Most everybody out there today is net savy and will recognize a scam e-mail
when it lands in your in box. There are many types to be on the lookout for.

"Coke or Pepsi , tell us and win an i-Pod"

" Your Paypal account has been limited, please click here and update your
information"

Some bank you don't even deal with needs you to update your account info.
due to a
breach......etc.

"You've won the U.K. lottery"

(that's odd, I never played the U.K. Lottery )

Some of the most convincing traps are those from E-Bay & Paypal as they
use fake sites that look just like the real deal.

Of course we all receive our share of the famous 419 scam letter:
http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/

This is where you receive an e-mail from a stranger , generally in Africa,
Someone
has died and left a ton of cash behind and they need your help to transfer
these funds
out of their country and of course you will be richly rewarded for your
service.
( read more about it at the link above )

Well, I have had first hand experience with a new version of this scam.
I didn't hear about this from my first cuzin who heard it from someone who
swears they saw it on TV, it really happened.
I have since found out that this particular version has been going on a lot
and people are actually being sucked into it.

So, anyway, here's what happened:

I am in the Restaurant Equipment Business, it doesn't really matter
because they are hitting any kind of store operation that sells goods
and excepts credit cards.

My company receives a phone call which is transferred to me.
I am warned in advance that the caller is working through a translation
service for the deaf and or mute.
( the service is legit, more later )

The operator asks me if I had ever received this type of call to which
I reply "no, I haven't."

They explain that the person calling is hearing impaired ( and/or mute )and
they
are making the call through the internet, the caller types to the operator
who
then in turns tells me what is said and then types my reply.

The person says they are from Cookeville, TN. ( I am in TN also )
They tell me they are interested in a particular model of a Pizza Prep Unit.
I look it up, give them a price and let them know I do not have it in stock.
( 3,800 bux )

They request my e-mail address as they would like to have a quote in
writing.
I give the operator my e-mail address.

Very soon I get an e-mail from [email protected]
Sherry asks for the afore mentioned quote to be e-mailed.
The english used was a bit rough but I attriputed that to the
possiblity of the handicap factor.
I work it up and send it off. ( in .pdf format which turns out to be beyond
Sherry Chuck's comprehension. )

I get a second e-mail informing me that the unit in question will be going
to
an orphanage in Ghana, West Africa.
In this e-mail Sherry provides "her" own address as being on Main Street in
Cookeville.
She asks for a quote including the freight to Africa and provides an e-mail
address
for the freight company.
I wrote back and asked for a phone number or address for the freight
company, this e-mail address was
all she had.

This is when I began to sniff a foul oder about this whole affair.
The e-mail address for the freight company just didn't look legit to me.
At this point I started to investigate.
I could find nothing on the internet about this freight company.
The e-mail address, it turned out, was through one of those anonymous, free
sites.

I figured I would go ahead and see where this was leading.
I wrote the freight company with all the details of the equipments
weight, freight class, crating and such....

Surprise, I get an e-mail back in the same "broken" english as Sherry.Chuck
uses.
They need almost 2000 dollars and it has to be sent via Western Union and it
must be sent from the "pick up" point.
They provide me an address for the money which is in, surprise, Ghana, West
Africa.

I return to Google and begin checking some more things out.
I do a search on Sherry.Chuck's address in Cookeville to learn
that it is a car dealership.

I do a search on this type of "scam" and learn it is called the
IP Relay scam. ( google it yourself for tons of info. )
I learned that the Secret Service-Fiancial Division is charged with
investigating this type of scam.
I called the car dealership in Cookeville to verify that they did not know
a Sherry.Chuck.
I call the Secret Service and am informed that since I haven't lost anything
and even if I had, there is nothing they can do because the government in
Ghana
is not cooperating because the scam is bringing in loads and loads of money.
Discontinue any contact is the only advice he had.
I really was hoping for a way to "sting" the scammers but he gave me
no such hope.

Anyway, armed with enough knowledge to be dangerous, I played the thing
out a little longer....

I sent Sherry.Chuck a new quote included the freight, which I inflated
just for fun.

Eventually, Sherry.Chuck asked if I was ready for her payment information.
I said yes, send it on.

I received and e-mail with two Mastercard numbers, including the three digit
security code.
"She" asked me to split the purchase between the two cards.

I really had to dig to find out how to contact Mastercard about a "code 10".
The card numbers were the same except for the last four digits.
How often are you gonna find someone with two credit cards with matching
numbers ?
They informed me that Sherry.Chuck was not the holder of these cards and
that
the scammers pick the last four digits at random.
The three digit security code for both was incorrect.

You see, they really wanted me to run those cards, which would have gone
through
and then ship the equipment and or wire funds to the freight company.
I foiled the plot and the card holders were informed.

Had I shipped the equipment, the real owner of the card numbers would
cry foul and I would be stuck.
If nothing else, they hoped to get that 2,000 bucks for the freight.

They didn't understand that the equipment was not at my location and the
manufacturer
would never fall for wiring the freight amount to Africa.

The Mastercard people told me that these people are persistant and that they
will be back with a new version of this game sooner or later.

I learned in my research that these IP Relay operators are mostly aware of
the scam
but their job description won't allow them to get involved in any way, lest
they lose
their job.
The operators are discussing this on the internet, some are risking their
jobs
to tip the potential mark.

http://deafness.about.com/b/a/081073.htm

Sorry if this post in and of itself seems spammy in nature, I figured that
more people needed to be aware of this new type of scam.

Be careful out there....