[Ripcord]

I just got one of those scam "I need order T-shirt, you take Visa?" emails, and this one said she wanted 950 shirts printed with "Bill is 8 years old."

I'm thinking that this "Bill" must be a very popular 8 year old boy to have a bash like that. They'll need to rent an arena or something and it will cost his parents upwards of twenty grand (not including the shirts I'm going to print...)

Is turning 8 really that much of a milestone to warrant this level of decadence?

 

[splathead]

Don't just discard it as a scam without doing a little digging. Scams don't usually involve printed shirts. they usually go for blanks that can be resold. This may be legit.

 

[Ripcord]

Don't just discard it as a scam without doing a little digging. Scams don't usually involve printed shirts. they usually go for blanks that can be resold. This may be legit.

I doubt it, it has all the signs of the usual scams, especially the "Don't include shipping, I'll have someone pick it up."

I don't think these schemes involve T-shirts at all. They send you a payment for way too much and explain that this was to insure that there are no delays. Then they ask you to wire them the difference in cash. Nobody picks up the shirts and you never hear from them again (and their credit card turns out to be fake...)

But just for fun, after I read your post I responded to the email with a quote for Bill's T-shirts. I'll let you know what i find out...

 

[splathead]

I don't think these schemes involve T-shirts at all. They send you a payment for way too much and explain that this was to insure that there are no delays. Then they ask you to wire them the difference in cash. Nobody picks up the shirts and you never hear from them again (and their credit card turns out to be fake...)

Gotcha. For these many shirts, I would probably insist on a wire transfer anyway.

 

[joey1320]

I've recently gotten a few for "churches" needing 450/550 shirts made. They must had gotten my info from this site because I haven't promoted anywhere else or mentioned my home business... Kinda weird really.

Sent from my HTC One X using T-Shirt Forums

 

[DNeeld]

Don't just discard it as a scam without doing a little digging. Scams don't usually involve printed shirts. they usually go for blanks that can be resold. This may be legit.

You are behind on the scams, my friend. Most now involve some sort of printing.

 

[Ripcord]

You are behind on the scams, my friend. Most now involve some sort of printing.

They must have figured out that it seems fishy to buy a thousand blank shirts through a retailer...So the printing makes it seem more legit (...not) Makes it suck worse for anyone who falls for it. At least blank shirts can be returned.

 

[elcielo]

To answer your question, MY 8th birthday bash was a humdinger. All these years later, the survivors are still talking about it. There only around 31 of the 2000 original shirts still around, and they command a huge price at Sotheby's.

Definitely, print the shirts (you'll want to keep a few for yourself).

 

[DNeeld]

A lot of these scams actually have nothing to do with the shirts, but rather with the shipping charges incurred. They will insist on some form of private carrier, which they own (or at least fake). The scammers ask the business to front the shipping fee, claiming the carrier does not accept credit cards for charges over "x" amount, and the business will be refunded the shipping charge via check.

Naturally, the refund check never arrives.

Here is a neat story about one screenprinter who got the full credit card information, then turned it over to the credit card company:

Credit card scam story.

 

[DCScreenPrint]

this is the email I received today and text message

Hello Owner/General Manager
Greetings how are you doing today? My name is John Bench i'm sending you this email because i will be needing your service i have a seminar coming up in the city here on the 5th of March. by 3pm ...I hope you do Screen printing on Tshirts I have some T-shirt that i need you to do Screen printing on, I have 600pcs T-shirts white in color and i'll like to put at the front of the T-****rs (ARISE AND SHINE) you move down lower and put (ISHIA 60:1) i need a perfect job on the T-shirts the total of the T-shirts are 600Pcs.Sizes are M=74Cm 200pcs, XL=78cm 200pcs and XXL=80cm 200pcs. I have a private carrier have the T-shirts deliver to your shop so you can work on them...so kindly get back to me with the request information below..
Full name..
Shop Address..
Cell phone and Business phone number..
Types of credit card you accept..
Total cost of your service..
Thank you in anticipation of your prompt and favorable reply..
Thanks , and Cheers




I knew by the first two words it was some sort of scam but I humored it because we have had business that felt fishy but turned out to be fine

