I debated about posting this, because it's embarrassing but I decided to do it just in case anyone else falls for this one.
I have 3 websites where I market nutritional supplements, and I get thousands of dollars in orders each month. At the end of July, I got a very large order ($10,500) for one of the products. I filled the order using the credit card numbers provided by the customer. She requested I ship the boxes (3 very large ones) to Nigeria to a hospital there, and gave me a Visa number to use for FedEx. My commission on that order was over $2000. I was licking my chops!!!!!!!!!
About a week later, I got a similar order, from another person, and filled it too and shipped it. Then he ordered more, totally about $20,000. I shipped part of that order 2 weeks ago.
A few days later I got another large order from another person, also wanting boxes shipped to a hospital in Nigeria. I placed that one too. The Visa numbers all cleared when entered.
Then another large order came in. My company was calling me by now, congratulating me on a great month. I was so thrilled. The orders totaled over $60,000 and my commissions were well over $10,000. I was spending that money in my head like mad.
Then the floor dropped out from under me. I know about all the Nigeria scams, and started getting nervous about how easy this was. So I called Visa and got the bank number for the cards used for the second order. The first thing the person on the line told me was that I had reached a fraud line. She gave me a phone number to fax in all the numbers I had used. You guessed it.............ALL of the numbers were fraudulent............either stolen or just made up. They told me when they called me, that there are entire websites where people buy the lists of fraudulent credit cards, and they told me not to worry
About this time, my supplier called me to tell me the first order was fraudulent, and I told them what I had learned too and we started working on fixing this problem. The last few orders were cancelled of course, and I have six boxes in my garage now, waiting to be picked up and returned.
I am not liable for any of it, and my company is out one shipment. The second order is in Nigeria now, but Fed Ex is intercepting it and possible arresting the person who will pick it up. I was told to call the Secret Service to report it and I did, but was really surprised by their attitude. It's not a big prirority, but they admitted it is a big problem. They told me to relax because I was not in trouble and wouldn't have to pay anything. Whew!
My company is only out about $1000 due to mark up. The price they sell at is inflated for profit, but we all feel very foolish. They assured me I am not liable and they accepted the Visa numbers, so they are the ones who are out anything.
Another lesson learned. Very embarrassing, but I feel better today.