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WatchVaultNYC
路Yesterday, someone bought a $5K Tudor watch from my website. Slightly suspicious because the guy didn't even bother to "make an offer". Just paid, and paid via credit card. Passed all the credit card security checks. I gave the cursory call on his phone number and he answered, yes it was him and he ordered the watch.
The next day, he attempted to have the package held for pickup at a Fedex location. Failing in that (I specify that packages can only be redirected by me), he called me up and asked for a redirection. And I agreed. Package at this point was already shipped late the night before.
This morning, a strange suspicion came over me and I did a bit more research on the buyer. Email domain was auctioneers.net, which when you go to it was clearly a phishing / spyware site. Then a Google search on the domain only found complaints of attempted fraud. I Googled the delivery address, which was in a decent 55+ community in Florida. Problem was, I coudn't find his name online as a resident at the address. I called the 70 year old lady (same last name) who did live there and left a voice mail.
While waiting for their return call, I rushed to the Fedex and took the shipment back before it was shipped out, canceled the buyer's credit card payment, and informed him that his payment was too high risk for me - he could pay via wire if he wanted. I immediately got several angry emails from the buyer complaining that I could have asked for ID to prove his identity etc, and that he would write scathing reviews at every possible venue.
Then my phone rang, it was the old lady I called earlier who lived in the house where the watch was supposed to be delivered. She said "no one by the buyer's name lives there, and its definitely fraud, my Discover card was fraudulently charged $5K yesterday".
Apparently the scam went something like this:
Scammer steals a credit card number from an old couple, buys a $5K watch to be delivered to the real billing address (so it could pass fraud checks), but has it held for pick-up so he could steal it mid-flight.
Luckily I was able to recall the package before it got delivered! Be careful out there!
The next day, he attempted to have the package held for pickup at a Fedex location. Failing in that (I specify that packages can only be redirected by me), he called me up and asked for a redirection. And I agreed. Package at this point was already shipped late the night before.
This morning, a strange suspicion came over me and I did a bit more research on the buyer. Email domain was auctioneers.net, which when you go to it was clearly a phishing / spyware site. Then a Google search on the domain only found complaints of attempted fraud. I Googled the delivery address, which was in a decent 55+ community in Florida. Problem was, I coudn't find his name online as a resident at the address. I called the 70 year old lady (same last name) who did live there and left a voice mail.
While waiting for their return call, I rushed to the Fedex and took the shipment back before it was shipped out, canceled the buyer's credit card payment, and informed him that his payment was too high risk for me - he could pay via wire if he wanted. I immediately got several angry emails from the buyer complaining that I could have asked for ID to prove his identity etc, and that he would write scathing reviews at every possible venue.
Then my phone rang, it was the old lady I called earlier who lived in the house where the watch was supposed to be delivered. She said "no one by the buyer's name lives there, and its definitely fraud, my Discover card was fraudulently charged $5K yesterday".
Apparently the scam went something like this:
Scammer steals a credit card number from an old couple, buys a $5K watch to be delivered to the real billing address (so it could pass fraud checks), but has it held for pick-up so he could steal it mid-flight.
Luckily I was able to recall the package before it got delivered! Be careful out there!
