1,600 to a “private shipping company” that would come pick it up. Lucky we googled his name since it was all so weird and came across this site!

  • Happening to us here in los angeles at our diner. Order for 200. Luckily the several attempts made were so frustrating that we all hung up.

  • Add me to the list of gratefuls that you have convinced to see these as scams. I have a Carpet Cleaning franchise in Vegas. I was contacted by internet relay service for a client who is moving from Ohio to Vegas and wants to ship 12 oriental rugs to me for cleaning. She will pay $2050 ($1550 for shipping, and $500 down for the cleaning). I needed, however to wire the ‘Private Shipper’ the $1550. She seemed to have little interest in how expensive the cleaning charge might be after I inspected the rugs. Crisis averted.

  • Update: I just received an email from another restaurant owner in North Carolina who was apparently contacted by a scammer who used the name and email address Dan Moore danmoore003@gmail.com

    It seems as if this blog post has really made a difference, and judging by the number of people who have commented, my initial effort has really saved a lot of people from getting ripped off.

    Thanks to everyone who has responded to this blog post. When I wrote it over a year and a half ago, I don’t think I would have imagined it getting this kind of traffic. Keep the comments and information coming in! The more comments we get on this post, the higher it gets indexed in the search engines, which makes it easy for people to find it and be warned away from these low life scammers!

  • Hello all, I just got a case on the DANMOORE003. The individual ordered a large amount of food and asked for cash to be sent via Western Union. The same exact circumstances that are listed in this post. Keep your eyes open.

  • Hi everyone 🙂 I run a sheepskin cover business. Yesterday I was contacted via email from coltmccoy00@gmail.com name Colt Mccoy he was interested in 3 of my most expensive sheepskin rugs. He said he needed me to charge his card for the rugs $2436.00 + $1150.00 for the shipping that he wanted me to wire via WU to the private shipping company. He said he had lung cancer and couldn’t get out to do it himself. I told him I had no problem doing it for him (Im not doing it, I just wanted him to think I was) I asked for the cc info and billing address – so I can cantact them and the cc company to let them know whats going on. Im glad I found this site – It assured me that I was thinking right 🙂 Thanks guys !!
    Terry

  • Might I also add a suggestion? If you look at the time that the mail was sent, let’s say “4:03am” it quite obvious that this sender is international. Most online selling sites require you to sell to consumers who are near your area. Thanks Dan for posting this up!

  • Here’s another scammer in the name of “Cherry Wood” email is :cherrywood1882@gmail.com: Please be aware of their bad English Skills.

  • i advertised my car and i received text messages from a “pamela richardson” email: pamrichs@gmail.com
    she asked me for shipping commission with western union as she supposably worked off shore in the uk. i declined. as i googled western union shipping scams. and found this!!!

  • I got this email after I reply to a hearing impaired phone call.

    Luckily I googled to look and see if this is a scam. Thanks to all of who had posted this type of scam, I did not become a victim.

    The email the scammer used is margejump7@hotmail.com Beware when you get email from this address. ALso, noticed the bad English.

    Hello

    thanks for getting back to me and the party is time is 5pm make sure you get the food ready by that time Okay am ready to make payment now and I have delivery co who will handle the pick up the favor is that cuz i haven’t pay the delivery co that will be coming for the pick up of the foods for me and they will be the one to do the serving and they will also do some entertaining so i want u to charge extra $1250 with total of the food charge now so after you the Card through for the total cost from my u will proceed to send the $1250 via WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER get in minutes service to the delivery co General manager who will handle the pick up so asap they get fee they will come for the pick up i could have pay them with my card but they doesn’t have access to credit cards faculties and I WAS DOWN WITH A SURGERY SO I HAD TO SPEND SOME TIME IN INTENSIVE CARE so i will like you to handle everything for me so give me the grand total now plus the added cost for the delivery and are u ready to run my card through now and what type of credit card do u accept. Western Union charge will be $129 and i will give you tips $150 for all your stress. i will love to hear from you .

    Thanks
    marge

  • I had the following email from a scammer in 2009 “Hello,
    I will like to get some items to be shipped to Malta,do you accept credit cards ? MasterCard /Visa

    Kim ” In case anyone searches for this address it was from a gmail account: kimmcintosh11
    Here is how that correspondence went…

    Me: Hi Kim,

    Yes, we do accept MC and Visa. They can be entered through the website, phoned in, or used with paypal.

    Thanks!

