Beware of Reshippers

Re-shipping scams trick individuals or small businesses into shipping goods to countries with weak legal systems. The goods are generally paid for with stolen or fake credit cards.

Nigerian version
In the Nigerian version, the fraudsters have armies of people actively recruiting single women from western countries through chat & matchmaking sites. At some point, the criminal promises to marry the lady and come to their home country in the near future. Using some excuse the criminal asks permission of his “future wife” to ship some goods he is going to buy before he comes. As soon as the woman accepts the fraudster uses several credit cards to buy at different Internet sites simultaneously. In many cases the correct billing address of the cardholder is used, but the shipping address is the home of the unsuspecting “future wife”. Around the time when the packages arrive, the criminal invents an excuse for not coming and tells his “bride” that he urgently needs to pick up most or all the packages. Since the woman has not spent any money, she sees nothing wrong and agrees. Soon after, she receives a package delivery company package with pre-printed labels that she has agreed to apply to the boxes that she already has at home. The next day, all boxes are picked up by the package delivery company and shipped to the criminal’s real address (in Nigeria or elsewhere). After that day the unsuspecting victim stops receiving communications from the “future husband” because her usefulness is over. To make matters worse, in most cases the criminals were able to create accounts with the package deliverer, based on the woman’s name and address. So, a week or two later, the woman receives a huge freight bill from the shipping company which she is supposed to pay because the goods were shipped from her home. Unwittingly, the woman became the criminal re-shipper and helped him with his criminal actions.

East European version
This is a variant of the Nigerian Version, in which criminals recruit people through classified advertising. The criminals present themselves as a growing European company trying to establish a presence in the U.S. and agree to pay whatever the job applicant is looking to make, and more. The fraudsters explain to the unsuspecting victim that they will buy certain goods in the U.S. which need to be re-shipped to a final destination in Europe. When everything is agreed they start shipping goods to the re-shipper’s house. The rest is similar to the Nigerian Version. Sometimes, when the criminals send the labels to be applied to the boxes, they also include a fake cheque, as payment for the re-shipper’s services. By the time the cheque bounces unpaid, the boxes have been picked up already and all communication between fraudster and re-shipper has stopped. Here’s an example recruiting email received via SPAM on Oct 2, 2007:

XXXXX Inc. invite residents of the various countries to cooperation. We found your resume on some Job Website because we are searching for reliable professionals or your information has been passed to us by your friends/relatives. Our clients need to accept goods from the various countries. Therefore we creating a network of regional agents which functions are reception of goods and further transferring goods to our shipping managers. We pay you 40$ per received package. We guarantee worthy payment of your work. This job is for you If you want to earn from $150 to $800 per week and work Only 2-3 hours then! This job requires punctuality, good organizational skills and proficiency with Microsoft windows and office programs to maintain inventory and fill forms if necessary. This job is ideal for: housewives , students, older persons, people with restrictions. No money needed to start. This is a business requiring only limited amount of your time. Requirements: 1. A computer with access to the Internet, e-mail 2. We don’t work with persons under 18 3. 1-3 hours free during the week 4. Check your e-mail several times a day (each hour is perfect) 5. Reply to e-mails immediately 6. PayPal account to receive payments (optional, WU is also accepted) 7. Be responsible, hard working and communicable We offer competitive compensation, including commission and expense reimbursement. Please send your resume to xxxxxxxxxxx.com Thank You XXXXXX XXXXXXX Manager XXXXXXX Inc.

