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Downsizer Forum Index -> Small Business Questions, Ideas and Advice

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Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:03 am Post subject: Weird feedback message

This came from the feedback form on my site:

Quote:

===========================================
== New entry
===========================================

-------------------------------------------
-- Form: 'Feedback'
-------------------------------------------

1. Name:
**** *****
2. E-Mail:
************@yahoo.com'
3. Message:
'I have interest in purchasing some of yarns and other accessories from your store

hence i will like

to know if you sell internationally (Ireland) and also if you accept (Visa Traveller

Cheque) as

a method of payment,if you do i want you to get back to me with your webpage, so that

i can choose the desired things to purchase from your store.
Your urgent response is needed so that we can proceed.
I await your urgent response.
Thanks

For a start he must have been on my site to send the message so why does he need me to send me the webpage - for another everything on my site is available via paypal so why would he need to pay in travellers cheques - for another who couild need wool quite so urgently - and for another it just doesn't sound right

In my paranoid, middle aged housewife mind it's a scam and if I reply he'll get my bank details from the message and be able to steal my identity and move into my house and sleep with my husband....*slaps self round face*

What to do?

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28234
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:12 am Post subject:
Not familiar with whether this is a scam or not, but you are right to be wary and ask here.

Blue Sky

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Posts: 7658
Location: France

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:44 am Post subject:
Reads very similar to the 419 scams to me. I would steer well clear. As you have said they already have your website link.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:47 am Post subject:

I've had a number of these, usually they say they want to place a large order by Credit Card and will I send my website address. Like you, they technically come from my site already and if they were real they would have seen that they can already place an order by card. I am certain they are spam. The one or twe that I wasnt sure about, I just replied and said, please order from the same page as you sent this enquiry and we will dispatch as soon as your payment clears , and of course never heard anything further.

Stacey

Joined: 18 Jul 2005
Posts: 8380
Location: Kernow

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:50 am Post subject:
Thanks My politeness module is always tickiling away and my urge was to respond saying please order from the site but now I've thought about it I'm not going to reply. If it's that 'urgent' they'll get back to me

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 9:59 am Post subject:

It sounds a bit like the 'I am currently living in *insert some obscure country with odd banking laws here* and would like to rent your room unseen' emails that we got a lot of when we were taking in lodgers. Apparently if you go along with it they make a massive overpayment or try to get you to cash a huge check, then ask for a refund; and you have basically laundered their money for them.

VERY bad grammer, too

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 10:05 am Post subject:

Stacey wrote:

Thanks

My politeness module is always tickiling away and my urge was to respond saying please order from the site but now I've thought about it I'm not going to reply. If it's that 'urgent' they'll get back to me

exactly. The two I responded to weren't quite worded like yours and really could have been from confused customers, but in this case I can't imagine its legit

Barefoot Andrew
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 21 Mar 2007
Posts: 22780
Location: In the 17th century

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 10:13 am Post subject:
I've had a couple of suspicious responses via my site's 'buy online' page - it is amazing how quickly the dodgy latch on (it hasn't been live very long). I deleted without a second thought - if you've not done so already so similarly. If there is no contact telephone number, I'm suspicious from the outset... A.

toggle

Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 11622
Location: truro

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 10:18 am Post subject:

the writing is usually deliberately bad, to make you think that the person you are talking to is a bit thick and couldn't be smart enough to scam you.

I suspect that this is being done with a bot programme, you need to stick in your web address when you reply, because no person has seen the site. it's an automated troll for response, you don't deal with a person unless they find they have a live one.

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 10:30 am Post subject:
I've had a few of these too. I normally reply with something like sally said and never hear anymore. One I did actually recieve a cheque for payment but the fact that it was for far much more than the order value made me even more suspicious. Surprise, surprise it never cleared

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 11:31 am Post subject:
That's not bad grammar. That's someone who doesn't speak English. And in Ireland? Doesn't sound likely. Scamtastic.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 12:13 pm Post subject:

It sounds to me more like a laundering scam.

Someone is using an intermediary, presumably in ireland, to receive goods bought with illegal proceeds. I suspect its just random that they hit your web site as they would normally go for low volume high value goods like electronics rather than wool. It would account for why they need to know your web site address they may have had a robot sending this email to any shop web site they can find, if you reply to this then they wouldn't know which web site was responding.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 12:20 pm Post subject:
They want to place a large order, but don't actually know what they want? scam. mind you, if it is what's to stop you taking the payment and not giving a refund.

tigger

Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 725
Location: Bologna (Italy)

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 12:35 pm Post subject:
the wording and grammar mistakes immediately made me think of an asian (Chinese?) person's English. I agree with NickHowe, this is a foreign writer, not English or Irish. I've come across similar things from chinese "Buyers" with a front in Sweden.

Mr O

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 07 5:34 pm Post subject:
Yep Stacey it looks defo scam speak to me, just ignore it, as hard as it is to do! I would be dubious of anyone who uses the word " Urgently" for no other reason! Good to ask on here though.

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