S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers

[hjaye]

UPDATE

 I'm going to call the police dept. in their town and see about filing a report. Even if this transaction isn't enough for the police to pursue on its own they may have an ongoing case or be watching the house for some other reason, so maybe it'll help.

Thanks everyone!

I had a police officer tell me once that credit card fraud is a felony, and the amount being purchased with the card didn't matter.  He used the example of someone going into a store and stealing a pack of gum.  If you just steal the gum, it's a small misdemeanor.  If you used a credit card fraudulently to purchase the same pack of gum, it would be a felony.

[jedikaiti]

Good luck - I just got (after what, a week?) an email back from WeeklyPlus that they were contacting the vendor and asking them to contact me directly. We shall see.

[JenJay]

UPDATE

 I'm going to call the police dept. in their town and see about filing a report. Even if this transaction isn't enough for the police to pursue on its own they may have an ongoing case or be watching the house for some other reason, so maybe it'll help.

Thanks everyone!

I had a police officer tell me once that credit card fraud is a felony, and the amount being purchased with the card didn't matter.  He used the example of someone going into a store and stealing a pack of gum.  If you just steal the gum, it's a small misdemeanor.  If you used a credit card fraudulently to purchase the same pack of gum, it would be a felony.

Yup. We were able to speak with someone at the credit union today and they said stealing credit info is a felony and a federal crime, no matter what. It's funny because my DH is a federal law enforcement officer so he's having a hard time not getting in the car and driving the two hours up to the address they attempted to ship to. Of course he won't, but he's fantasizing about how much fun he could have with it. 

The credit union employee advised us that one of the largest identity theft rings in the country is based out of VA (where we are and where the shipping address they used is) so we are taking this very seriously. I just ran a credit check on myself and DH and put the 90-day security alerts on both our social security numbers, then I went to every website where we may have had credit card info stored and deleted it all (fortunately just a couple) and changed the passwords, finally I also changed the passwords to our online banking accounts. A real pain in the butt, but it could have been so much worse!

We heard from the lady at the toy store this morning and can you believe this (these?) idiot(s?) tried to use the card AGAIN? She also verified for us that they had to have not only DH's name and card number but his address and the security code off the back of the card to place the orders. I know if he used the card in person someone could have quickly written down his name, number and the security number before handing it back to him but I don't know if they would be able to obtain our address? That makes it look pretty good for being hacked online and there are only two places he had that info stored - amazon.com and the online services for consumer reports. Needless to say both of those accounts have been deleted and I'm going to contact their customer service departments and give them a heads up.

EDITED to add -
Toy store lady replied to my email and said the thief didn't try to use my card again today, they tried to use someone else's card and reorder the same stuff and have it sent to the same shipping address they'd attempted to use with our card. She also advised us to call the police. This is nuts!

[jmarvellous]

I got a 'free cruise' from "Caribbean Cruise Lines" in the mail today. We really would like to go to the Caribbean on a cruise for our honeymoon (at least if it's free!), so on a whim, I called the redemption line. "Joan" was VERY abrupt with me and would not answer any questions (such as why their cruise line apparently is the only one WITHOUT a Google presence) without my redemption number (which she repeated as 12345678, even though the number was more like 12890453, and she wouldn't answer me when I asked "Why did you just count to 8?"), phone number and first name. Then she says, "OK, Melissa on 123 Blahblahblah Lane..." (NOT my name or address) I had to interrupt her and say goodbye because it was just too much.

I hope no one falls for this one. It would be pretty hard to buy into it.

I think these sorts of things are supposed to be timeshare scams, but I'm not sure how anyone would ever let it get to that point!

[laud_shy_girl]

I got a 'free cruise' from "Caribbean Cruise Lines" in the mail today. We really would like to go to the Caribbean on a cruise for our honeymoon (at least if it's free!), so on a whim, I called the redemption line. "Joan" was VERY abrupt with me and would not answer any questions (such as why their cruise line apparently is the only one WITHOUT a Google presence) without my redemption number (which she repeated as 12345678, even though the number was more like 12890453, and she wouldn't answer me when I asked "Why did you just count to 8?"), phone number and first name. Then she says, "OK, Melissa on 123 Blahblahblah Lane..." (NOT my name or address) I had to interrupt her and say goodbye because it was just too much.

I hope no one falls for this one. It would be pretty hard to buy into it.

I think these sorts of things are supposed to be timeshare scams, but I'm not sure how anyone would ever let it get to that point!

That sounds like she is phishing for info.

they say "123 ABC ln"
you replay "No its 987 zyx rd" and bam they have your address.

