How does this scam work?

My mom owns a store fixture business and received these emails. Luckily she contacted me and I knew right away it was a scam of some sort. What I don't get is how the scam works. They wanted her to send an email of the price of goods plus shipping, about $3500.00 before shipping, to a specific shipper at [email protected]. Can someone please explain how this might have gone down if she would have gone through with the transaction? Thank you and here are the emails:

#1

Dear Customer Service,
I am Rev Roland Moore and i am sending this Email in regards to Order some ( Gridwall ) and i will like you to email me back with the Type,Sizes and with their Prices you have in stock for me to choose the type i need to Order and also let me know the type of Credit Card you accept for Payment charges and can you email me with your contact full name and phone number that i can call to place the Order...Awaiting to hear from you soon..
Best Regards
Rev Roland Moore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#2

Thank you for your email Well i need the 90 Unit of 2X5 in black grid and the 90 Unit of 2X8 in white grid can you email me back with the Total cost now so that i can go ahead and send you my Credit card infos for the payment now
Thank you
Rev Roland Moore

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#3


Hello .
Thanks alot for the response and also i need .And this Unit am about to purchase is for my new orphanage home in Accra Ghana and i will like you to contact the shipping company with the total weight of the unit and your Location Address and ask them for the shipping cost.The email for the shipping company is [email protected] Please go ahead and email them and ask them for the shipping cost to the new orphanage home in Accra Ghana zip code 00233.please e-mail them for that they can arrange for the pick up today if possible,that needs to be done before they pickup and their Method of Payment.Thanks and i will be in the a conference meeting later Tomorrow to Bahamas with my wife and i will still keep in contact with you by email.Thanks and i am
really looking forward in completing this order.
Regards.........
Rev Roland Moore............

Nb.. Email them with the total weight,Dimensions and your location
address and ask them for the shipping price to the new company and their
method of payment.Their email address again is [email protected]
Let me k no w immediately if you have the shipping charges.Below is the
delivery address:

Rev Roland Moore
5491 out land Road.
Accra-Ghana..
West Africa
00233.
hope to hear from you soonest..........
God bless you .

Welcome here and good for you for spotting the scam.

The key to this type of scam is in the shipping costs. The scammer would have your mother use his "shipper" who in actuality is just himself or an accomplice. The payment would be made to your mother with a stolen credit card or a fraudulent check for the amount including the shipping costs, asking your mother to please wire the money to the "shipper". In this case, it certainly appears to be a stolen credit card.

Welcome tekscritter

Jillian's advice on this is spot on as always but I thought it may interest you to see another example of the same scam, I knew if i looked long enough I would find something
Click Here

Thank you both for the information

I was wondering the same thing. Look at what I got

Dear Joseph,

Hope you are doing fine with your entire family ,well i am emailing you to notify you the payment as been sent to you as overnight delivery service and you will getting it today,i want you to track the payment and stay arround to get the payment and complete the transaction today,here is the payment tracking number 7776455702 track it via dhl.com ,as soon as you get the payment i want you to follow the instruction below to complete the transaction.

I want you to take the payment to the bank and make the deposit and withdraw the remaing funds on the payment which is for the shipping company ok,deduct your selling price and the $40 i offered you as well and take the balance out of the bank in cash ,also you maybe wondering why there payment is much,the reason is that they are also a car i purchase as well,that is why there payment is much.

You will then go to the nearest walmart store arround you and ask for western union transfer ,and give them the money and the name and address below which is for the shipping company that will come for the pickup and ask them to transfer the money there.

here is the name of the shipping comoany agent you will be sending the money to...

Name :Oscar Diaz
Address : Hwy. 725 Km.
City :Aibonito
State :Puerto Rico
Zipcode :00705

Also the western union will ask you for a charges for transfering the money for you,just tell them to deduct the money from the moeny you are sending to the shipping company ,Not your money .and as soon as you they send the money they will give you a receipt which will contain this details below and you need to email me as soon as you through so that i can also forward the record to the shipping agent and they can come for the pickup tommorow at your house.

Here are the details you will email back today.

1. MTCN NUMBER (10 DIGIT)
2.ACTUAL AMOUNT SENT AFTER WESTERN UNION TRANSFER CHARGES?
3. TRANSFER CHARGES RATE?
4. SENDER'S NAME ON THE RECEIPT?

I will be looking forward to have all this transfer details as soon as you are through today .

Looking forward to read from you soon
Regards,
Roland.