So humoring this person I sent them a quote for their order

then they replied with




Thanks so much for taking your precious time in sending me reply regarding the printing & I will really appreciate it if you could do a perfect job for me. Am very ok with the cost you gave me. I'm ready to make the full payment of the service to you with my credit card and i also promise you a tip of $100.00 if you can do a perfect job for me on the T-shirts and the name of our seminar is ARISE AND SHINE .it's just like a sermon for my church member we had a fellowship that many neighbors attend i'll also be needing a little favor from you regarding the shipping agent that will have the T-shirts deliver to your shop and the favor goes by.
I have not pay the carrie that will have the T-Shirts deliver to your shop because they do not have credit card facilities the only method of payment they accept is cash or western union transfer so i want you to add an extra $1700.00 to the total cost plus tax of your service so you can have all the bills charge on my credit card .once you have that proceeds i'll want you to have the $1700.00 send to the shipping agent via Western union money transfer or Money gram so once they receive the money they will have the T-shirts deliver to your shop so you can have the Screen Printing done on them and they will also be the one to come and pick them up from your location as soon as it is ready...i hope all this is clear and understand by you and here is the break down below...
Screen printing fee: $1299
Tip:$100.00
Shipping agent fee:$1700.00
Western union charges:$150.00
Cc company charges:3%
Total:


Thank you in anticipation of your prompt and favorable reply..

may peace be with you
John Bench
No Good Thing Will He Withhold From Those Who Walk Uprightly Psalms 84:11

And then they called me but the person... whatever nationality they are I couldn't understand them at all .... All I could understand was "I Sent Email"

I replied with

Sorry we can not process a payment for a third party but we would be more than happy to help you with your order also we would love to visit your seminar we feel the need for jesus in our hearts!

and no reply.... I guess they found another printer ...

 

[Ripcord]

move down lower and put (ISHIA 60:1)

Wow, 600 T-shirts with "Isaiah" spelled wrong. That'd be refund city. (They'd say that as a professional printer you should have caught it...)

(The verse is correct though, I checked it...)

 

[Liver at]

We have been getting these scam emails for years. The first one was so obvious that it was fake because they said they stated our business was in a wonderful location in New York.---we are in Canada, and the only time we had our business marked as being in NY was at a very sleazy vendor at a Sports Imprint show in Toronto.
I hope smaller businesses are not falling prey to this one.

 

[Brandz13]

Yep the pesky "Arise And Shine" scam. I get this constantly.. I actually played along once telling them the shirts were ready and I wanted my money. They insisted we use a shipping tariff of sorts..and wanted some confirmation number. The voice was definitely Nigerian or ethnic.

 

[LostboyTNT]

played along to one of these on a craig's list listing, and they actually fedex'd me a "Check" (which other than no watermark, or other security points looked legit) then at the end, asked me to western union the excess to the 'delivery driver' they didn't seem the least bit fazed when the entire way I was saying "once the check clears the bank" but, regardless, from the point I got the fedex tracking number, the entire process was reported to the feds, step by step.

 

[BananaGraphics]

I get a couple of these a month. This is my form email response:

"Great! I would love to help you with your order. Before I submit a quote I must advise you that due to a common occurrence of credit card fraud related to this sort of purchase our policy is to require a certified check or wire transfer via Western Union".

"Please let me know if you would like to move forward with your order."

I have never had a follow up email...

 

[Ripcord]

I get a couple of these a month. This is my form email response:

"Great! I would love to help you with your order. Before I submit a quote I must advise you that due to a common occurrence of credit card fraud related to this sort of purchase our policy is to require a certified check or wire transfer via Western Union".

"Please let me know if you would like to move forward with your order."

I have never had a follow up email...

Be careful about certified checks. They can be fake. A friend of mine actually got one as part of a scam and took it to his bank. The bank told him that in order to cash it he would need that amount of money in his account to cover it, and if the check turned out to be no good the money would be taken from his account.

 

[LostboyTNT]

I don't mind taking any form of payment, but I always make sure it fully clears before I take step 1, no matter how realistic it looks/seems.

 

[cajunhillbilly]

When I get something like that, I tell them that if they are going to pick them up, then they can come pay me before I do the shirts. I never hear from them again.

 

[binki]

We like to take the cc info and then call the cc company to report the fraud. The icing on the cake is when we call the 'customer' back to tell them the cc is stolen snd we reported them. That really pisses them off.