Another Scam to Be Aware of as a Small Business

I wanted a place to post where we can let you know about another scam that we recently encountered, so why not our blog" ?  I have other small businesses that we network and swap stories with, so here goes... I am doing this because every time I do post something like this, I have either helped thwart this same scammer from doing it again or notified another merchant they are not alone. Check out this facebook post, in which there was a criminal in Quebec who was stealing credit cards, buying stuff, having it shipped to them at MONIQUE MARA/ SICHOU BIANCO/ MADY RAMA 1227C DES MONTEREGIENNES REPENTIGNY, Quebec J5Y0H7 Canada. It was only because we posted to our facebook that when other merchants became suspicious or had already been scammed, they were able to confirm their suspicions.  We often also google suspicious accounts when investigating whether to follow through.   So here's what happened a few weeks ago. I'm including emails so in case anyone gets these clearly cut n paste emails, they can google it and this will come up to save the merchant!!!

1. We get an email from "Annie" who purports to be from Holland.

  ==== On Tue, Sep 29, 2015 at 6:53 AM, Annie Rengne <anniemariegiftshoqp@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello Dear, Pleasant day! We would like to use this medium to make inquiry about placing an order from your Store down to our store in Holland. And can you please confirm to us if you ship goods over here without any problem or delay? perhaps if you do accept credit card as means of payment? As you can see we are happy to form a good partnership with those lovely genuine products in your store. Looking forward to read from you soon and have a nice day Best Regards Annie

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Note - the name Annie is in a different colour, notice the email has a typo for 'shop'.  Just a small thing I didn't pick up on til later and they don't say anything about the specific product either.

So "Annie" and I exchanged information on how we can easily ship to Holland as we have shipped across Europe before.  She then tells us she is having problems ordering on our site so provides an email with her shipping info and some select items in quantities of 24.

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From: annie marie <anniemariegiftshop@gmail.com> Date: September 29, 2015 at 11:30:21 AM EDT To: "Baby Wisp (Beena)" <beena@babywisp.com> Subject: Order List From Annie Marie Gift Shop - Request Total Estimate Cost

SHIPPING ADDRESS TO: Veerweg 1 7226 LP Bronkhorst The Netherlands. Annie-Marie Gift Shop, Inc +31569670985 Above address is for you to calculate the accurate shipping quote, and also find below listed item, which we are interested in ordering for as follow: ITEM# DESCRIPTION LISTS:blah blah blah she lists a few specific skus...

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Then we get back to her that we can easily fedex, ups or usps this but she insists on her international broker. We contact him and this is his estimate back...for ONE SMALL BOX that fedex can do for less than $200.

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Robert Elwyn <relwyn.yusenlogistics@gmail.com> Date: Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 12:48 PM Subject: Regarding Shipment For Annie-Marie Gift Shop - Quote Ref (#7394-458) Cc: anniemariegiftshop <anniemariegiftshop@gmail.com> Dear Emily, Thank you for contacting "YUSEN-LOGISTICS CO, LTD" for your service and we are very sorry for delay in respond, as we been very busy with loads of shipment and through out last week was another hectic busy weeks for us. So we sincerely apologize for any inconveniences that might cause you. We have now ran into our data base on the location you provided and also rectified the customer ID number #NL013762207B48 and we got to discover that we had shipped some Merchandise to Mrs. Annie Marie Rengner of Annie-Marie Gift Shop, Inc. in the past. Our experience serving customers in widely differing markets and geographies gives us a unique insight when creating solutions. We understand how every profile has unique characteristics and tailor our services accordingly to create robust and cost effective solutions. We provide solutions which range from stand-alone operations to control-tower managed global supply chains, combining our expertise with unique technology capabilities and our global service network. As for a shipment moving from Canada to Netherlands with the total weight and dimension you provided, below are the rates for Air Freight Standard and Express Shipment quote. Customer ID Number (NL013762207B48) Express Shipment (2 to 3 days)  $892.89 Standard Shipment (3 to 5 days) $754.53 The freight costs includes:- Collection from your Yard Customs clearance Duties & taxes Inland transit to The Netherlands Insurance Door To Door Delivery PICK UP ADDRESS: Baby Wisp 3345 Lake Shore Blvd W, Toronto, ON, M8W1N1 Canada. Our mission is to contribute to global economic development and maximize corporate value by earning the trust of our customers through sophisticated, quality logistics services. When we receive all necessary information from you we will proceed on the pick-up at your location. Also we would like to inform you that we accept all major Credit Card and Wire Money Transfer for now prior to pick up and collection of package which will be paid when the order ready for shipment. Our Customer have to pay us the amount to which the weight of the goods weight for us to set pick-up arrangement and sort out payment for tax, custom duties fees. This price includes insurance and all duties, as we have greatly reduce the price of our customer shipment. We value our customers, so everything we do is focused on the needs of our customers, wherever they may be located and whatever their requirements, therefore pick-up will be arrange by our agent team in the states from your address after payment is confirmed. We need you to provide us with estimate pick-up date and time frame so that we can have a schedule ahead, before the goods will be ready for picked up, as we normally have a lot of shipment request. As soon as we got payment confirmation, we will invoice our customer shipment and scan it to you, to print out and paste it on the packages. We are passionate about our service and our customers, that’s why we work outside the box, tailoring your shipping needs and processes from a unique customer-centric angle. For any further information don't hesitate to contact us. Thank you for your attention and looking forward to be of more service to you. Sincerely, The Yusen-Logistics Team Robert.

