Announcement I was nearly duped into a wedding fraud. How you ask?

I too have had this happen...But it was not bouquets, it was 6, two dozen roses arrangements. He sent me an email asking what my price would be...I told him and then he asked me to ship, and to email him what the total plus shipping, it was going somewhere in Africa...I knew then it was not a real order....I never replied back...It seems that this is happening more and more and I cant figure out why they are targeting flower shop...
 
I was told it has something to do with the shipping.. I had it explained to me once and now have forgotten how the details fall out...somehow they collect the money from the shipping and the flowers do not get paid for....
 
Our flower shop is in Long Grove Illinois. the exact same thing occured to us word for word. He wanted me to pay 800.00 to the "Shipper". After reviewing the email he called me back and I told the operator to tell him I refused to fill his order. He called back about three weeks later and tried the same scam. I told the operator I do not accept TTY calls and told her this was a fraud. This guy must be trying this all over the country.
 
Fight back!!!

This scam has been going on for years. I actually have visa, discover phone numbers handy and available for when they call, and after he gives the credit card number, I put TTY operater on hold and call in the card as stolen.
I also tell them the card is declined and ask for another card. One day he gave me 4 cards and I called them all in.
It takes a little time, but you can do a small part in
protecting identities, costs, etc.
 
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We've had much the same occur several times but as e-mails. Really important to keep your head and not let the potential dollar signs blind you...especially in this economy!
 
We had this happen at our shot about 2 weeks ago. Although we realized it was a scam quickly, I continued with the chat long enough to get the credit card numbers they were trying to use. I then contacted my merchant services fraud department. They referred my on to the issuing card companies who took fraud reports on those card numbers. Don't know if it really helped, but hopefully it did some good.
 
Thanks for this information. We all know from time to time that a florist gets caught out however vigilant they try to be. I think this gives us all a wake up call to make sure we stay as alert as possible to these rotters! Karen UK
 
Hi,
I don't believe it, this guy also contacted me about doing gift baskets for an orfanage in Liberia. He said he would arrange for a courier to pick them up also. His name was Roy Flatt and when I questioned him about details, he got annoyed so I told him to forgrt it.
BOY am I glad I did!!!!
 
This scam is used through Craigslist also. Some scammers have tried through Ebay also, so everyone should beware. I found this when I had listed some items for sale on Craigslist and I got some emails from folks and even calls wanting to do the "Favor" thing and I told them upfront. The items listed for sale I need to see folks face to face and that cash is required. Scammers will try to be slick, but you do have to be on guard at all times.
 
In one version of the scam, they charge a large amount to a stolen (but not yet reported) credit card. Then they add just a little more to the order, and ask you to charge that to a different (real) card, because they say the first card is getting too near their limit. Eventually, some large part of the order gets canceled, and they ask you to credit it to their real card. So you think you are just refunding, but you're actually crediting the card that didn't get charged so much. Later, you eat the losses on the first (stolen) card, when you get the chargeback. But by then, they have spent the money on their real card.

This is frustrating for most of the TTD operators. They are repeatedly a party to a fraud that they don't want to assist with, but legally all they are allowed to do is interpret. They are legally obliged to interpret every word that you say, so when you think you're just talking to the operator, they have to type what you are saying to the caller. If they are caught engaging in conversation directly with either party, they WILL lose their job, and it's fairly high-paying.

It's no different from being a UN interpreter. You may have knowledge that what one of the ambassadors is saying is completely untrue, but the integrity of the system requires you to do nothing but interpret. An operator cannot add comment, or color the conversation in any way. It's the only way that interpretation can be trusted.

Out of dozens of scam attempts, I have had just 2 TTD calls in 25 years that have been legitimate, one of which was just 6 weeks ago. They get those of us with empathy, because we don't want to discriminate just in case the TTD call is really from a deaf person.

BJ

"Hey, let's be careful out there." - Sergeant Phil Esterhaus (character on Hill Street Blues)
 
We had the same phone call at our store recently as well, realized it was a scam after the first email and second call and hung up. So to hear all of you say you have experienced it as well makes me wonder how many shops might actually have been duped. I hope none. What a waist of time. They were lucky the operator told them. We have a distraught woman who calls every once in awile to order funeral flowers for a tragic death of a loved one. Sad isn't it that not everyone can be as happy as all of us flower-huggers.

Life is great...Flowers make it better
Click to expand...
 
It's true, it is going on in all businesses. I own a large retail computer store. Many years ago a guy called and asked us to ship 10 laptops to New York as he claimed they were opening a new branch office there. The card was of course stolen.

Darren
 
Oh yes, this same thing happened to me and several local florists here in Minnesota. They claimed this guy was deaf and that is why he had to use the relay service. He was actually calling from Nigeria and I found out from calling the Relay Service Customer Service that this is a BIG SCAM and they had the FBI working on it. When you get a call like this you are supposed to tell them that you do not accept credit card payments over the phone. They them this is an illegal use of the Relay system and you will report them. Easy as that. Don't let these guys take your money.
 
For the second time I received the TTY phone call. This time I imediately told the caller he was a fraud and I had notified other florists and he hung up
 
I received the same phone call a week ago and tried to put the caller on hold, because I was busy with a customer. I initially thought the caller was deaf and gave them the benefit of the doubt, but soon realized it was a scam when they asked for the same wedding bouquets as you had posted and I had read a week before.
When I tried to tell the operator that this was a scam he kept saying you have to wait before speaking and end your sentence with go ahead. So I said tell him (the caller) this is a scam go ahead the operator relayed the message and then the operator said the caller hung up. So thank you again for posting this thread, I wouldn't have known that this was universally happening and probably would have been duped myself.
 
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