[Nate]

we get all the international crapola, but it's gotten easy to spot, and like many have suggested, we've just started ignoring orders to many countries. how much call is there for DJ gear in indonesia/nigeria/sudan anyway?

but we just had a save happen by a rather observant and alert freight company employee. we sold a 12k sound board to a business in new orleans...everything checked out...all credit card info, address, etc. the buyer called back the next day to ask for a tracking number...which was given. on the day it arrived at the dock in new orleans he called the freight company and asked that the delivery address be changed...it was to go to a newly opened location. that sent up a flag, of course, but the clerk told him they needed authorization from us on company letterhead.

she got it. a fake one, obviously, but with our logo, address, and a phone number, along with the requested ok. she called the phone number on our letterhead and spoke to someone who identified themself as sean, the guy who sold the system. he confirmed the fax and what it said. she was about to release the shipment when she noticed there was that the sending fax number that comes at the top left of every page was an alabama area code instead of chicago, where she had just called...or so she thought

somehow these people hijacked our fax line, which is the number they put on the letterhead as our phone number. she called it and they answered. it's clever in that we would likely have noticed if they hijacked our phone line...or at least some customers would have noticed.

she was suspicious enough when seeing that alabama code that she looked up the number we used when we ordered the freight pickup. she called us and we found this out.

what we also found out is that these same guys had just gotten an order of guitars also around 12k, and that the address they asked to have this rerouted to was a bogus address on a real street in a very rough part of town. it's possible the delivery driver would have been in danger, as well.

all this to say, but for a very sharp eye, we'd have been out one 12k board. and it would have been almost impossible to notice until after the fact. it's getting to the place where i'm doubtful of any order.

[bvega]

so did they catch these guys? Did you find out from the phone company how they hijacked your phone line?

[Nate]

they did not catch the guys. not as far as i know. our owners aren't really the "let's catch these bastards" sort. more of the "let's get our stuff back" type. as for the phone thing, i'm not sure, but i did just hear this morning on our local news that inmates are calling people posing as police, telling them that there's an accident with that person's relative, and they need to call an officer on the scene. the number starts with *72, which forwards the phone to the number they call. then these guys pile up long distance calls.

i'm pretty sure nobody here would have done that with our fax line, but it wouldn't surprise me if somehow they did something with a phone company employee.