New Scam?

Got this email this afternoon from “Lisa”, see below. If they had done their homework, they’d know that you can’t have a chain of wine shops in NY state (though there are limited ways around that, using a spouse/family member/pet’s name as the owner of the new store). Especially ‘upcomming’ parts of the state. And you can’t share inventory among the stores you’re not allowed to have. [wow.gif]

But for those distributors in states where you can have multiple locations, be aware. Here’s the email:

Dear sirs,

This Is Lisa, form NY.

We’re starting a small wine shop chain with 5 outlets in upcomming parts of NY. As a result, w’ere looking for suppliers. I am sending to you all to see if you have interes in working together.

Should you have a standard price list, i am pleased to receive it.

In the beginning we order by pallet as business has to grow.

Kind regards,

Lisa Yuen
SH Golden Wine

Smooove!

Golden Wine huh? Euphemism much?

Only the best for Donny. Straight from the Russian hooker’s… grape parts.

And the next question is they will ask if they can pay with a credit card. I get the same type of emails, just for different products, in my business.

The scam that wineries usually get starts with an email from some guy, “an American,” living in an Asian country, who “tried your wine through a friend.” Then they talk about ordering several cases for their daughter’s wedding. They wonder if we take credit cards for payment, and they claim to have a good relationship with a “shipping company” who will pick up the wine. Sometimes I play along with it for a couple of emails, then either I say, “No thanks, Mr. scam artist,” or I stop replying. There’s inevitably some grammatical or spelling error in their first email which makes it obvious they’re not an American living abroad.

lol.

kinda like this?

From: Xxxxxx Xxxxx [mailto:xxxxxxxxxxx101@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2017 5:26 AM
**To:**xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Hello

Hello, I want to purchase your wines for my daughter wedding coming up in August.

Hope to hear from you as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Xxxxxx.

What is the scam? U ship them wine and their credit card declines? What do scam artists want with some cases of wine?

here’s a reply i received from the email referenced above:

“Thanks for your response. I’m a Mexican but right now I’m in Bloomfield, Connecticut but our logistics agent in Los Angeles will pick-up the wines at your location. So what are you cost of those wines?”

grammar and syntax aside, i’m guessing the CC to be used to pay for the wine is stolen.

Yah but they don’t end up with cash right? Do scammers actually want 5 cases of wine? And not like DRC wines either? They would then what? Winebid the lot? Hahahah

Mark Y, that’s a really good question. I have a customer who works for the FBI. He told me 5 years ago that many of these scams originate in Nigeria. I’m thinking Eastern Europe is leading the charge these days. Why someone in Nigeria or Eastern Europe would want 5 cases of my wine is hard to fathom. Their colleague, the “shipping company,” would pick up the wine, and then what? Sell it for $5 or $10 a bottle? Every little bit helps, I guess. Yes, the credit cards are stolen, so not only would we lose the 5 cases of wine, but when the bank figures out that $2,500 was charged fraudulently, we’d have to return the money too. I hope no wineries actually get scammed this way.

In the case of the email I received, I’d be out a pallet of wine, or 50-60 cases. And I’m betting they’d want to go high end, so Champagne, Burgundy and whatnot. They use CC to pay, turn around and flip the goods for quick cash, and I’m out a bundle of wine. But if they’d done their homework they’d know as a licensed wholesaler we can’t sell to anyone without a copy of a liquor license. So there’d be no way for me to sell to them unless they got their hands on a real license.

I thought the scams were mostly about trying to get the winery to front for the shipping costs for a “special” shipper that has been arranged to get the wine abroad. No actual shipper, nobody picks up the wine, phony bank transfer to pay for the wine takes a couple of days to be discovered, and winery is out the shipping costs.

Most scammers don’t want a pallet of wine. It’s not the right kind of liquid.

-Al

I get them for “your product” – not even narrowly tailored enough to target wine.

The worst part of the scam orders, we average 3 per month, is if the scammer has a legitimate card and all the correct information for the card to go through, even though it is stolen card information. The phone number is usually the give away. Second is where it is to be shipped or they have a shipper who will pick it up.

I love the one’s that say they have tried our wines and would like a list of wines available and they will buy up to 25 cases. Send them an email reply asking which one they tried and their email address doesn’t work the next day.

Does anyone actually fall for these scams? They seem so obvious.

They never pick up the wine. They want you to pay for the “shipping fees” up front, usually $1,200 to $2,000 – they keep that and are gone.

Here’s my 5-part series on the scam: Inside a Wine Scam

Thank you for really importent comment. Very useful article. When they send me identical mail, I am writing: You make me laugh) lol

"Dear sir/madam,

" Pllez sent all the wjne to Ambsdr. Drew Goin, receiving agent for the Furious George Department of Felonious Drunk, LLC, via cold-chayn shippent in Thievesport, Lose-iana, at your erlyst cunveenyins. Payment for guds will be mayd uppun reseet.

“Sin-seerlee,
John Miller”

Wow, someone is plagiarizing Chaucer to try and scam me!