[RE-wrenches] solar order scams

[Chris Daum]

Hello Jeff et all:
 
For those who do take credit cards (and this has been said before):  with
the first six digits of any credit card, you or your credit card processor
can contact the issuing bank, and they will contact the 'real' cardholder to
see if the transaction is on the up-and-up.  We get several of these a day
too, and I just delete them.  I used to follow up, just to report their
cards as stolen, but it's too time consuming.  
 
Let the seller beware!
 
Chris Daum
Oasis Montana Inc.
406-777-4309

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From: re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
[mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Yago
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 1:58 PM
To: glenn.burt at glbcc.com; RE-wrenches
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] solar order scams


I don't know about you, but we are receiving about 2 or 3 scam emails every
single day wanting to order solar modules, solar pumps, or other solar
hardware.  These are easy to spot because although each one is from a
different "firm", here are the the things to look for that they all contain.
 
Usually they say they are needing this solar equipment for a specific
project, which would imply they would at least have a basic idea of quantity
and size they are looking for.  Instead, they ask for what you have in stock
and can ship right away, and they will list several totally different
combinations of modules, pumps, or components which clearly would not
normally go together.
 
The written language is terrible with very poor grammar, yet they will give
an address in the US.  They try to appear to be an established business, yet
their email address is always one of those "free" email services.
 
They will always ask "what credit cards do you honor" and they will make a
big deal about paying up front.  
 
When this was going around a few years ago, others on the list said there
was some way they worked this scam where it would check out as a valid
credit card, but after you shipped the equipment to some bogus address, the
credit card charge would be voided.  I don't know how you can do this, but I
assume they rent some low cost apartment to get a street address for a few
weeks, then ship as much stuff that they can to this address, load it all
into a shipping container, which is then shipped on to some third world
country where they can sell anything solar.
 
We tried several times to trace these abusiness names or addresses to see if
this was real, and have passed them on to Internet fraud groups but that
turned out to be a real waste of time.
 
I am sure all businesses get this stuff from time to time, but it seems like
they are really targeting the solar world.
 
Watch out.....
 
Jeff Yago

 

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Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.
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