Urgent Visa query - help!

T

tco21

Cynical Grinch
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Hi

I have a client that's buying a significant amount of components from me, and today he gave me his Visa number to do a manual entry transaction.

I went through the process and got to a point where a voice authorization code was needed, so I got the number for the Visa International client services line, and spoke to a (bloody incompetent) woman from some Jamaican type place - judging from the accent.

I gave her the card number and BIN number and she told me to phone again (That's what it sounded like). I tried doing the transaction again and it said that the card is reported as stolen :eek:

It didn't say it the first time round so why would it suddenly say so now?
I phoned my client, who didn't sound too happy, and he said he'll phone his bank to find out.

What the hell?
 
He's scaming you, just walk away ;)

If he's from an African country just walk away and save yourself a whole lot of trouble.
 
I kind of started thinking that too, but he bought R10,000 worth of stuff 2 days ago, and I just checked our account, and the money came through.

EDIT: When I try to call him, it goes straight to voicemail - either he's with the bank (for quite a while), or his phone is off.
 
tco21 said:
I kind of started thinking that too, but he bought R10,000 worth of stuff 2 days ago, and I just checked our account, and the money came through.

EDIT: When I try to call him, it goes straight to voicemail - either he's with the bank (for quite a while), or his phone is off.
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I could be way way wrong but hear me out.

They stole a credit card and found an online shop that ships to where ever they are. The card checks out that is why that made a R 10k purchase. Now since they know that went through they place a bigger order. The credit card is flagged and they hope you will still get the order through to them.

In a few days the bank reverses those disputed credit card charges and your out of a couple of grand + Stock ;)
 
tco21 said:
True. Ok what are my options? Do I tell the guy to rather do an EFT?
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Cheque deposits will reflext on your account as an EFT. So that won't work either. How big is the order ? I would tell him to make an EFT and hold back on the shipping till the funds clear. Which should be by Wednesday latest.

But make 100% sure the money is available before you ship off the goods. I will do the same with the previous order just to be safe. He will prob complain that your service sucks, but you need to look after your own first.

Just my advise, use it don't use it :)
 
tco21 said:
Not at all. Thanks.
He wanted the good dispatched on monday morning.
The order is for R50,000.
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This stinks of a scam. Get him to make a deposit and wait till you can withdraw the money from your account into hard cash before you dispatch.

This will save you a R 50 000 mistake.
 
Pitbull said:
This stinks of a scam. Get him to make a deposit and wait till you can withdraw the money from your account into hard cash before you dispatch.

This will save you a R 50 000 mistake.
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Yip i agree with Pitbull on this one. Rather be safe than sorry!
 
Ja, also suggest that you wait until the money's 100% cleared, then ship the goods to him.

Otherwise you'll look at a loss - both money and stock's gone, and that you wouldn't want now, would you?

Tell the "client" that there's a technical problem with your bank, and that you're waiting for the money to be cleared. That should give you a bit of leeway in the meantime.
 
Good advice from Pitbull. Make sure the funds are fully cleared. I've had several fraud attempts, though thankfully caught all of them before anything was shipped. The last attempted fraud, for R65K, worked as follows:
* Purchaser phones and orders goods. Tax invoice is sent.
* Purchaser faxes back a (copy of) bank-stamped deposit slip as proof of payment into account, which shows a cash deposit into bank.
* Phone call to bank confirms deposit of R65K, and this is reflected in the account as a pending transaction.
* All seems fine as I have faxed copy of a cash deposit, and bank confirms the amount, date and time of deposit.
* However, suspicion leads me to call bank again to confirm how funds were deposited, and they say it was a cheque, Hah! I ask for copy of cheque and call the issuing bank, who confirm cheques stolen and stopped.
* It turns out the scamsters deposited the funds with a fraudulent cheque, altered the deposit slip to show a "Cash" deposit, and then wanted to collect goods. When they arrived the cops were waiting.

1. Always confirm full and final clearance of funds with your bank. Many transaction types can later be reversed, and scamsters know this.
2. Never release goods without 1.
 
The_Librarian said:
Exactly what I was thinking.

A scammer will try to rush things along because there's always something to hide...
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Precisely whereas any normal consumer will realise that the funds need to be cleared first before shipment can commence.
 
Let's hope it's a legit deal as there is allot of money to be made with that order :)

But just keep your house in order, losing R 50k can break a business in a heart beat :(
 
We've had MANY faksters ordering from our online shop. One even sent a FAKE Nedbank EFT slip. I didn't even notice it the first time around.

Money never cleared so we never shipped. That's why we only work with cash accounts with the suppliers. If you don't pay us, we can't pay the supplier - and then can't ship.

These bastards are everywhere.
 
PC Direct said:
We've had MANY faksters ordering from our online shop. One even sent a FAKE Nedbank EFT slip. I didn't even notice it the first time around. Waited for the money to clear before we could ship and that never materialized.

These bastards are everywhere.
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Something I have just learned the hard way!
 
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