=============

So we google this Yusen-Logistics Team, it does exist in the USA, in fact is a 100 year old company but why is this guy's email a GMAIL account?  Why would she want to pay $800 in shipping for this one little box?  Her reason saying she had trouble getting her stuff without this guy and the customs just didn't make sense.  Also, consider we have now wasted time packing up her box.  Gathering all those products, creating the invoice and now in correspondence.  Some packs were custom made.  This is about 8 hours of labour hours now in.  Oh but now, there is a problem from "Roberts"...

On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 2:53 PM, annie marie <anniemariegiftshop@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Hello Beana, >> >> As you can see we would have forwarded our credit card details to our >> forwarder agent to charged and deduct their freight fees, but at this >> time they don't have the facilities to charged or debit credit card, >> because their bank hasn't rectify/fix the problem with their processor >> machine. So, that was the reason why we advice you to help us handle >> it, as we want to build our vote of confidence in your company and we >> don't want you to let us down in any aspect. Also, we are willing to >> offer you $100 USD as a compensation fare for your processor charges >> interchange fee and a percentage of the total transaction, because we >> appreciate you.

========

WHAT?  The freight forwarder tells us he can't take paypal, square, etransfer nor credit card...only a MONEYGRAMME.

This is where we were like HUH?  What is going on here.  This guy doesn't even exist as an employee for the company he was claiming to be from. Everyone there was like, "never heard of this guy". Yes, we tracked the company down and made a whole bunch of calls. We are a small business, we don't have a "scam" budget we can just expense this crap out of! It's a LOSS.  Any loss is a blow to us so I like to think we're diligent.  Here's our email back to him:

================ > Hi Robert, > > Unfortunately, our company is unable to send the payment through Moneygram. > So I wanted to see if the issue with the credit card has been solved for > your company. Since you provided the New Jersey address for the company, we > went ahead and contacted Yusen-Logistics Headquarters in NJ. They are not > aware of any credit card issues or any account associated with Annie > Marie's Gift Shop. We wanted to get your contact information but they were > unable to provide us with it since your name did not show up in their > company directory. We also contacted the Canadian company since the package > will be picked up in Canada. Again, the company was unable to provide us > with any account details or see any quotes you did for us. > > We don't understand the discrepancies between the information you're > providing for us and what Yusen-Logistics has given us. The company was > very troubled by this as it has been a reputable company for over 130 > years. > > We have advised them to start an investigation as this is very troubling to > us as well. > > Can you please clarify and explain to us so maybe we can help resolve this > issue? > > > - Emily =================

Then "Annie" gives us some bizarre story how "Roberts" is some rogue operator for Yusen and is doing us a huge favour and Shhhh, just pass the money to "Maria Moro" In Jersey who will get the untraceable money as cash and don't worry everything will work out.

It's at this point, I google the address she gave in Netherlands.  Oh yes, it's a BRIDGE or WATER TREATMENT centre of some sort.  It's also at this point that we notice Roberts and Annie are the exact same person. Their english and manner of writing are exactly the same.

[caption id="attachment_1126" align="aligncenter" width="300"] She apparently has a boutique on a bridge in a water treatment facility in a remote farming area.[/caption]

So, I hope you have found this entertaining. I'm only laughing about it now because the only money we lost was all the time and effort to deal with this clown..at least they didn't get our actual money and products too.

  I hope you have found this post before you got scammed or now can watch out for this type of same fraud.  To "Annie", "Roberts" and "Maria Moro" - get a real job.