Philippine Business Blog

While I was writing this I was actually in communication with a scam artist who wanted to buy from my car and automobile online store. I knew that there has been a lot of kick up about sellers who try to scam their buyers online. But this is actually my first time to have encountered a buyer trying to scam the seller. I don’t really have any idea about it until I got a bit suspicious with this buyer. So just to play it safe I tried to browse on the internet about her bank, “Norchex Bank Plc. and voila! What did I find? A lot of scams connected with this so called bank. If you are familiar with the sensational Nigerian scammer? This is part of their well organized scheme now. I also found out that a lot of ebay sellers has also been scammed.

First they email you that they are interested to buy your product, the usual they will ask how much would they have to pay including the shipping cost. They will also ask for the method of payment that you require. If you mention visa card, mastercard, debit cards, paypal or any other instant payments. They will reply to you and say that they would prefer to pay in another way ei. Bank Transfer, International Money Order & maybe Money Transfer like Western Union or Money Gram. Most sellers would agree with this. I am no exception. I agreed for a Bank Transfer. That is the bad thing about it I had to give her my Bank details; my account name, bank account number etc. There is always a sense of urgency on their emails. I have confirmed it with some sellers on ebay that have encountered this bogus buyers. After the amount of payment is settled they would email you that the bank transfer has already been arranged and that their account manager will contact you for regarding the transfer. You will receive an email from the customer service of the bogus bank and will give you instructions on how you can get your payment. This is how it goes on the email that I’ve recieved:

Dear Cynthia,

Nochex Bank Plc satisfactory inform you that your client Mrs Katrina Hillberg has successfully made the sum of $100 into your bank account. Due to the fact that most sellers don’t send the item despite the fact that buyers have paid for the item, so we made this policy that sellers must ship out items within 24 hours of payment confirmation and send us the scan copy of shipment for verification. You are not expected in any circumstances to send the shipping details to the buyer till we advice you to do so. Below are your payment details. If the information is correct please mail us back with the required details and your account would be credited within 5mins of confirmation. For more details about this fraudulent Sellers online, please click on the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4386952.stm
Naturally you would think that this is authentic and they are just doing their job protecting their client. Look at the date of the news? It’s 3 years old. They probably get it from UK headline news to make it realistic that she is in the UK and not in Nigeria. This letter also includes the address of the recipient of the Tungsten Carbide ring that Katrina is supposedly buying. And guess where? You’re right! It’s in Nigeria. All sellers in ebay that has been duped by this scammers all has Nigeria as the shipping address. One more thing we all have more or less the same letter wherein the bank is emphasizing the fraudulent sellers. To make us accept that it is in good fate that they are being strict. I actually have shipped the ring yesterday and have religiously scanned the shipping details and emailed it to the bogus bank. Poor me! This morning I had an email from the bogus bank telling me the the shipping details has yet to be verified and allow 1 day for verification. Yeah right! By that time the shipment would have been out of the country; in which case it would be difficult to stop the delivery! Lucky enough the post office who has sent my parcel has made a mistake in giving my husband the wrong documents to fill up and they are returning the parcel for correction. Huh! Luck some would say but I believe it’s Devine Providence. Katrina on the otherhand sent me an email as well saying that she likes to order more products from my online store. And this time she ordered about 20 assorted products from bracelets to watches; all under the my most expensive collection. She says she giving it as gifts. She must be a really generous person and very rich as well! She ask me to send the total cost including the shipping and take note this are all express courier. Products are received within 2-4 days. She says to email her immediately so she can arrange for payment so I can ship it immediately. Payment? I have not receive my first payment yet hold on a minute!To tell you frankly the first time I’ve read her email giving me a large order I jumped! As in really jumped for joy that my two kids even if they don’t understand yet starts smiling at me. Then I thought, hold your horses Cynthia, that order cost a lot and you have not receive the payment of her first order yet. That is the time it dawned on me to inspect the bank’s email really well. These are some of the things I’ve found out just by scrutinizing the email really well.

1. No real bank would ask you to confirm your bank details via email. They have actually put my whole account details out to the world.
2. Next I realise that the photos that are attached to the email the letter head is not high quality it actually looks amateur looking considering it is suppose to be an England bank.
3. If you click on all the pictures there is no link. It will not lead you to the bank website which would normally happen to almost all banks. They have always a link to go to their actual bank website. But this one has none.
4. I look into the lower part of the mail and there is this clickable area which is the signature of the supposed manager. And it returns to an Html of the connected to the justice peace of new zealand. Now, what is the connection of this to UK bank?
5. Other clickable sites, I get redirected to other websites.
6. And there is a signature part on the email just like in ordinary free email account. It says want to have an email just like mine? when you click on the link it directs you to email.com
7. Take note there are also some grammatical error, minor but for a Bank from England would be unacceptable.

Now , take note, I am not saying that this websites that are on the email that was sent by the bogus bank was also fraud. Their pictures might have just been used and picked up by these scam artist. Who knows maybe Katrina Hillberg is another person that has been scammed and they are using her details to communicate to me. I am sharing this as a concerned citizen and to let online sellers just like me know what these scam artist are doing. I will update all of you whether the scammer still communicates with me after I have told her that I need 70% downpayment for her latest order and it has to be cleared first on my bank account before I deliver the product. Try to search Norchex Bank Plc in google search and all scams related to it will come up including forums from Ebay. Look also on this link for additional security alert https://cptph.com/Security-Alert.html .