What kind of e-mail scam is this?

Asked by ETpro (34605

) April 7th, 2010

This is a typical email of the genre. This particular one reads:
“Hello Good Day,
This is Rev Raymond.With regards to your Company i am sending this email Regards to order some (DELUXE SHOP DESK) i will like to know the type and sizes you have in stock and get me the sales price of one so that i will tell you the quantity i will be ordering, and if you accept credit card as a form of payment.hope to read from you soon about my order request….”

The name of the sender and the item they want to buy varies with each email, but the rest is pretty formulaic. I get about one such mail a day, because I am a web developer and have a site that’s been online for years with my email address posted.

I know it’s a scam, I just don’t know what the scammer’s modus operandi is. Do they hope to actually buy a large order of goods using a stolen credit card, or do they try to switch any sucker who answers into giving them bank details for a “wire transfer”? How do they profit from doing this?

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10 Answers

It is usually money laundering. They have a huge number of stolen/phished credit card details and are looking to purchase things with them. If you accept you will discover that after they have paid they will find a reason to cancel the transaction and demand a refund, or they will simply sell whatever goods or service you provide. We get them quite often for books and magazines in bulk quantities. I agree – it is weird. It also seldom works but they keep trying.

DarkScribe (15505

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Aha. Well thanks, Dark Scribe. I do the laundry here often enough I fell no need to help these scam artists with theirs.

ETpro (34605

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They keep trying to buy mass quantities of wine from our hotel sommelier.

mrrich724 (8550

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They will get your goods and a little later you will find that the credit cards were stolen and the credit card company has initiated a chargeback with your bank and you will be out the funds and the goods.

davidbetterman (7560

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Thanks @davidbetterman At least I knew better than to even answer any of them.

ETpro (34605

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@ETpro Also keep in mind that opening those kind of emails could download malware into your computer…

davidbetterman (7560

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@davidbetterman Not so. I don’t use Microsoft Outlook, don’t allow any VBS or any scripting in emails and view as text only. I’ve got good virus software running as well, but email isn’t the entry point that is focused on. But you are right, if you use Outlook and allow VBS scripting and HTML email, just opening a suspicious email can nail you.

ETpro (34605

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