Restaurant Scammer.

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2011 Posts: 5

Last week, a scammer via TTY contacted the restaurant where I work. He requested an order for 150 chicken teriyaki's and asked me to charge an extra 950 dollars on the card to pay the "courier." My boss knew it was a scam right away but I decided to screw with this guy. He wasted my time with the TTY call so I'm gonna waste his. I lied to him and told him that the order arrangement was all set. I tested the card number he gave me which went through, but the zip code information was wrong. I gave him a fake authorization code as well. I played dumb and told him that the boss sent a check instead of a money order. I also forced him to order Sushi and answer a lot of nonsensical questions. Predictably, he still insists on the money order and is asking me to provide Sender's Name, MTCN, and Amount Sent. He wants me to send the money order to:

( name and address removed- this may be a mules details-MM)

So what are some things that I could do further?

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 6:58 am

Well, because you are messing with a scammer you came in contact with at your place of work, I STRONGLY recommend you stop messing with the scammer.

Scammers can get vindictive and cause you and your employer difficulty.

I also recommend you read around the forums and learn about safe baiting. You can also request a mentor who will help you learn to be safe around scammers / criminals.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 689

Hi 1-9 Welcome to Eater!

Read the stickies, get a mentor .... bait safely .... yada yada ....

Nice one on messing the chicken lover around!

There's always the Secure MTCN services often used in payback which can really mess a lad around and waste his time and annoy him no end.

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:16 am

I'm somewhat confused. The scammer asked you to charge an extra 950 bucks against a card. Who'se card? PM me with the details. The card details are almost certainly stolen/hacked.

Quote:

Predictably, he still insists on the money order and is asking me to provide Sender's Name, MTCN, and Amount Sent.

Does he want you to send a money order to a physical location or use Moneygram/Western Union to send the overpayment to CT?

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:18 pm

Correct me if I am mistaken, but would a money order have an MTCN number? I could be mistaken having no personal knowledge of money orders, but I thought it was just other money wire transfer services that would have an MTCN.

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:22 pm

A money order is a physical payment like a cheque but which operates on a prepaid basis rather than being drawn on funds from a bank account. There's no wire transfer involved, the physical money order must be presented.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_order

I'm suprised they still exist!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2011 Posts: 5

Well, when I got into this I didn't know what scam baiting was, I was just curious to see what this guy would say to my questions. It wasn't until I started doing some research that I found out about scam baiting. I also know nothing about Western Union. He used the word money order at first but I guess he means to wire the money through Western Union since he's asking for the MTCN. I guess there isn't much more I can play with since he has my restaurant's phone number and mine too.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2011 Posts: 5

Looking back at the texts, he did mean to wire through Western Union actually not sending a check. I told him that we sent a check anyways. His alias is KellyTommy771 via Yahoo Messenger.

If this were not a real restaurant, and if he did not have my real number, what would you guys as experienced baiters have done?

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 11 Aug 2011 Posts: 5

Update, when I asked for the "courier's" phone number, he wants me to call XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Mod edit to obfuscate US phone number until it can be investigated. - JF

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Aug 2011 Posts: 2

Kelly Tommy has been contacting us at my Asian restaurant for months. I contacted the FCC and reported the email address [email protected] and the 110 sesame chicken orders. This is deplorable. They use a service for people with hearing disabilities. How low can you get? If you get a call like this it is very frustrating. Please report it to the FCC try to get as much information too. The scammers also texted me from xxxx603. I hope that these people are caught soon. I am in Texas. I'm also thinking of contacting the local authorities as well. 123456789 where are you from?

Mod edit to obfuscate address - JF

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:07 am

We need confirmed substantiation before we can allow posting of any email addresses or phone numbers. While I don't doubt that there's some sort of scam going on, and I am particularly outraged by scammers who abuse TTY services, we have yet to get clear information about exactly what this person is doing.

The chances of the authorities stepping in are just about nil. If this guy is using an overpayment scam with stolen credit cards he is almost certain to be far outside any local jurisdiction. And given that he is contacting you at a business, you can't bait him without risking your personal information -- a definite no-no here.

By all means, report to the FCC. It's terrible that scammers abuse TTY services. But I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about it here. We bait scammers and waste their time, but this sort of scammer is essentially non-baitable.

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:20 am

Having been an AT&T TTY Relay Operator, we saw instances of abuse of the TTY system all the time. Prisoners (who could hear) would use it so they could stay on the phone longer with their free world contacts and we would have to relay exactly as spoken and we could not report the abuses. It was particularly smarmy when they got into "pillow talk" areas!

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 20 Aug 2011 Posts: 2

Here is a way to bate them and I have found it. Att told me that you have to direct them to call through the local TTY office and that forces them to a land line. If you bait them well enough u could get them to that point the ultimate conquest for you guys. Catch the uncatchable. I found this site by looking up that email. Now I know for certain that this scam is occurring and I feel empowered to contact the FCC. 123456789 I am glad u posted that email address and found you before it was taken down.

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 1:33 pm

^^^

Quote:

Att told me that you have to direct them to call through the local TTY office and that forces them to a land line.

What local TTY office would that be?

All relay calls go through a state system and can criss-cross state systems. A CA may take or place a call in the state he/she is relaying but due to the system it can come/go through another state's TTY system.

{CA - Communications Assistant}

Quote:

land line

Making a TTY call through the relay system does not guarantee the person to be called will be using a landline, for relay operators can make calls for the hearing impaired to a cell/mobile phone. The call goes to whatever number the CA is given. Today it can be difficult to know if the number you are given is landline or cell.

I believe that federal court orders are still required for "probable cause" to gain access to private conversations. Unless there were some terrorist activity, I doubt the court would grant such an order at this time.