Suspicious Buyer?

has anyone been approached by oversea buyer to purchase fair amount of wine recently? specifically from japan? we have one individual who contacted us to purchase 20+ cases and wanted us to pay for the freight, duty etc…along with inventory of wine to charge it on their credit card. never done business with them so we are little suspicious .
thanks in advance .

rick

Sell with confidence! No problemo. Don’t be such a worry wart.

VERY common scam, I get 10 a week. DO NOT give them wine till THEY pay by wire transfer or cashier’s check.

What’s today’s date, Roberto?

thanks! i did ask for wire transfer and they told me that credit card is the only way of payment…on top of that, shipping company that they like to use is located in england and cost over $4900 for shipping 20+ cases! no website on either the buyer or shipping company.
i keep asking for trade references but haven’t heard back…i am thinking big PASS

$25 per case would be way too much, over $200 is insane.

I would say wire transfer only. There are lots of phony certified checks out there and it can take a couple of weeks to learn that it is a fraud.

Do a search. This scam comes up all of the time.

I just noticed this thread. Must say, given how serious the discussion continued after you made this point, that this has to be the most insidiously funny thread I have seen in a while.

Be wary even of wire transfers. Ive had one come in where the sender claimed it was fraud (and it was) and was almost out my wine and my money.

I received several calls over the last week from someone in Nigeria who wants to import our wine. Really? I actually had a legit order last year to another continent (new buyer) that looked wrong on the surface. Best practice is do business with established contacts.

Inside a Wine Scam

Wire transfers are no protection. See quotes in this article series from bankers and law enforcement.
(Quoting one of our very own super-secret Berserkers, who agreed to be interviewed anonymously.)

[snort.gif]