Are These Legit Orders - Or Is It A Scam?

[TAGSigns614]

Hello,

My shop has been open for almost a year and although our obscured shop location has made it difficult to generate as many clients as we expected to have by now, we are gaining more and more work which is encouraging.

However, I've received several emails over the past few weeks from individuals who provide very little information except for the fact that they need to order a high quantity of digital banners and want to know if we accept credit cards. The print they want on the banners is always the same (a picture of Jesus with the text "Jesus Is Lord"). The wording of their emails is always poor English as if it's being auto-generated or, at the very least, written by someone who doesn't have a firm grasp of the language. They claim the orders are for pickup and provide no other information aside from their names (which are foreign names).

I've dismissed these emails up until now because my gut tells me these are scams of some sort, but I wanted to check around and see if any of you have had similar experiences and what this is all about? Of course I don't want to turn away legitimate orders, but I also don't want to open my new business up to malicious activity because I'm over-eager for the new work.

Advice?

 

[HDvinyl]

Scam.

 

[Gino]

Ignore them.

 

[TonyC]

Scam.

 

[signguypgh]

Great customers. Make sure to give them open 60 day credit accounts before they order....:Big Laugh

Seriously, it's a scam that strains credulity.

I openly wonder the financial return a scammer get by targeting sign shops. Targeting the elderly at least provides the opportunity of some cash stockpiled under a matters or a low yield bank account. But sign shops selling banners at 3$ a sq ft?

 

[Solventinkjet]

We get this scam all the time and we aren't even a print shop! Anytime a church contacts you via email about a large quantity of banners, it's a scam. My rule is, if they don't ask for a discount for Jesus, they aren't legit. Every church I have done work for in the past asks for a special discount. When they are fine with paying full price without a discount, it raises red flags for me.

 

[thewvsignguy]

My rule is, if they don't ask for a discount for Jesus, they aren't legit. Every church I have done work for in the past asks for a special discount. When they are fine with paying full price without a discount, it raises red flags for me.

So true!!! :Big Laugh

 

[TimToad]

We get this scam all the time and we aren't even a print shop! Anytime a church contacts you via email about a large quantity of banners, it's a scam. My rule is, if they don't ask for a discount for Jesus, they aren't legit. Every church I have done work for in the past asks for a special discount. When they are fine with paying full price without a discount, it raises red flags for me.

Excellent point.

I've never seen a single one of these scams where the sender's email address or phone number looked legit. They never include a "signature" that would name the church or organization and have its contact info in it. A legitimate organization looking for large numbers of anything the way these usually ask for would have a signature and contact info in the email beyond some vague email address or phony phone number.

To the OP, if it walks like a scam and talks like a scam, its a scam. My wife and I used to own a B&B. Our average and probably overwhelming majority of guests stayed between 1-3 nights. The scammers like this who phished us would send emails saying that their church group would be in our area and they needed the whole joint for 14 nights. Back then it was the old fake cashier's check scam, where they would offer to send you a cashier's check for a bigger amount than the booking and if we would send back the difference so they could pay their drivers.

Its hard to believe people are gullible enough to fall for this stuff, but these are multi billion dollar criminal enterprises operating mostly in the former USSR, Nigeria and other loosely regulated backwaters.

How often do clients from any kind of business, send you very vague order requests? With limited contact or identifying information? In large quantities, way beyond what most of us would consider normal?

 

[Andy D]

Scam, unless it comes from someone official, like a Nigerian Prince.

 

[Andy D]

FYI Hearing impaired, phone service scam

As long as we're on the subject of scams, if you get a phone call order, via a phone relay service for the hearing impaired....
Most likely a scam....

* Unless it's from a deaf Nigerian Prince!

 

[Ppcwilly]

He doesn't need any discounts!

 

[Mainframe]

When I get these scam emails and calls I tell them I have discovered who they are and have identified their location.

AND I AM SENDING A DRONE!
I SUGGEST YOU RUN AWAY AND DON'T RETURN!

 

[TimToad]

When I get these scam emails and calls I tell them I have discovered who they are and have identified their location.

AND I AM SENDING A DRONE!
I SUGGEST YOU RUN AWAY AND DON'T RETURN!

As fun as that sounds, I always worry that the phishers are in cohoots with the ransomware folks and if you **** one of them off, they'll somehow hack your email response to send you ransomware.

 

[Vinyldog]

Does it sound something like this?
I am in the market for very many signs banners that are of the printing. I just need to know if you accept credit cards.
First clue that it probably bogus is, "do you accept credit cards".

The larger issue is, how much time are all these e-mails and solicitation phone calls costing us?

 

[ams]

It's a scam, I've gotten a dozen of these. After responding a few times, I quit and delete them.

 

[The Hobbyist]

Scam. Definitely a scam.

 

[reQ]

Scam, unless it comes from someone official, like a Nigerian Prince.

True, made a fortune doing business with Nigerian Prince over past few years.

 

[Andy D]

True, made a fortune doing business with Nigerian Prince over past few years.

Off subject, but I was listening to an interesting podcast and they were talking about the Nigerian Prince scam.
The reason they still they stick with that tired old scam that most people know about, is because only the truly clueless
and gullible still fall for it. They can send millions of emails everyday day for nothing, but they have to respond to emails
and-or make phone calls to finalize the scam.. and they don't want to waste time or $ on the semi-savvy... Unfortunately
it usually ends up being the elderly that still fall for it.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

Great customers. Make sure to give them open 60 day credit accounts before they order....:Big Laugh

Seriously, it's a scam that strains credulity.

I openly wonder the financial return a scammer get by targeting sign shops. Targeting the elderly at least provides the opportunity of some cash stockpiled under a matters or a low yield bank account. But sign shops selling banners at 3$ a sq ft?

They don't really care who they're stealing from as long as they can get the money. The way the scam works is that you agree to the order, they ask you to send it via a non-standard shipping company and asks you to pay them and tack that on to the order total. The freight company is bogus, however, and you just gave them money to ship 180 banners. Meanwhile, you've lost the time and materials associated with printing those banners. It's a real bummer.