Heads Up Warning!!!

[Red69stepside]

About a year and a half ago, I started a business that takes orders over the Web. I was still getting used to doing business that way when my wife/partner shows me this order we got from Nigeria. She couldn't figure out how to calculate shipping charges on this fairly good-sized order because part of it seemed to be an address in Australia (if I remember right).

I kept looking at his address and thinking it didn't make sense and my BS meter was moving into the red, and I start saying we need to check this out.

So she emails to the name on the order and gets back a semi-coherent reply giving us a more workable address.

I kept wanting to simply abort the order, but she's a lot more softhearted than me (poor, oppressed, starving third-world children, etc. etc), so she sends it out.

Of course, a few months later, our bank says the credit card number was stolen, and the real owner won't pay. I called the bank and they said I should have called them first (doh!), and basically (but unofficially) not to do any business with anyone in Nigeria, period. We got to eat the cost of a bunch of DVDs and shipping.

Online businesses should state on their order page that ALL orders outside the US, England and Canada need to email a photo of BOTH SIDES of their credit card and of their passport. Seems pretty rude, but I'm still burnt about sending those scumbuckets all those DVDs.

Anyway, hope this story gives someone some good info.