Scams

Scams we are aware of

• Internet Reshipping -- The scammers apparently use a variety of confusing tactics, but the basic operation runs like this:

The scammers place a listing on a large job site. The job involves receiving items (goods, money) and re-shipping or transferring those items overseas -- all from the employee's home. (Sounds ideal, especially in times when jobs are scarce.) When someone applies for the job (usually the there is a plentiful supply of applications), the scammers then match up the applicants with stolen credit cards whose billing address is similar to each applicant's. Any applicant who makes a good match (and therefore is a good "front") is "hired".

The scammers then purchase goods from internet retail sites using one of their stash of stolen credit cards, and have those items shipped to the closest-matching "employee". The "employee" is told where to send the item.

Another variation involves placing items (often large-ticket items, such as a rare guitar) for sale on auction sites such as Ebay, using an "employee's" contact information to receive the payment. When the auction closes and payment is received, the "employee" is asked to forward the money to an overseas bank account. The merchandise is never delivered.

See MSNBC News, 2003-12-17 for more details.

• Please send straightaway to my store in Lagos: A less elaborate scam has been tried on us repeatedly. In this scam, we receive an excited, upbeat email in somewhat broken English from someone in a foreign country (usually, but not always, Nigeria) asking if we could please tell them how much it would cost to send some large number of shirts to their store (usually in Lagos) via the fastest method possible, and they will send us a credit card number in payment.
• It is my humble wish to solicit and crave your indulgence: And of course, there is the ever-popular Relative of a Deceased Nigerian Government Minister scam. They never seem to get tired of those. This is email written in broken but very polite English, generally claiming to have a large amount of money which they are trying to move into the United States, and they need you -- yes, you! -- to help them. All they need is your bank account number and routing information, and you can skim a couple hundred million off the top in exchange for your gracious assistance.