Chinese version
This is a variant of the East European Version, in which criminals recruit people through spam. The criminals present themselves as a growing Chinese company trying to establish a presence in the U.S. or Europe and agree to pay an agent whatever the unsuspecting victim is looking to make, and more. Here is an example of a recruiting email:

Dear Sir/Madam, I am Mr. XXX XXX, managing XXXXXXXXXXX Corp. We are a company who deal on mechanical equipment, hardware and minerals, electrical products, Medical & Chemicals, light industrial products and office equipment, and export into the Canada/America and Europe. We are searching for representatives who can help us establish a medium of getting to our costumers in the Canada/America and Europe as well as making payments through you to us. Please if you are interested in transacting business with us we will be glad. Please contact us for more information. Subject to your satisfaction you will be given the opportunity to negotiate your mode of which we will pay for your services as our representative in Canada/America and Europe. Please if you are interested forward to us your phone number/fax and your full contact addresses. Thanks in advance. Mr. XXX XXX. Managing Director”

Australian version
In the Australian version, the U.S. company is contacted by a potential customer stating they would like to place an order with their company. The first initial email represents the “Direct Solicitations” outline. Once the company responds and verifies that the desired product(s) is in stock, the fraudster will then ask to quote shipping to Australia, and that they will be paying via credit card. Once the quote has been sent to the fraudster, the fraudsters will then reply back that they will have their U.S. agent or freight representative come to the location and pick up the merchandise, and then they will ship it to the fraudster. The fraudster then tells the company to simply add an additional charge of $700 - $1500 onto the total cost, which will be their ‘agents’ compensation fee. And that when the person is to arrive to pick up the parts, that the amount charged be paid to their agent. There will also be an additional compensation fee added in too for the company, for the extra trouble of paying their agent the money. The reasons range from the agent or freight company only accepts cash or the company is unable to process credit cards. Once the fraudster is told it will not be done, the communication between them and the company will stop immediately. There are also many grammar and spelling mistakes in the communications. Here is two variations of what the re-shipper email will look like:

Dear XXXX, Thanks for the total quote of my order.The total cost of my order is quite correct and okay by me and I’m ready to pay the bills . I shall inform my freight forwarder who will be coming to pick up the order to hold on and come immediately you inform me that the items are ready for pick up then i can give you a call on that day to get the items packed for pick up and they will call you on their arrival at your address. Also I want you to help me Charge another $1200.00 from my card to the shipping agent who will be coming to pick up my ordered items from you. The $1200.00 that will be sent to the freight forwarder is for the shipping of my order and other items i ordered from different part of the country which is to be picked up by him and should be deducted from my credit card. Also, I’m compensating you with the sum of $150.00 for the transfer fee and for your efforts. Please note that i should have given the shipping agency my credit card for him to deduct the shipping funds but he told me that he doesn’t have the facilities to charge or debit credit card , so that’s why i bring my vote of confidence in you and i want you to assist me in this measure, so i want you to transfer the funds to him after you have make the charges and the money charged from my credit card is in your account,then you can now make the transfer to the agent via western union.i will have love to do this my self but there are no western union here around me cos i am out of town to monitor my estate construction at a remote village,So the charges you’ll make on my credit card will be Order Fee: 3,114.61 Agent fee with shipping fare: $1,200.00 Transfer Fee plus Your Compensation: $150.00 Total: $4464.61

Note that my credit card will be charged for the amounts above. Please do get back to me if you are in the office right now so that i can forward my credit card details to you, then you can charge the funds I await your quick response. Kind Regards.
Example Two:

From: XXXXXX Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 4:40 PM To: XXXXXX Subject: RE: mail oder - don’t worry i will give you $300 for the stress and you can charges the money and send the money with the US what about that so let me hear from you today

XXXXXX wrote: xxx, We will not be able to transfer the extra $700 to your agent. We can charge you for the motors, however, we have them at two different warehouse locations. What you have your agent do is up to you, we can either will call the motors at each warehouse for him to go and pick them up, or have them shipped to his U.S. address. However, if we do have them shipped to his location, shipping charges will apply, and then I suppose you can deduct that from the $700 you would send to him to come and pick them up. Either way you handle it, the motors are in stock and available for purchase.

From: XXXXX Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 4:28 PM To: XXXXXX Subject: RE: mail oder - What i just want you to know is that i will forward my credit for the bill tomorrow to charges and you will charges extra $700 usd to my agent that will come over there to pick up the goods so let me know if you can charges extra $700 then send it to him via western union money transfer.