[Deetee]

I got a 'free cruise' from "Caribbean Cruise Lines" in the mail today. We really would like to go to the Caribbean on a cruise for our honeymoon (at least if it's free!), so on a whim, I called the redemption line. "Joan" was VERY abrupt with me and would not answer any questions (such as why their cruise line apparently is the only one WITHOUT a Google presence) without my redemption number (which she repeated as 12345678, even though the number was more like 12890453, and she wouldn't answer me when I asked "Why did you just count to 8?"), phone number and first name. Then she says, "OK, Melissa on 123 Blahblahblah Lane..." (NOT my name or address) I had to interrupt her and say goodbye because it was just too much.

I hope no one falls for this one. It would be pretty hard to buy into it.

I think these sorts of things are supposed to be timeshare scams, but I'm not sure how anyone would ever let it get to that point!

That sounds like she is phishing for info.

they say "123 ABC ln"
you replay "No its 987 zyx rd" and bam they have your address.

But it sounds like this was mailed to the person, so they had the address.

[sevenday]

In these kinds of things I don't know that the person on the phone when you call the number listed necessarily has your address. All they know is that you're holding a piece of paper with their number on it.  So yes, I can see why they'd be fishing for info, expecting you to automatically provide the correct address. Especially after she just "made up" the number (counting from 1 to

[Acadianna]

Given, it [Death Valley] is a really gorgeous place. I go yearly in winter, when it's cool.  Enough hot days here...

We certainly thought so.  It was fascinating!

[LazyDaisy]

I got a 'free cruise' from "Caribbean Cruise Lines" in the mail today. We really would like to go to the Caribbean on a cruise for our honeymoon (at least if it's free!), so on a whim, I called the redemption line. "Joan" was VERY abrupt with me and would not answer any questions (such as why their cruise line apparently is the only one WITHOUT a Google presence) without my redemption number (which she repeated as 12345678, even though the number was more like 12890453, and she wouldn't answer me when I asked "Why did you just count to 8?"), phone number and first name. Then she says, "OK, Melissa on 123 Blahblahblah Lane..." (NOT my name or address) I had to interrupt her and say goodbye because it was just too much.

I hope no one falls for this one. It would be pretty hard to buy into it.

I think these sorts of things are supposed to be timeshare scams, but I'm not sure how anyone would ever let it get to that point!

That sounds like she is phishing for info.

they say "123 ABC ln"
you replay "No its 987 zyx rd" and bam they have your address.

But it sounds like this was mailed to the person, so they had the address.

Not necessarily. The USPS has a service where advertisers can simple specify a mail route, city, zip code, etc. I think it's called Every Door Direct Mail. They simply deliver to every active address in the area you specify.

[Julian]

Woot!  Just won a million pounds in a lotto I never entered, according to a text message.  Yay me! 

(wonder how much it would cost me to get it, lol!)

[Miss Tickle]

We're suffering another rash of fraud at the moment, so I'd like to remind people that if it sounds too good to be true, it is, if you think people you don't know are trusting you with money, they aren't.

It amazes me people won't stop for a second and think, hey, this doesn't make any sense. I promise, no one is going to give you thousands of dollars on the hope that you'll do as they ask. If someone sends you a cheque for thousands more than you were asking for your old toaster, it's not a good idea to try to cash it without running it by your bank first. Better to be in front of it than behind it, and the bank will thank you. Really.

[Morticia]

I got a "Spam Report" email today that asked me to click a link to confirm the "reported email" was spam... Seriously?

[Jones]

Story in the news this week that a woman gave $8000 to a stranger for some diamonds, to be used as collateral. The diamonds turned out to be glass. Now Woman A has gone to the media, asking for help identifying the con artist to get her money back because her husband is out of work and she and her children need this money.

The transaction occurred at a mall with multiple jewellers.

A lot of people are accusing Woman A of collaboration with Woman B in order to get the kind hearted public to give her money to replace the funds she may have had swindled from her.

[JenJay]

I don't know anyone who could afford to give a stranger $8k while their spouse was unemployed. Smells like a scam!

[JenJay]

Okay, last update. I wanted to post this because I'd never even heard of it but the police officer told us it's very common. First, a link he gave us to read up on all the various schemes. I thought it might be helpful for someone.

http://www.ic3.gov/crimeschemes.aspx#item-16

What happened to us is called "reshipping". Basically, someone overseas obtained our credit card info (along with those of many other people). They also advertise "Work from home" opportunities. A person answers the supposed job listing and applies to be a reshipper. The thief uses the stolen card numbers to buy items in bulk and has them sent to the home address of the repackager, who then breaks them up into individual boxes and ships them to the thief. It's a win-win for the thief because if the scheme gets caught, like in our case, it's the repackager who gets busted. Likely their only contact with the thief is an email address and a PO box somewhere overseas. Dead end.