Cash/eft deposit scam

By gotya, on June 22nd, 2009

Have you unwittingly been involved in a scam or fraud? Did you get taken? I am writing articles on various scams and frauds so that the world at large gets to know about them and is more cautious when entering into a business or personal agreement.
Here’s one that happened to one of the companies I work for.

The client places a large order with the company using a company name they have and asks for a cash account as they are in a hurry to get the goods.
They ask the company to send a pro forma invoice via fax (a number that is not related to them at all) and then they phone again asking for the value of the pro forma invoice as their server is down and they cannot retrieve the fax pro forma invoice. The company quotes the value of the pro forma invoice as say R23 410.20 and gives the person their bank details over the phone so that they can make a cash deposit.

The client insists that he makes the cash deposit so that he does not have to wait for his cheque to clear as he is in a hurry for the goods.

The client then deposits R10.20 into the account and gets a stamped deposit receipt from the bank. He then add the 23 400 to the R100 column in the deposit area and faxes the deposit slip to the company advising them that he will be there to fetch his goods in the next 10 minutes as this order is extremely urgent. 10 minutes later he arrives with the original of the bank deposit slip (all paid up in cash – no waiting for cheque clearance) and leaves with his goods.

Days later the finance department tries to balance the credit of R10.20 they have in their account! This is when they pick up that the goods have been “stolen”. They contact the company that placed the order and find that they do not have a proper order and that the company who placed the order does not know anything about it. Their name has been used only and no-one can trace the client who actually placed the order. The crooks are usually very clear in also making sure that the number plates on the vehicles used to collect the goods are stolen in case there is a security check. The name and phone numbers used as security are also bogus. If their photos are taken when driving into a complex, they pull a cap down over their face as they push the button to open the boom!!

Make sure that you ALWAYS check that the money is in your account in full before releasing any goods to a “cash customer” and if they do deposit cheques, make sure that the cheque has been cleared by the bank before issuing the goods. Also check EFT deposits are actually in your bank account as we have seen a number of fake EFT deposits too!

City: Johannesburg

Country: South Africa