CREDIT CARD FRAUD OVER THE INTERNET

 

POST OF ORIGIN: ALMATY

DATE OF REPORT (YYMMDD):     000112

 

AUTHOR:  PATRICK SMELLER

 

INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 2000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.

 

1.  LET THE SELLER BEWARE

 

CS Almaty wishes to warn U.S. companies of a recent rash of cases involving the purchase of merchandise over the Internet using stolen credit card numbers.  In most instances, the fraudulent company is seeking to buy computer equipment from small-to-medium-size U.S. computer companies with little-to-no export experience.  Some companies are so eager to make the sale that they forget to ask themselves basic due diligence questions.  This kind of “blind date” approach to doing business can and have cost companies tens of thousands of dollars in bad sales with little chance of recovering their money or merchandise.

 

2.    CARPETBAGGERS IN CYBERSPACE: HOW THEY DO IT

 

Jumping from e-mail address to e-mail address, modern-day carpetbaggers can easily swindle their targets with little fear of ever being brought to justice.

 

Usually an e-mail address is the only real -- albeit temporary -- information that a phony company will give to its unsuspecting victim.  Everything else -- names of its representatives, company address, telephone/fax numbers, etc. -- is usually as bogus as the “company” itself.  Phony companies are often “located” in a remote city somewhere in the former Soviet Union, a convenient location given the combination of bad telephone lines and the huge time difference.  This more or less forces U.S. companies to communicate exclusively through the Internet.  When there are telephone calls, chances are that they’ll come from the “buyer”.

 

After several instances of back-and-forth, “trust-building” e-mail correspondence between the phony company and the target, an order, to be delivered by express airmail, is finally placed using one or more stolen credit card numbers. According to the regional security officer of the U.S. Embassy in Almaty, organized crime rings and others with access to credit card numbers sell this information or use it themselves to purchase merchandise. After the phony company gets the airway bill number, it immediately asks the express delivery company to hold the package (after all, the mailing address is probably a fake).  The carpetbagger then stops by, signs for the package, and disappears into the Internet ether world.

 

3.    DON’T FALL FOR IT

 

Several U.S. companies recently avoided being ripped off in the above kind of scam, because they checked in with their nearest U.S. Export Assistance Center (USEAC) before making any agreements.  USEACs, together with U.S. Commercial Service offices around the world, counsel U.S. exporters on qualifying potential buyers and making smart business decisions about potential foreign company clients.

 

To find the USEAC or U.S. Commercial Service office nearest you, call 1-800 USA-TRADE (872-8723) or visit the website: www.usatrade.gov.

 

4. OTHER helpful contacts for doing business in Kazakhstan

 

Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS)

USA Trade Center

Washington, D.C. 20230

Tel: (202) 482-4655

Fax: (202) 482-2293

E-mail: bisnis@ita.doc.gov

Home page: www.bisnis.doc.gov

Contacts: Judith Robinson, International Trade Specialist

Derek Nowek, International Trade Specialist

 

(Information clearinghouse for U.S. companies interested in doing business in the former Soviet Union.)

 

American Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan

Address: 531 Seyfullin Prospect, 4th floor, Suites 414-416

Almaty 480091, Kazakhstan

Tel: 7 (3272) 58-79-38

Fax: 7 (3272) 58-79-39

Contact: Diana Brett, Executive Director

 

(A non-profit, non-governmental organization affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The AmCham has more than 70 member companies representing a diverse group of U.S. and international businesses in nearly every industry sector.)

 

The U.S. Commercial Service Almaty

U.S. Embassy Almaty

Address: 531 Seyfullin Prospect, 3rd floor

Almaty 480091, Kazakhstan

Tel: 7 (3272) 58-79-20, 58-79-24

Fax: 7 (3272) 58-79-22

E-mail: almaty.office.box@mail.doc.gov

Website: www.usis.kz/csalmaty

Contact: Ms. Julie Snyder, Senior Commercial Officer

         Mr. Patrick Smeller, Commercial Officer