Yesterday I was contacted through my website by a “gentleman” who claimed to be in London. He wanted me to arrange a wedding for him here in New Mexico. The timeline was short but doable, he asked for me to respond ASAP. Which I did. He responded this morning asking to place over $12,000 on reserve to pay for the wedding, on my credit card account. I was to keep $3000, and forward the rest to a “logistics” agent. RED LIGHT AND WARNING BELLS!!!! If you have a Merchant Services account this is a violation of your contract! Not only will you ultimately not get the money (the credit card number is probably stolen), but the transaction will be reversed and you will owe the amount that you forwarded to the “Logistics” agent, plus the discount fees on the transaction. If someone approaches you for a large overseas transaction, be very careful. Do Not Over process for a service and send the balance elsewhere. You will loose your money, you could loose your Merchant Services Account and you could loose your business! I do weddings, but I sell Merchant Services as well, the guy picked the wrong minister to target! ith:
Phew!! that was close. Lucky you were one step ahead of 'em. I'm sure there are others who are probably not. Mind if a random stranger offered to put 12,000 on my credit card I'd probably be reaching for the 'up yours' button too.
I had someone try this same sort of thing about a set of tires I was selling. "Here's the money for the tires...oh by the way....can you send the $3500 balance to my 'shipper'?" Didn't fall off the back of the turnip truck yesterday ya know....straight to the shredder.
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