Long asss story... After an auction this weekend, we had a cat jumping up and down for a couple of pieces of jewelry to be sent out for next day delivery. We routinely ship out to most states and up to 45-50 countries, so his request was not unusual...but he was very insistent it must be shipped quickly. He won about $4,000 worth of junk at auction. Our average lot is several thousand, so there was no red flag at the onset.
The lady who dealt with him via phone came in this morning and said that she had a wierd feeling about the shipment and wanted it to be intercepted. I told her that we needed a good reason,,,many of our folks are those whom buy for presents, dealers who need stock for upcoming buyers, peeps who travel and need things while in town, etc... and we can not stop a shipment just because. That could create a real spit storm with the wrong person. While we talked I tracked the package and it was out for delivery.
She went to work and found that the card he purchased with had been closed out, (the system told us to take possession of the card) as well as another he used for shipping.. I got on the line with UPS Capital, (we ship a spit ton of stuff and do not deal with the 800 # in Pakistan or India) and as we talked the tracking showed that delivery occurred 7 minutes earlier...Dang!!
I asked them to contact the driver for details on the recipient and then called the upper Midwest police department in whose town this delivery occurred. I gave the dispatcher and later a detective lots of details, and he told me that the buyer was a real person with a real address...he told me he would go by and see if there was a problem with the credit card.
Meanwhile, several things happened,...I had asked for UPS to check with the driver for details on the delivery. They came back with an amazing bit of detail on th slug...5'5 ish, short grey hair, 60ish, round face, white guy, cig in his mouth, sweat shirt, white pants, no tats or earrings, two dogs in the house,...Wow! What detail from a driver.
Meanwhile slug called and said he only received one of two pieces...we knew otherwise. When the officer quizzed him, he said that he only received one piece,,,officer told him to turn them both over.
Turns out the cat was on probation for similar stuff. We will get the goods back after processing for evidence. Meanwhile, he is in jail tonight.
The officer told us that this is the next scam...we deal with all kinds of crazy stuff, particularly with buyers of Asian objects. The auction world attracts some crazy mother scratchers...
The amazing work by both UPS and the police department ( in addition to the chick at our place) deserves a big shout out. Art scams are a huge issue in our world...
The lady who dealt with him via phone came in this morning and said that she had a wierd feeling about the shipment and wanted it to be intercepted. I told her that we needed a good reason,,,many of our folks are those whom buy for presents, dealers who need stock for upcoming buyers, peeps who travel and need things while in town, etc... and we can not stop a shipment just because. That could create a real spit storm with the wrong person. While we talked I tracked the package and it was out for delivery.
She went to work and found that the card he purchased with had been closed out, (the system told us to take possession of the card) as well as another he used for shipping.. I got on the line with UPS Capital, (we ship a spit ton of stuff and do not deal with the 800 # in Pakistan or India) and as we talked the tracking showed that delivery occurred 7 minutes earlier...Dang!!
I asked them to contact the driver for details on the recipient and then called the upper Midwest police department in whose town this delivery occurred. I gave the dispatcher and later a detective lots of details, and he told me that the buyer was a real person with a real address...he told me he would go by and see if there was a problem with the credit card.
Meanwhile, several things happened,...I had asked for UPS to check with the driver for details on the delivery. They came back with an amazing bit of detail on th slug...5'5 ish, short grey hair, 60ish, round face, white guy, cig in his mouth, sweat shirt, white pants, no tats or earrings, two dogs in the house,...Wow! What detail from a driver.
Meanwhile slug called and said he only received one of two pieces...we knew otherwise. When the officer quizzed him, he said that he only received one piece,,,officer told him to turn them both over.
Turns out the cat was on probation for similar stuff. We will get the goods back after processing for evidence. Meanwhile, he is in jail tonight.
The officer told us that this is the next scam...we deal with all kinds of crazy stuff, particularly with buyers of Asian objects. The auction world attracts some crazy mother scratchers...
The amazing work by both UPS and the police department ( in addition to the chick at our place) deserves a big shout out. Art scams are a huge issue in our world...
