Nigerian Coffee Bean Scam?

[eldub]

I received an email from this, ah, businessman yesterday and decided to play along a bit on the off chance that he might be legit. Anyone else have any experience with guys like this?



My name is David Walters of Walters & Son's Ltd and would like to know if you


carry Coffee Beans. If you do I would like purchase some coffee for some hotels


and cafe consumption,below is the qty and type of coffee am interested in :

5lb French Dark Roast = Qty: 25bags (125lbs)
5lb Colombian = Qty: 25bags (125lbs)


I would like you to email me back with the total pick up price plus tax on the


quantity of 50bags ( 250lbs ) , excluding shipping. Is there a surcharge on the


use of Visa or MaterCard for payment ? What brand of coffee do you grow or house


? Your prompt reply will be gladly appreciated and email me back with your phone


number so that we can proceed .

Urgently waiting to hear from you soon.
Walters & Son's Ltd
Ph : 661-724-6096








​

David,

I'm a coffee roaster in central Iowa.

The quantities requested would be no problem.



Scott thanks for ur reply and i am still waiting on a price per my request so that we can proceed with this Order !!!

Thanks..
David



David,


Am I correct in my understanding that you will be picking up the beans at our shop in West Des Moines, IA?
If so, we can fill that order at $7.50/lb.

All of our offerings are certified organic by the USDA.


Scott

Corazon Coffee Roasters



Scott thanks for ur reply and am happy to hear back from you so what will be the grand Total cost for quantity of 50bags ( 250lbs ) per my request as well so that we can proceed with this Order !!!

Thanks...
David


David,


The grand total would be $1,875.

Where are you guys located?


Scott



Hello Scott,
Thanks for your respond again. I am okay with the total cost $1,875..... I would like to proceed with payment but before then, I need to know the cost of shipping. Below is the information of the carrier to pick my orders:

The contact details for the Shipping Company as follows:

Contact name :-- Frank Johson
Shipping name :-- Blue Ocean Delivery Service.
Contact E-mail :-- [email protected]
Web Site : -- blueoceandeliveryservice.net


All you need is to e-mail them with the three (3) information's below :

1. ESTIMATED WEIGHT/ INFORMATION ABOUT THE ORDER

2.YOUR PICK-UP LOCATION ADDRESS (where order would be picked up from)...

3. SHIPPING ADDRESS:
Name: - Galeana 95-A Santa Ana Tepititlán
Zapopan, Jalisco MEXICO


Once you e-mail them with these information above, they would provide with you a freight quote. Get back to me with this information ASAP so that I can proceed with payment by today.


NB: The shipping company are responsible for the crafting and packaging of the order.

Urgently waiting to hear from you soon.
Watlers & Son's Ltd
661-724-6096



David,

I would prefer to speak to you by phone about some details before proceeding with this order. I tried calling the number you provided yesterday with no luck.

Scott
Corazon Coffee Roasters



i try calling your the number you gave me now as 515 xxx-xxxx right away and no respond so kindly call me back on 661-724-6096 !!!



David,

I just attempted to return your call with no luck. I got your answering machine.

scott



call now !!!!



………….. At this point, I actually managed to get through to the guy by phone on his google account number. He did a lot of mumbling about how he wanted to proceed with me contacting the freight company and not much else. (sounded like an African accent to me. Nigerian? hehe) Anyway, I'd had enough and just hung up the phone. he then attempted to call me back a few times and then left this last email message……..



Scott just go ahead and send an e-mail to the freight company i recommend to you for a shipping cost so that we can proceed with this Order !!!

Thanks..
David


Scott just go ahead and send an e-mail to the freight company i recommend to you for a shipping cost so that we can proceed with this Order !!!

Thanks..
David

​

 

[CoffeeJunky]

I would see if they pay with creditcard. Once you get the credit card payment, wait 10days to make sure they are legit payment. If it is legit payment, you send the beans but you should also alert the creditcard processor your concern.

I have had similar incident happened to me but instead of credit card payment, he sent money order for 3,500 for my espresso machine, I did notify my bank and they did check but it took them about 10 days to figure out it was not a legit check.

Most likely, you are chasing after ghost but it could be legit business proposal... lol.. Good Luck

 

[eldub]

I was thinking the same thing, CJ….

On the other hand, how many times do you meet up with prospective customers wanting to throw money your way on the ASAP? The guy just wants to get the deal done!!! No hesitation on his part, like I would expect, from someone about to drop a couple of thousand on beans that he knows nothing about from a guy he's barely talked to.

Let's get going and proceed with this Order!!!!!

lw

 

[trk_koa]

Scam alert! Be very wary of using their freight shipper. Just google and you will find all kinds of products targeted by this kind of email.

I get a message similar to this every couple weeks. Usually has a similar form. "I like your web site. I am very interested in your product, what type of payment do you accept". Etc. if they had seen my website they would know that. They target small businesses who are lured by the big order.

The other one I am getting is someone claiming that they are a regular customer but the most recent coffee order just wasn't as good as in the past. Would we please replace it or send a refund for $x and they give a name and address. I guess they don't think we keep records of our customers and orders.

 

[eldub]

LOL I sent the guy a message yesterday stating that his scam-foo was weak and that I could help him tighten up his game for the low price of $200. No reply yet. hehe

 

[CoffeeJunky]

damn... don't under cut yourself. You should have asked cut on his profit. lol...

 

[dand]

I received one from the same guy yesterday. Told him for an order like this I required that he prepay shipment in full before shipment and also pay in full for order by wire transfer before I begin order. I requested that he send me his mailing address and I would send via mail a large order form which he needed to return back via mail (mail fraud). I haven't heard back. I got stuck with $200 costs on a prior scam like this, even though I had plenty of forms signed, address and even though the credit card cleared, I had a copy of the card ( supposedly but it was a fraudulent copy). I covered with a lot of address backup all of which was false. I called the credit card company to report it but got no help other than the card was not valid, reported an internet scam, then three weeks later got a call from the credit card company and a chargeback. My rule now is to request cash up front and they cover and arrange for shipping on obviously fraudulent orders like this. If it seems to good to be true it is. Be careful.
David, Can I forward all of these to you ???? just kidding.

 

[ffarl]

It's an old scam, one I've seen many times. Stolen card, and their gain is the money you pay the shipper/courier and it's untraceable since it's you that ran the card. Also, they get a bunch of coffee.

 

[smksignals]

Definitely a scam. Article in DCN - link below. Nice job eldub!

Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine ? Orphanage Scam Targeting Small Roasteries Throughout the United States

 

[Lourdes]

Sorry, I private messaged you eldub. I didn't have access to replying to posts yet.
But this guy just sent an inquiry to our company site. We sell boxes. So he wanted a price on moving boxes from us.

 

[CoffeeLovers]

You should be careful about scammers because they are good in fooling persons out of their very nice offer. Nigeria is famous about scams and I even receive an email similar to this but I did not mind it. However, how can you deal with business if you always consider that all transactions done in Nigeria are scams? You can make online inquiries how legit is the one dealing with you. Just be careful always.