So I got this sketchy board order through my email from a guy (Rev. Philip Morris - from supposedly South Africa) asking for 30 boards asap. There are some many shady things about it. Like his yahoo.uk email address, his lack of any proof of his company which he said deals in wheelchairs and surfboards. He insist on using ‘his’ shipping company which quoted $1000 to ship 5 boards (1 box), which seems insane and he has no problems with. He says he’ll pay upfront for all 30 boards and shipping with a Credit Card only.
I’m def feeling a scam coming on. Would be great if it wasn’t, but it just sounds too good to be true.
hi, definately a scam , i don/t know how it quite works but here in the uk if you advertise a board on any of the classiefied forums the next days you get an email in half broken english saying they will have the board ,they wil arrange shipping through their shipper ,just better to delete it , pete
tell him you will only deal with paypal or an irrovocable letter of credit.And you need 20% up front for such a quick order.
I got stooged by someone in indo years ago with a stolen credit card. After all the security checks I had done on the card it still ended up being stolen. cost me $2000 dollars.
he probably has a bank account in Nigeria with 1.279 billion dollars in it as well, just waiting for you.
Did he order 30 fish, because it sounds fishy to me. Oh, wait, did you say the Reverend? Phillip Morris? The famous tobacco company religious surf industry mogul?
Yep, sounds pretty dodge. We’ve got soooo many shapers in South Africa and with the current Rand/Dollar/Pound exchange rate it just wouldn’t make sense importing boards.
I had “the Rev” try to scam me too. I forget the details but it involved using his shipping company and probably a bank transfer. I strung him along for a few emails trying to make him send me a check and use my shipping - all well aware of this scam. Dropped communication and a few weeks later he emailed me with the original form email. I wrote back something to the effect of “amazing, you can’t even keep track off your scams - F OFF!”
Haven’t heard from him since.
Also had a dude from Hawaii call me for 5 longboards and didn’t have a problem with the high shipping cost at all but he needed them ASAP of course. You always have to be skeptical when someone doesn’t comment on how absurd shipping costs are especiall to HI. He actually gave me a credit card # with an address from PA so I looked into it before charging. Did a google search on the billing address and it turned out to be a comic book store in Pittsburg. I called them and asked if they knew of this transaction and of course they didn’t. CC fraud no doubt and I’m glad I didn’t get involved.
Bottom line - always trust your instincts when things are sketchy. You never go wrong.
Speaking of scams… there’s a Skil 100 for sale on ebay right now by a guy in ROMANIA who is offering free shipping as well. This is the second time I’ve seen this guy’s listing on there in a couple of months. The first time it was taken down, then he used an archive photo which I think came from swaylocks. Four people have actually bid on it, but the guy has no feedback history and I seriously doubt he has the planer. He is also selling a Farah Fawcett doll?!?
I have got the same email for the last 2 years with another business of mine. What they are trying to do is wash credit card numbers. They will get you to try and charge the card number they give you, which probably won’t work. Then give you another 3 to try etc etc.