Order Request – Box Dumpers

I don’t usually bother to wind up scammers, and I certainly don’t recommend that you do.  But I couldn’t resist this one.  I have an online email address that I reserve for scammers – sent in the name of “Annie Cheater” – which you’d think might give the scammers a clue, but apparently doesn’t.

There’s a rant attached to this one, which I’ve added to the end of the post.

It started when I received this email:

Hello Good Day
My Name is David  Soon and I will like to know whether you carry *(Box
Dumpers)* in stock for sale. If yes, email me back each size and with the
prices of (1) attached to it so that i will let you know the size and
quantity i will be ordering…. More over I will like to know whether you do
accept credit card as the method of payment….
Hope to read from you again….Stay Blessed.
Kind regards
David  Soon

I replied in the name of Sarah that we did (I had to use Google to find out what a box dumper is) and gave him a quote for a 1 ton model and a 2 ton model.

He replied that he wished to place an order:

“Hello Sarah,
Thank you for your respond  well am interested in the 1 ton model costing  Price: $4226 and i will like to order 2 pieces for this and i want you to email me with the total cost of the 2 pieces excluding freight.Thank you

Best Regards
David  Soon”

I gave him the quote and said that freight costs would depend on where he wanted them to be shipped to.  He replied that I should contact his (fictitious) shipping company:

Hello Sarah,

I will like to order the Units (2 Units 1 ton model costing $8452) .. And i will recommend a freight company for the pick up of the Units to to my Company in ( Sweden ) . Now i want to you to contact them with the total weight of the Units and find out the freight quote to Sweden for me . The delivery address is below :

ST’ David and Sons Inc
# Ridmansgatan 42
Stockholm, SWEDEN  114 99

Freight company email address : ModexCargoFreight@hotmail.com

And including the pick-up location and they will surely get you a freight quote . As soon as you her from them let me know so that i can proceed with transaction

Best Regards
David  Soon(owner)

I contacted the shipping company as requested – and received this reply:

***MODEX CARGO FREIGHT***


Dear Customer
Thank you Once again for Choosing Modex Cargo Freight Company. Well i will need the following information to be able to get you the cost for the shipping of the Units

(1)Pick Up Location :- That is where the Units has to be Pick Up from .
(2)Delivery Location :- That is where the Units has to be Delivered .
(3)Total Weight and the Dimension of the Units that Need to be Pick Up .

And With these Information i will be able to get you the cost for the shipping of your Units from your location to the delivery location . Thank you Once again for Using Modex Cargo Freight for your shipping needs and services, We serve you better to your fullest satisfactory and we are your shipping needs .


Thank You
Cecil Jones
Shipping Department.

I sent the address that “Mr Soon” gave me for delivery and a totally fictitious address for pick up.  The shipping company replied:

***MODEX CARGO FREIGHT***


Dear Valid Customer ,
Thank you for your interest in using Modex Cargo Freight for your shipping needs and services, below is the information regarding the shipping quote and payment terms for pick up schedule. We checked on File of picking and shipping of: 1.5metres square. with the Total Weight: 2 tons. From and to the addresses Below

PICKED UP FROM:
Diggers n Dumpers,
Unit 27, Heartlands
Industrial Estate,
Frencham, Cambridgeshire

SHIPPING TO:
ST’ David and Sons Inc
# Ridmansgatan 42
Stockholm, SWEDEN  114 99

The shipping cost is going to $2,850.99 That includes international airway taxes (I.A.T) ,Tariffs and custom’s clearance duties. we will need 100 % down payments,full payments prior to shipping. Product is very secured in our custody and well protected until aim of delivery is excellently completed. It takes approximately 5 business working days for delivery from the day of pick-up because our shipping method is always compared to express shipping. We will also like you to know that for you being the shipper you are the one supposed to make the payment to us. The only method of payment we accept is Wire Transfer to our financial manager in the delivery location. Let us know if you wish to proceed with this shipment so that we can email you back with all the information you require to be able to transfer the funds to us. We look forward to serving you to your fullest satisfa_ction Thank You
Cecil Jones
Shipping Department,
Modex Cargo Freight”

(I was tickled that I was addressed as a “valid” customer!!)

Note that this “shipping company” claim that they only accept payment by Wire Transfer.

I forwarded this quote to Mr Soon, who replied:

“Hello Annie,
Thank you for your respond  well i want the quote from Modex which is $2,850.99 and i want you to email me with the grand estimate cost of the units plus the shipping cost together so that we can proceed.I will be waiting back from you Thank you

Best Regards
David Soon”

As you can see – Annie has taken over from Sarah.  Annie isn’t so patient – so she told Mr Soon that she was sure he could this shipping fee to the original quote.  He realised what he’d done and replied:

“1ton model :$8452
Modex:$2,850.99

Grand Total Cost Will Be :$11302.99

I will Like to know if you are ready for the Payment soo that we can proceed.Looking forward to hear from you has soon as pissble….

The next day I received an email which claimed to come from Mr Soon’s finance department:

Dear Annie Cheater

My Name is .Gary Huey am sending you this Mail on Behalf of Mr.David Soon  He told me he has place an Order from you and he will like me to take care of the payment on his behalf…Below is my credit card information for the processing the payment.

CC NAME:    Gary Huey
CC TYPE:       Visa Card
CC NUMBER: 4147202079813489
CC DATE:          03 | 14
CVV:                  638

BILLING ADDRESS
10515 66th Rd, Apt 5E
Forest Hills | NY | 11375

Note: i want you to run $5,651.00 First after that Put the rest same time and get back to us.

And After processing payment do send me an email with the Approval.also end email confirmation to Mr.David Soon and let him know that the payment has been Approved.Thank you for your Business.

Regards,
Gary Huey”

I have no idea if these credit card details are made up, or stolen, or legitimate.  At this point I decided to contact the UK agency “Action Fraud” – you can see their advert on this site, placed there after they contacted me and asked if I would display it.  I explained that the scam had got to the stage where I had been given alleged credit card details and asked if they would be interested in continuing with the scammer.  It seems to me that when a potential victim wires money to the fake shipping company it must be possible to trace who it is sent to.

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that Action Fraud are not interested in preventing fraud.  They are only interested in hearing from you if you have been a victim of fraud – and even then they can’t actually help you – I think they just collect statistics.  They told me to contact the Police.

I duly phoned West Mercia Police – who (surprise) told me to contact Action Fraud.  When I explained that they weren’t interested in preventing fraud I was told that I could forward the emails and someone would look at them.  It seemed to me that they weren’t particularly interested.

I also phoned Visa (noticed the credit card details claim to be Visa) – their reaction was similar to that of the Police.  They weren’t particularly interested but agreed I could forward the emails to them.

I know I’ve said it before on this blog, but I’ll say it again.  These scams continue unabated because the scammers KNOW that no-one, anywhere is going to stop them.  No Police force anywhere seems to have any interest in tracking down the scammers – it involves work, and a bit of persistence and international co-operation.  It doesn’t happen.

These scammers will continue to scam as long as we, the general public, continue to fall for them.  The scammers know that they will never be pursued, never be prosecuted and never have the stolen money confiscated.