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Small Business Online Retailers Beware of this Scam! - September 19, 2011

Hello there world. Happy Monday.

So I was pondering a blog topic over the weekend and I thought this may be of use to ALL SMALL BUSINESS ONLINE RETAILERS. Recently, Warming-Trends was the target of a scam where a certain "Mr. Terry Thomas" (email: mrterry.thomas80@yahoo.com) would order large quantities of merchandise, purchase over the phone with a credit card or two (mind you they are stolen credit cards so we have learned), and then he would request to pay for shipping ahead of time and have the merchandise sent to Reverend Ken Dickinson in South Africa.

Where is the scam? Well, they insist on using FAST FREIGHT LTD (email: infoatfastfreightltd@cooltoad.com) based out of Accra, Ghana. They request that you WIRE TRANSFER MONEY TO GHANA TO PAY FOR SHIPPING AHEAD OF TIME. Then after you wire transfer the cash, they would cancel the transaction and recover the remaining funds used to purchase the items. Fortunately, we did not get caught in this scam after doing some internet homework and thinking we smelled a rat, (see links below), but we can see how this scam could catch unsuspecting online retailers off guard.

Here is a string of one of the email requests from Fast Freight requesting wire transfer payment:

FAST FREIGHT SHIPPING LIMITED

Attn :XXXX XXXXXX

Thanks a lot for choosing Fast Fright Ltd for all your shipping needs. For a pick up of such product,weight and dimensions this will be the breakdown for the shipping cost include tax,handling.

This will cost $7323. This reflects on the entire shipment. Please see below for payment breakdown.

Pick up location of merchandise:
(our address withheld)
USA

Delivery Address:
Rev. Ken Dickson
45 Victoria Ave
Hout Bay, Cape Town
South Africa, 7806

Shipping Merchandise:
Four Fire Pit Kits
4' x 4' x 4' pallate.
Weighing approximately 240 lbs.

PAYMENT BREAKDOWN

WESTERN UNION BREAKDOWN

1. To pay just the freight cost of $4822.01 - Western union fee is $266 - Amount to send is $4556.01
2. To pay just the cost with insurance of $6742 - Western union fee is $380 - Amount to send is $6362

Above are payment Option and its up to you to decide on how you would be making payment. We accept Payment Straightly from the shipper, that's from the the Pick up location. (where we would be making the picking ). kindly let us know how you would like to make payment so we can get back to you with the instructions and details on how to proceed on payment. And remember always make payment for us to put you on our shipping list to avoid the increase of shipping rates and also avoid delay of pick up. Thanks again for choosing us for all your shipping requirements and we look forward to serve you in the near future.

Email me with any further information and instruction

Sincerely Yours.
Fast Fright Ltd ...
Mr. Kofi Lee
Freight and Logistics Manager

Here are links to some internet homework we performed:
http://persistent.blogs.com/persistent/2008/12/scammers-scammers-scammers.html
http://www.xmission.com/~daina/known_scammers.html
http://bizinquiry.blogspot.com/2009_06_22_archive.html

We here at Warming-Trends.com hope this is helpful. We have contacted the FBI and hope that you do not get caught up in this scam.

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