    Kim:Hello,
    thanks for your reply concerning my order,here are the list of items
    i will like to order:

    Carrot Complexion Glycerin Soap – All Natural – Made in Canada
    Qty……………100 pieces

    Hemp Organic cotton Tshirt – Vetiver Green
    Qty……………50 pieces

    SHIPPING ADDRESS:
    88 Triq il-Kangu
    Birzebbuga BBG07
    Malta

    Concerning the shipping , the likes of UPS, DHL and others always
    don’t take care of the charges down here. Charges like handling,
    customs and duties etc. We have experienced such situation before
    and i don’t want to experience such a thing again,you do not need to
    worry about the stress involve and all documentations because i have a
    shipping company that have delivered to me in the past,i really like
    their services so i will like you to contact them about the shippi
    ng.I will be glad if you contact this shipper Access air logistics
    for the shipping quote. Here is there email address
    (accessairlogistics@yahoo.co.uk) They will take care of everything
    including handling, customs and duties,Tax, insurance etc,also you
    will be responsible for payment to access air logistics then you will
    bill me on my invoice. Always send me the copy of email you send to
    them ,pls email them with pick up address,shipping address and the
    weight of the order.Pls get back to me with the following once you
    hear back from them..

    cost of items……….
    shipping cost via access freight inc……..
    all additional cost(transfer fee to access air logistics)…………………
    total cost (cost of items+shipping cost via access air logistics +
    transfer fee to access air logistics )……..

    so i can send you my credit card details for you to charge the total
    cost from it and get the shipping fees settle d,then my order can be
    shipped out asap.
    Kim

    Me: Dear Kim,

    Do you have a phone number for Access air logistics? I have sent them an e-mail and will let you know as soon as I get any information from them.

    In the meantime, I have obtained a 2 Day UPS Shipping quote for your order. UPS is very fast and this quote is in CND$ which is a lower currency to the US$ or the EUR so it may save you some money in that way.

    Here are the wholesale prices for your items:
    Carrot Complexion Glycerin Soap – All Natural – Made in Canada (requires 1 week production time) : CND$5.285 ea x 100 pieces = CND$528.50
    Hemp Organic cotton Tshirt – Vetiver Green : CND$16.78 each x 50 pieces = CND$839
    Total = $1367.50
    + CND$487.46 (2 Day Shipping with UPS)
    CND$1854.96 (this amount will be converted by your credit card company to your local currency)

    By the way, is your shipping address commercial or residential?

    Also, what sizes would you like for the 50 pieces Hemp Organic cotton Tshirt?

    Kim: Dear Kim,

    Here is your total using Access Air Logistics
    Carrot Complexion Glycerin Soap – All Natural – Made in Canada (requires 1 week production time) : CND$5.285 ea x 100 pieces = CND$528.50
    Hemp Organic cotton Tshirt – Vetiver Green : CND$16.78 each x 50 pieces = CND$839
    Sub Total = $1367.50
    + Door to door (3 to 5 days) CND$1748.70
    The freight costs includes:
    Customs clearance
    Duties & taxes
    Insurance
    Total = CND$3116.20 (approx. 2000.53 EUR)

    If you would like to phone in your credit card number please note that where I am in Canada is 6 hours behind you, so at 3:00pm there it will be 9:00am here. Or if you prefer to use e-mail you should send the number without the last four digits to this e-mail and then send the last four digits to my other e-mail sales@hemptent.com and include the expiry date.

    Kim: Hello,
    Thanks for getting back to me with the total cost,pls charge the
    following cards and get back to me with the charge result.

    (At this point she gave two CC numbers complete with card type and expiry date, not bothering to split them between my two emails for security)

    pls charge $900 each and recharge again till you get the complete
    charges and get back to me

    Kim

    Me: Hi Kim,

    I ran your cards. $900 on each, then another $900 on the first and the remaining $416.20 on the second. However, the second card (ending 4831) was declined for both amounts. So your balance owing is $1316.20

    Do you have another card you’d like to use?

    Thanks,
    Emily

    Kim: Pls run the balance on the first card and get back to me.Thanks

    Me:Ok, I tried but it was declined as well this time.

    Kim: okay i will send you new credit card for you to charge the balance and
    send payment to the shipper,pls let me know if you are in office
    today.

    Kim

    Me:Thanks Kim, I am in the office today.

    Emily

    Kim:Ok i will send you new cc to charge the balance but i want you to start making arrangement to pay the shipper so there wont be any delay with my order.
    Kim

    Me: Okay, no problem.

