This is a little something I wrote up for shopkeepers at Cafepress.com – a service whose community I’ve been a moderator at for several years. However, this can apply to just about any retailer – particularly those of us who use 3rd-party POD/fulfillment companies. You might see this floating around in several marketing and regional sales magazines – it should include my reprint rights statement. Essentially, it’s about breaking down the logistics of what is a tangent off the famous “Nigerian” or “419″ scam. This one, however, is tailored to scamming sales people with, what appears to be, an attempt to purchase like a customer or an official offering a prize/reward that eventually requires a fee or payment be made to collect.

I’ve updated this to account for some changes in the times (most notably new pick-up lines and sob-stories that have become popular twists in the last year, or so). However, in general, the information is the same even if the flavor changes a little.

So, you got an EMail from someone wanting to order from your online store …a really big order. If it’s legitimate you will make more commission from this one sale than you’ve ever made since you opened your account, huh?

Problem is, you don’t exactly know why they didn’t just order from your store but, rather, they decided to contact you directly, right? Or, maybe the person explained they want to purchase in bulk, or they don’t trust international payment systems, they claim there is a problem with your shopping cart system… correct?

Well, your gut instinct is probably correct. It’s the start of an attempt to scam you.

Now, not every one will be bogus. But, online merchants across the board have reported for years that most of these scenarios are fraudulent. It’s best to play it safe.

You might be wondering exactly how this scam could play out – and how someone could possibly make money off of it?

Often, people’s first reactions are to think it centers around an attempt to get your credit card number or the use of a fraudulent (or stolen) card number. This isn’t likely the case. Nowhere along the way would the sale require you to divulge your credit card information for them to make a purchase… so, that’s not it. Trying to use a bogus credit card would likely get denied by the transaction process and you’d know not to proceed with the sale (providing you have your own merchant account to accept cards). Your POD service would certainly catch it if it went through them directly.

Besides… what is a criminal mastermind going to do with 100 medium tshirts with a picture of a puppy on them??

It’s not about the products. It’s not about your credit card number.

…it’s about turning fake money into real money using you.

Here’s how the scenario would play out if you foolishly took part:

You’d respond to them via EMail (rarely a good idea – now they at least know they’ve reached an active Email account) and you agree to take their money order for 100 medium tshirts. You agreed on a fair price already – let’s say $1,600. They thank you for your honesty and let you know payment is on the way.

In a few weeks you receive payment via money order in the mail and an address of where to send the shirts. (You don’t really think this address is legit… do you?)

Either way, you notice the money order is actually for $2,100! Being the good business person you contact them and let them know they sent you too much. (Could they have wanted more shirts than originally thought?).

They apologize and tell you that their secretary must have incorrectly made it for $500 more than needed. They ask, if you’d be so kind, please send the shirts and just mail them another money order for the overage. Heck, they’d even accept a personal or company check from you because they can clearly see you’re an honest person. They apologize profusely and seem embarrassed by their mistake.

[This is where the situation takes the wrong turn]

You deposit their $2,100 money order in your bank, fill out another money order (or check) to return the excess to your customer and then dash home to order all those shirts and have them sent to the address he gave you. (You’re fighting off the urge to yell “Whoohoo!” and order that new 30″ flatscreen monitor you’ve been wanting).

[A few weeks pass]

You have seen the order ship from your POD account status reports. You sent a nice EMail thanking the customer and got a generous EMail back thanking you in return. It’s been a great experience and you pat yourself on the back thinking you were smart and never fell for those obvious “Nigerian scams” asking for your credit card number.

Well, the days of those scams have been over for some time now… they’ve been replaced with the scam you just got hit with.

Don’t believe me? Then why do you think your bank just phoned you telling you that the $2,100 money order was a fake and that you owe them that entire amount back?! (Yes, you do… oh, yes, you do).

You see, the whole scam was to get you to do two things:
1. Step outside of your processor’s highly effective system of protecting shop owners from fraud.
2. Get you to take $2,100 in counterfeit money order and turn it into $500 of real money order or check.

…the tshirts are just the smokescreen designed to take advantage of a naive shop owner anxious for their first, big sale.

Money orders ARE NOT – NOT – NOT as good as cash. They never have been. They are pieces of paper than can be forged. Banks always process and verify money orders, cashiers, checks, and the like. Banks will tell you it can take “x” amount of weeks to do so, in some cases.

Your $500 money order, however, was real – and by the time your bank alerted you to a problem – your money order was processed and you are out the $500 (real money order) plus the $2,100 (bogus) …and whatever you legitimately spent with your Print on Demand fulfillment service to purchase those darn shirts in the first place.

GOLDEN RULES:

1. Never go outside your fulfillment company’s system of purchase and payment. It’s there for your protection!
2. Don’t let excitement cloud your judgment by seeing a big sale come your way. The old adage is still just as meaningful now as ever… If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME:

1. PayPal can sometimes be the mechanism for how the scammer asks for that excess money to be returned. It’s no big deal to them to close down an account after they grab the money. By the time PayPal locks the account down or begins a paper trail it’s in another country where these people are often left untouched by the law. PayPal makes it very easy to be the recipient of money. This means the scammer has a relatively easy role to play compared to you… as you are already set up properly with PayPal.

2. The stories… oh boy, the stories. To get a shopowner or retailer off guard you might get a story about orphans, church groups, family reunions, wholesalers, fashion boutique stores, etc. It’s the stories that envelope these scams and help ease apprehensions and any reservations you might have. I mean, who would delay those orphans getting their 100 medium tshirts?

3. They start off telling you they’d like to use their credit card… but don’t relax, yet. This opening line is becoming popular in 2008 because of what I’ve outlined previously… the scammers are getting hip to warnings about Paypal, money orders, etc.

There are two things to look out for: A) What begins as an assurance a credit card is involved will eventually change to an explanation that a different payment needs to be used (silly secretary lost the company credit card… would money order be okay?) or B) It’s an attempt to bang-away at a stolen credit card number after all. Again, this isn’t as likely because once a stolen credit card is validated the culprits tend to burn through purchases very, very fast before it gets canceled and lengthy correspondence to negotiate for tshirts in bulk is hardly the way to do that.

Most likely, you’ll find the circumstances get changed and that the assurance of it being a purchase on credit card was just an initial ruse to get their foot in your door.

4. Variations can be abundant. Essentially, it’s about turning bad money into good money and you need to think ahead to that moment to see if you are being set up for a fall. The red-flag doesn’t always show up immediately. It happens after you’ve started the process. That’s part of why it’s so hard to avoid being scammed once you have your hopes up and momentum going.

5. We still see a lot of scams centered around winnings, prizes, inheritance, millions in bank transfers in war-torn Countries, etc. that still try to take advantage of a process… a process of giving you a little money or at least a little hope for greater returns. You can be sure it’s not genuine money being dangled in front of you but it works you through the stages of enticing you with greater goods/riches/rewards but will require you to pay a fee. It’s another one of those draws that involve tempting you with bogus money in an attempt to get you to introduce real money – the point at which you’ve been ripped off.

NOT EVERYTHING IS A SCAM.

Of course, not every contact is bogus. Wholesalers might well contact you. People wanting bulk-discounts will ask you what you charge. It’s your responsibility to sift through what’s real and what’s not. Ask the opinion of your card processing service or bank representative if you are unsure. There are ways to conduct business safely – without putting the risk on you – and without making you miss the genuine sales opportunities. I hope this explanation gives you one more line of defense in protecting yourself.