Possible scam, advice needed.

[Mule]

Just over a month a go our company received an email requesting prices for 2000 units of 3 different items which came to just under £1k. Once given the prices the 'customer' said they would like to pay by cheque. I was suspicious by this point as the 3 items they had requested were in the same place on the same page of our website so suspecting a bounced/fake cheque scam told them that they would need to pay by bank transfer.

Now for the past month we've received regular emails asking if the money has been received yet (it hasn't). I've tried asking if the payment is coming from a UK bank to try and get more information but had my queries ignored.

I'm almost certain there's something dodgy going on here, possibly an overpayment scam but while I understand how this works with fake cheques I can't see how it would work with a bank transfer and I've not heard of scammers being willing to switch payment method like this before.

It's getting on my nerves now but we can't exactly tell the 'customer' to shove it on the off chance that they are legit.

Anyone know what the scam might be?

[Goldberg]

Can you not check the IP address from the header of the email to see which country it has come from and if it corresponds to the country they want it sending to?

I would be tempted to basically tell them no further communication until they have some form of confirmation...

[DJ OD]

Well legit or not, not telling you where/what bank the money is coming from is a cunts trick.

Don't know of a scam like it, but if they are being like that do you really, really want customers like that?

Fuck em off, IMO


DJ OD

[Bald Bouncer]

Now for the past month we've received regular emails asking if the money has been received yet (it hasn't). I've tried asking if the payment is coming from a UK bank to try and get more information but had my queries ignored.

Might be because they are waiting to hack someone's account to do an online transfer or they have already but has been flagged and didn't get through hence their asking if it had.

[Mule]

Can you not check the IP address from the header of the email to see which country it has come from and if it corresponds to the country they want it sending to?

I would be tempted to basically tell them no further communication until they have some form of confirmation...

It appears to be coming from the UK which is also where they want the products shipped to. The address they have given for delivery is residential.

Don't know of a scam like it, but if they are being like that do you really, really want customers like that?

No, but without evidence that it is a scam I don't want to cause offence and can't think of a way of telling them that we don't want their business without doing that.

Might be because they are waiting to hack someone's account to do an online transfer or they have already but has been flagged and didn't get through hence their asking if it had.

I wondered this myself, that they might just keep trying fraudulent payments and hoping one goes through.

[flik]

Well haven't you divulged to them Your Account details for the transfer ? Maybe that is the scam to get your details etc.

[Mule]

Well haven't you divulged to them Your Account details for the transfer ? Maybe that is the scam to get your details etc.

I don't think so, there's nothing they can do with just the account details, I checked with the bank. Even if that was the scam why would they keep emailing to check if we've received funds?

[TwoPlAnKs]

I would be looking up their names in the directory to try to find something that links together their name with their address just to be sure you have some concrete details on them, and possibly google the bollocks out of every fact you have about them - even searching for a telephone number might turn up something on some website.

Probably an obvious fact but make sure you keep a hold of every email too, and possibly write down notes on times and the rough discussion from all phone calls.

I think maybe a bit too tin-hat though, all they've really done is asked to buy stuff and asked to pay by cheque. If you are suspicious just because of the items being on the same page then think of it as one of those things like the phone ringing when you happen to be thinking about somebody - it would be stranger if it never happened.

[Mule]

I think maybe a bit too tin-hat though, all they've really done is asked to buy stuff and asked to pay by cheque. If you are suspicious just because of the items being on the same page then think of it as one of those things like the phone ringing when you happen to be thinking about somebody - it would be stranger if it never happened.

You'd know if you've paid £1k by bank transfer or not, it's not the kind of thing you should have to keep checking to see if it's happened and if you had made payment and it hadn't been received I'd expect a bit more concern than just trying again a few days later.

[Detector]

first thing is to let us know what area they live in, im sure some df'ers live near them and can check it out for you. if they are near me i dont mind