There were many to follw and I lost all of my money from this and ended up in debt as opf dec 7 of 07 and have this to thank

also wondering why I am seeing car companies associated with the name Roland so often here are two, check em out in interested ??? trying to make sense of this cause I have been watching too much American Greed

http://users.autoexposure.co.uk/hilltop ... search.cfm?

http://www.justgoodcars.com/51527/car-d ... sales.html

Welcome here Roland.

Yes, this is thesame thing. The scammer is asking you to send money to the shipper which is of course the scammer himself.

Effectively the scammer wants to use you as a counterfeit cheque cashing service, using your bank account and stealing your money.

If the scammer tried to open a bank account themselves it's likely a bank would laugh in their face and the dud cheques wouldn't fool anyone looking at them closely. The trouble is that most banks don't look closely at them because they'll be charged back to your account if they're dud, and counterfeit cheques aren't handled by the local police or the FBI - the Secret Service are notified as it's treated as equivalent to forged bank notes.

Passing other people's cheques through your account is a risky business. Doing it for a stranger is going to leave your account bare and law enforcement at your door. A counterfeit cheque can be returned any time because it's counterfeit. It could be next week or in six months time. You are by definition money laundering. Don't let the phoney reasons fool you. It's called an overpayment scam, and no one ever overpays for anything, for any reason. They're (not usually) after your goods, it's the portion of the cheque you convert to cash for them. The cheque is worthless, so any cash they get from it is pure profit to them, but it leaves you in a financial and legal mess.

so is there a way to go after someone that has done this to you cause it seems as though many ppl are being scammed by this roland, is that a scammers pact or is it the same person? I was scammed for over 3,000$ and fell victim to this is '07 I have many emails and info but no one to point me in a direction.

I'm sorry that you were a victim of this scammer.

Education is our best weapon against scammers. The more people know about these scams, the better. Even though you were in contact with this scammer back in '07, and therefore the details could be dated, it's still usefull to post some of the emails here. Some scammers recycle their names and email addresses, and even their scripts. Every little detail posted here could be found by a new victim, and help in saving that victim. And if you keep track of this scammer, you can report him at the advertising sites where he will get banned.

Hi peeps
i am in the middle of being scammed at the moment
not sure if its the same guy but address is simular and its for an orphanage
10 wheelchairs £3200 the man just paid me .
address of orphanage is

334 church rd
c/o..Rev Collins luwis
Accra-North
Ghana zipcode 00233
West Africa

cant find that address on google maps

shipping address to pay

Byron James.
International Shipping Service Dept,
daf shipping ltd & Cargo Inc

cant find them either

we are not going to proceed an further with this and have spoken to credit card company who say that it is most likely a scam and that the money can be taken back from us up to 18 months later.

seems crazy to me that the card companys cannot trace the card holder imediatley to see if they have spent thousands of pounds when there is a query on there card?

so what do i do know, sit on the money for 18 months and hope for a freebie?

Life's a gas

The scammer has used a stolen credit card. Do you have any information on that CC, like the number? If so, could you PM that to one of the support team members or one of the moderators? Then we will notify the proper authorities.

The scanner emails for a quote. After you give quote scammed asks you to contact his freight forwarder via email. You give the dimensions and they promptly provide quote. Then scammer calls you for update; you give info and scammed wants invoice to include freight charges. Scammer wants you to immediately charge credit card with a receipt emailed. Next day scammer calls and what payment arrangements made with the freight forwarder. Freight forwarder promptly responds " take cash in hand and transfer money through Western Union". Companies beware!!!!! once money is sent, scammer will reverse credit card " chargeback". Now you are left in the hole. Example freight is $2000.00 you send payment for freight via western union. Scammer cancels order/chargeback. Scammer gets full refund and freight company gets $2000.00 (freight and scammer are 1 team). Anytime scammers want you to send money or pay freight to overseas company beware! USA freight forwarders need documentation to ship overseas! They have physical addresses and report their earnings to the IRS and have agencies they report to...legit companies do not require western union! They have bank accounts- companies exporting must provide a tax identification number. Don't give tax Identification number to just anyone they are like a social security number!!! If it smells it is rotten! Contact bank as soon as company asks for western union and let them watch the fraud to better protect and serve us small businesses!

Welcome to Scamwarners.

once money is sent, scammer will reverse credit card " chargeback".

It's far more likely that the credit card details used will have been stolen, and the transaction reversed when the real card holder challenges it.

Scammers are everywhere and they will do everything just to earn money even in a bad way. I may also consider this a scam. I believe that the cue is in the 'shipping costs' as these two words are repeated for several times.

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