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Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

Ok, so I run an online business where we sell skateboards. We got an order last week for 3 boards to go to switzerland (this is a big order for us). So, I checked and the money was in our account, so we shipped the boards out. In the meantime, we got an email from the buyer:

hello seller, please let me know how about my order status ?
thanks for your attention.

kind regard
Adetya

So then in the last 4 days, we have gotten 4 more orders for large quantities of decks. 2 for switzerland, 1 for Australia, 1 for Hong Kong. Each order has similar characteristics, the email addresses show up nowhere on google, no capital letters are used, and they have similar zip codes.

To make things even weirder, the first order we sent out, just got returned from switzerland and says "No Such Address"

I called Papyal, which does our CC processing and like usual they are beyond worthless. They said everything looks fine on their end. I just can't figure out the scam? It can't just be to get some free skate decks.

Thanks guys!

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

Also, found it weird that the latest order (the biggest), the email address is [email protected], but the name on the billing info is Rendya Vinanda.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 6:55 pm

Hi it's a bit strange that the first shipment was returned with "No Such Address" , but so far there's no profit for them, you claim the money is in the account, how was it paid and in what name?
And why would the same person order to different countries?
Better drop the same message at scamwarner (in the header of this forum) they know more about those scams than we do here.
But please keep us posted, I want to know what the trick here is.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 6:58 pm

I'm scratching my head a little over this one. Package mule scams are common where goods are bought with stolen credit cards or paypal accounts and shipped to wherever. Usually the items are more liquid than skateboards I would think, but stranger things have happened.

Maybe someone else here knows more about this sort of thing. Confused

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

ok, I will, I just checked my order log and someone just failed 4 orders in a row, same deal, 5 boards and they were going to indonesia.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:03 pm

They might try a trick when they claim the money back or you have/had a co-worker with a strange sense of humor?

Edit: The only thing I can come up with for you is this link http://www.ipligence.com/mailtrace/ where you can check if the sender of the email is in the same country as the deliver address, so you could decide not to send those boards to prevent transport costs.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

The whole thing is just to weird, we are not a big company so its not like that. Here is the info on the latest one.

Contact Info
E-mail Address [email protected]
Phone Number 2105184906
Billing Address
First Name raden
Last Name prengki
Company
Address malangbareng raya 2C 417
City jawatimur
State ktamalang
Postal Code 65145
Country Indonesia

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:08 pm

I get this with the phone number

Quote:

Note: An invalid phone number has been entered, because the country code has not been assigned to any destination.

To check others https://www.numberingplans.com//?page=analysis&sub=phonenr

After a little search the phone could be in San antonio, Texas is that of any help ?

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:08 pm

Do you know how to check an IP? It can be found in the header.

Edit: I ask because it would be interesting to see if all of the emails have the same IP address, or if they match the location the order is supposedly being placed from.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

Ill try both of those, we just got another one lol. I just dont get the scam, if they really wanted a skateboard this bad they could of had one.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

our friend Radan just bought 6 more boards, for a total of 10.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:20 pm

Check the payments first and if fishy contact the bank.

Edit: He orders by email ? could you post the whole email + header here after you have xxx-ed your company info?

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

All the payments go thru just fine. We use paypal merchant services, so the are worthless.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:25 pm

Then I would inform paypal, could be a victims account that they cleanup, all from the same paypal account? Can paypal take your money away when he claims you didn't deliver ?
H@ll we need a pro here, we're is the moderator Smile

I'll wake him up (Naah he is already reading this and looking for a solution, they sure don't sleep here )

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

Its not from a paypal account, they enter their CC info on our website, paypal just runs the payment for us.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:38 pm

Maybe you just got some good press somewhere and the orders are just rolling in. Wink

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:40 pm

Not sure (since I don't know pricing involved in skateboards)

Might be using you to place an order with to 'verify' that the cards are valid before they use them somewheres for larger amount transfers/deals. If so, they do not care about the delivery of the items, and possibly not even the amount. The true holder is the one that would (hopefully) notice on his bill/statement - BUT that could take 30-40 days depending on CC billing cycle.

Been done for $100-300US to verify card then 1000+ transfer

Might consider requiring the ship to address verified/same as card holders (Not sure how the thing works but some companies online are doing it that way.)

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:42 pm

I was wondering about that, but those kinds of pings are usually for a dollar or two, to my knowledge.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:49 pm

Usually a dollar or two, yes that is what we normally see or hear about.

But still: if it was done quick; depending on CC company policies and card type/limits - possible. And if possible, has been/is being/will be done very likely.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

Yea I mean, I don't get it, the addresses they use barely make sense.

I cant imagine they would use this as a tester, on our website all of our boards are hand numbered editions, so you actually have to go through and pick out what numbers you want. So, it takes some effort.

I checked our google anayltics, we do get a lot of traffic from Indoneisa and they do hang out on the site for some time. So, i dont know.

What language do they speak in Switzerland?

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:54 pm

^^ The four national languages are German, French, Italian and Romansh.

But that doesn't tell you much.

If you post the headers from the emails you received we can look them up and tell you where they are coming from.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 20

paypal sends me a money received email, so it doesnt show the buyers IP address:(

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:58 pm

^^ Email a question about the order and see what you get back. Something like: "Do you need that to be shipped in recyclable packaging?"

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:28 pm

We could do with the header from the original email as Luckey has said.

It's possible you've got a scammer sending out "gifts" to victims paid for by stolen CCs.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:41 pm

twin85 wrote:

...In the meantime, we got an email from the buyer:

hello seller, please let me know how about my order status ?
thanks for your attention.

kind regard
Adetya

Do you have that one?