    Kim: Pls charge this new cards for the balance,you can split the charges or put the total charges on any any of the cards (Here she listed three new cards)

    Get back to me after charging.

    Kim

    Me:All three cards have been declined by the bank so I called mastercard and got the bank’s phone number to check with them and they said that all the cards belong to different people.

    Kim:I contacted my bank but i am still waiting for reply but i want to reduce my order since you have already charge some amount

    Me: Hi Kim,

    Since the bank has put a hold on that card, as they believe that you are not authorized to use it, I will not actually get the money unless you can clear that up with the bank.. The card I am referring to is this one: Master Card, ending 3973, Expiry Date:09/2011

    And the bank’s phone number is 1-800-922-9092

    I hope you are able to get things in order but in the meantime I will not be able to continue with this transaction.

    —————-
    I know what you’re thinking, and yes, I was excited by a large sale and wanted it to be real so much that I disregarded many signs that I can now clearly see … this should have been obvious.
    —————-

    SO THIS WEEK… I got the exact email you put in your post, the very last one, and knew right away it was a scam…

    Perhaps because these people waste the time of so many good people and in part because I’m bored (it’s really slow here in the fall), I decided to reply… and waste this guys time…

    Me:Hi Andrew,

    Yes we can ship to Tokyo Japan. We ship with Canada Post, FedEx, UPS or TNT depending on the size of your order and never independent carriers. (this should have been His first clue that I knew what he was up to)

    Thanks,
    Emily
    http://www.hemptent.com

    Andrew: Hello,

    Good to read back from you.I felt comfortable to email you my order this way rather than to fill it on your site,so below are the item I want to order:

    Hemp Boxer Shorts – jet black
    Model: hboxer
    Size: Large
    Qty: 10

    Women’s Bamboo Long Sleeve V-neck T-shirt
    Model: wblsv
    Mix Colurs
    Mix Size:
    Qty: 20

    Women’s Low Rise Hemp Pant – Made in Canada
    Model: wlrhp
    Mix Size:
    Qty: 20

    Concerning the shipment,the likes of UPS,FEDEX and POST OFFICE always don’t take care of the charges down here. Charges like handling, customs duties,tax etc. I have experienced such situation before and I don’t want to be the victims of such a thing again. I will be glad if you contact this freight forwarder GLOFREIGHT CARE LOGISTICS for shipping quote.The shipping company will arrange the pick-up of my order from your store,so you don’t have any stress to face in shipping processing at all.Here is their email address (glofreightcare@hotmail.com) Not that I can’t deal with the shipper directly,but they always prefer to deal with the store where they will be doing the pick up in other to reduce the customs duties and other charges.They have a way of preparing their shipment documents whereby the custom duties payment on this goods will be reduced.They will take care of everything including Handling, Customs
    duties,Tax, Insurance etc.Contact them to obtain a quote and get back to me in the format bellow:

    COST OF THE ORDER
    COST OF THE SHIPPING FROM GLOFREIGHT CARE LOGISTICS
    TOTAL COST (ORDER + SHIPPING)

    Once I have these details from you, I will get back to you with my Credit Card,so you can charge and make the necessary shipping arrangements.

    Regards,
    Andrew Wood

    NOTE:The freight company will need these 5 information to get you a quote,so provide them with the details bellow:

    1)My Customer’s ID # : ALO231101LOR

    2)Delivery Full Address:

    GARDEN AIR INVESTMENT
    3-10-10 LIDABASHI
    CHIYODA-KU
    102 8460 TOKYO JAPAN.

    3)Pick Up Full Address : PROVIDE YOUR ADDRESS

    4)Weight Of The Consignment : PROVIDE ORDER WEIGHT

    5)Momentary Value Of The Consignment : PROVIDE ORDER TOTAL COST

    Me: cost of goods: 1129.80
    s&h (we will use your choice of carrier): 840
    total: 1969.80

    Please send credit card numbers.

    Thank-you
    ———-
    No, I didn’t actually contact the fake shipping company, HA… just made up an amount … he did send me one CC number which I immediately looked up using this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bank_Identification_Numbers
    Called the bank and reported the card stolen. Take that!
    Anyway, “Andrew Woods” uses the gmail account: andrewoods.office
    Hopefully these posts help others who may be tempted by a big sale. It really is too bad that the police aren’t doing more about these scams.

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