Tag: shipping scams

Its been called a “courier scam” or a “shipping scam”.  The tactics are the same.  The scammer asks you to cover the cost of a shipment in exchange for valuable package containing some sort of riches or business opportunity. But what happens is that you hand over your money and you get nothing but a request for more money.  They typically just keep asking for money for nothing in return until you stop.  And if you finally demand that you get something in return that is when they ignore you.

From experience and reader notifications I have observed the behavior of this kind of scam.

There are a few common elements of shipping scams:

 

– Lies of Legitimacy:  Using a fraudulent or non-existent company, the scam artist attempts to gain trust so the victim will be willing to give money without hesitation.  They will claim to be a legit courier company complete with payment processors or an international shipping company or even royalty (a prince lol).  They will often use names of real people or organization.  Another trick they like to do is to use a name that is very close to a real name so that if you search their company on the Internet, the first results is a legitimate company or one that used to exist.

For example:

Here is a fake and/or defunct company name:

Global Link Logistics and Delivery Company (GLLDC)Website: gloldc.com (site is in active)

 

The names that this courier scammers use is very similar to legitimate companies.  But the way to distinguish them is to  watch for unprofessional behavior, poor logic and grammar skills, and Same Content on Different Sites.

-Same Content / Different Site:  It may look like a legit shipping/courier site.  You may even be able to put in the tracking number they gave you.  But if you look closely you will see something CRAZY:

gloldc.com (Global Link Logistics and Delivery Company) ad copy:

As a reliable logistic service provider, we help customers to deliver their items from their door step to receiver’s door step. Customer will never need to worry about the taxes, documentation, transhipment, forklift, etc.

gloloss.com (Global Logistics and Security) ad copy:

As a reliable logistic service provider, we help customers to deliver their items from their door step to receiver’s door step. Customer will never need to worry about the taxes, documentation, transhipment, forklift, etc.

qrcss.com (Quick Reliable Courier Service) ad copy:

As a reliable logistic service provider, we help customers to deliver their items from their door step to receiver’s door step. Customer will never need to worry about the taxes, documentation, transhipment, forklift, etc.

HMMMMM.. there is something soooo familiar about these sites… I CAN NOT PUT MY FINGER ON IT.  FORGET IT.. I WILL TRUST THEM ANYWAY.  I WILL SEND THEM $500 cash.. that should cover the cost of my $4.4 million dollar check and gold necklaces.

You can find many sites like this going in the scammers site copying and pasting some of the text of their site into Google:

Try this

“Customer will never need to worry about the taxes, documentation, transhipment, forklift, etc.”

– Fake Forms:  They will send realistic looking forms that look like its the start of a real transaction.  The fake form will include website, contact info, logos and letterhead:

The “TRUST ME” technique:  After setting up a relationship of trust, the next step is to get your money.  They will flirt, cater to your ego, offer amazing things, offer to make sweet love to you, offer you a million pounds if you pay the tiny $800 shipping fee… anything to get you interested and earn your trust.

 From and actual email:

———- Forwarded message ———-

From: GLOBAL LINK LOGISTICS <info@gloldc.com>

Date: Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 12:30 AM

Subject: PARCEL 5998000000

To: XXXX@gmail.com

This is to notify you that your parcel already arrive in China which is

the last destination before it will reach ur home address in USA.it is a

company policy that u must pay the Local handling charges in order to

process the documents needed for International Delivery.

 The charges is 850 US DOLLAR kindly let us know how you prefer to send the

money by BANK Transfer it takes 3 to 4 working days before can clear and

proceed on delivery but if u prefer to send it by any money transfer that

is the easiest way which only takes couple of hours and the delivery will

proceed immediately.Thank you and we will be waiting for your reply.

 

Fake Profiles: If they are listed on a social media site then you will see a fake profile of them.  They will have a fake picture and a fake name.  Sometimes its a mixture of ID theft as they will grab some poor guys real picture then repost it as themselves with the name of some other poor guy.  The very stupid scammers will use the picture of a model or actor that is already all over the Internet.

You can verify if the picture has been reused by downloading the picture to your system then drag and drop the image into Google images.. and find all the times that same picture has been used.

Not Educated or Professional:  One of the most common items with these types of scams, is that the scammer usually speaks and/or writes with errors you would not see in an adult with even a little bit of English/professional experience.

 In conclusion, I will just say this.  These Shipping scammers (courier scammers.. whatever you want to call them) they do have a business.  But they in the business of taking your money for nothing.  They are in the business of cheating and lying and coning people out of their hard earned money.  Its difficult to accept but that is the kind of world we live in.  There many people that have no remorse, no empathy, no respect and their only skill is to steal.  The only thing that will stop them is if people stop giving them money.. then they will have to find a job or do real work… with any luck they will have THEIR hard earned money stolen so they will know the feeling.