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Business Scams

If you are in business or have just started your business and all of a sudden you get a huge order in - like a month or more potential turnover in one transaction then alarm bells should start ringing.

We'll give you an example of the sort of thing that can happen - it's happened to us.

First thing you'll receive a genuine e-mail that is typed by hand on your contact form - assuming you have a contact form (you should).

It might go something like this:

Hello,

My name is Mark Proctor I Just want to confirm if the above product is still available for sale?Please kindly kind get back to us with the asking price for each ,Waiting your reply soon.

Regards,

Mark. This email has been sent by mark proctor (email. markproctor60@yahoo.com phone. 441553321761).

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We then ask which product they are inquiring about....

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Can you get 300 quantities for us,we make payment upfront.

This is the product we are interested in: Gnomeville Cotton Fabric

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Another question is asked....

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Hello,

We want 300mt ,Please get back to us with your Banking details in other for us to wire the payment by bank transfer to your Bank because that's our payment policy.This will enable us send out the payment this week before our account officer go on vacation .

Bank Full Name:
Company Address
Account Number:
Acct Name:
Sort Code:
Swift Number:
Routine Number:
IBAN:
Country:

Note: Please make sure that all above details requested must be completed before sending us your bank details for our future record purpose,to avoid any mistake while wiring the money into your Bank account .Shipping will then be arrange as soon as you have confirm payment with your Bank,Waiting to hear back from you soon,

Regards,

Mark.

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We get another accidental e-mail from them....

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Softly Does It Flannelette Collection Sheet Set

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We ask for an address to send this stuff out too:

**************

Units 1 & 2
Bunny Trading Estate
Gotham Lane
Bunny
Nottingham
NG11 6QJ

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Okay so lots of alarm bells should ring - first of all we aren't a wholesaler - they could easily get the product from somewhere else for cheaper.

Their english is bad... each ,Waiting your reply soon.

Normally the comma would be right after the word each (they've got the space in the wrong place - the space should be after the comma), and it should say "Waiting for your reply soon"...or we look forward to your reply.

Secondly the phone number they have provided is for a different area of the country from where they want the material being distributed too...usually they would be the same place...although not always.

Thirdly they ask for another product - clearly they are sending out loads of e-mails asking about products and have got them mixed up in their haste.

Fourthly when we checked the IP properties of the e-mail, it was for an address in the USA and not the UK.

So be careful whenever you get e-mails like this - don't get clouded judgement - it's very easy to start thinking about the big order - but think first and ask the question - "Is this really a genuine order", don't get suckered in.

There are a lot more scams than this as you can imagine and we'll try and go over them in the coming weeks.