SCAM Again!

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Carole Beckwith

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I joined this website to help others avoid the scam that almost cost me $200! I understand that others may have had the same scam. A person named Jane Matthews contacts you from the "Dept of Labor" stating that we are in non-compliance for returning a form and ordering safety posters, blah, blah, blah. She agrees to help us avoid a fine by signing us up by phone. We will receive the posters by separate shipping and an invoice from Federal Medical Supplies,. which we recd today! We smelled a rat and called the NH Dept of Health, who refered us to the Atty Gen hotlline..We have now officially filed a complaint and verified that Jane's request was bogus. We are still sitting on theposters as a disclaimer says we may not return them without permission..of course, all numbers or the billing statement and Jane's do not connect! So please be forwarned. If anyone has had this experience also and returned the posters...please let us know if we should do the same or ignore.
 
OSHA has posted an alert on its homepage reminding employers that its publications and posters, including the "OSHA Workplace Poster," are available free to anyone who asks by simply visiting www.osha.gov/pls/publications/pubindex.list.
The reminder, OSHA says, has been posted because the agency continues to receive complaints from employers who have received "official looking" announcements and--in some cases--threatening notices, messages, or telephone calls from various companies requiring that employers purchase OSHA documents from them in order to remain in compliance with OSHA rules and regulations.
In addition, OSHA says it has also learned of a few cases in which individuals, falsely identifying themselves as Department of Labor or OSHA employees, contact employers threatening fines if they do not purchase specific materials.
OSHA's publications, posters, fact sheets, etc., can be ordered through the publications office or, in most cases, downloaded directly from the Web site.
If an employer feels they've received a fraudulent solicitation, they can contact the agency at 1-800-321-OSHA (6742). To contact any OSHA area office throughout the nation for information on specific workplace safety and health requirements, go to www.osha.gov/html/RAmap.html for a list of office addresses and phone numbers.
this makes the rounds year after year. it's bogus. don't pay them a penny. see above. but if the posters give correct info, i'd use them ... a free gift.
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Hi Carole and welcome to INNspiring.com Sorry to hear you got caught in this scam. I almost got caught in it myself (posted here) and related news item here. Please let us know how you make out.
it In the mean time, please make yourself at home and join in. We are really good at comiserating ;)
edited: Send no money, the last thing these fraudsters want to do is end up in court trying to tell a judge why they deserve payment for their fraudulent acts. If you paid by credit card, file a chargeback with your credit card company.
 
Sorry you got burned. Hope you can file a chargeback on them with your credit card processor. Our members were getting these left and right. We followed up quickly and found out a scam..and hopefully saved some of our members from being taken. Best wishes.
 
Today I had a phone call with the 'mugged while out of the country' scenario. Someone called pretending to be a local colleague who'd been mugged while in Canada after the sudden death of a friend. His nose was broken - that's why he sounded funny. When he asked me to look up a phone number for Citibank, I realized it was a scam. The real guy might ask me to call some guests for him, but we're not close enough for me to help him like that. I'm sure we were just a small step away from being asked for money. I said I would have to call him back with that information, got a number and hung up. I still couldn't believe that someone was actually making this up. I called their inn and the phone was busy. But this guy's mother lives right down the street from me, so I called her - guess who answered the phone? 'Wow, you're not in Canada! - I said. And the call back number was out of service.
Is it any wonder we're all cynical? Who pulls those kind of awful tricks
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CB - Welcome, glad you are sharing this matter with us and hope you stick around!
Several things come to mind with your post.
You could file for a chargeback through your credit card company as another poster stated. I am not sure you will win this because they did send you the paid for posters. Did the posters arrive with a return address listed and is it the same as the address on the invoice? Reason for this is that if you return the posters (via certified return reciept) you may have a better chance to win the chargeback.
Regarding "Jane's" contact information not matching the invoice. What I am thinking is that 'Jane' fell for one of those 'work from home' scams and is totally unaware that she is part of a scam opperation. She most likely was never paid for her work either!
The last thing is that I would most definitely do is watch your credit card statement VERY closely OR better yet, ask for a NEW CC#. Some of these scams save their CC #'s for several months and then either make fake cards to use or sell the list to other scumbags to do so.
Never give any personal information or credit information to a person that calls YOU. You have no idea who that person is or who they are. If you recieve a call or email from a business you commonly deal with and they ask you to call them at 123-4567 for any reason, do not. Look up the number of this business and call THAT number - 9 out of 10 times, the call or email was a scam artist ready to pounce.
 
CB - Welcome, glad you are sharing this matter with us and hope you stick around!
Several things come to mind with your post.
You could file for a chargeback through your credit card company as another poster stated. I am not sure you will win this because they did send you the paid for posters. Did the posters arrive with a return address listed and is it the same as the address on the invoice? Reason for this is that if you return the posters (via certified return reciept) you may have a better chance to win the chargeback.
Regarding "Jane's" contact information not matching the invoice. What I am thinking is that 'Jane' fell for one of those 'work from home' scams and is totally unaware that she is part of a scam opperation. She most likely was never paid for her work either!
The last thing is that I would most definitely do is watch your credit card statement VERY closely OR better yet, ask for a NEW CC#. Some of these scams save their CC #'s for several months and then either make fake cards to use or sell the list to other scumbags to do so.
Never give any personal information or credit information to a person that calls YOU. You have no idea who that person is or who they are. If you recieve a call or email from a business you commonly deal with and they ask you to call them at 123-4567 for any reason, do not. Look up the number of this business and call THAT number - 9 out of 10 times, the call or email was a scam artist ready to pounce..
CH - your point about the chargeback is a good one, but I wouldn't waste any time feeling sorry for Jane. The same name, Jane Matthews, has been associated with this scam in several states - Alaska, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Arkansas. Are you a member of PAII? It has been reported on the PAII forum several times.
 
Remember guys, no money to ANYONE over the phone. NADA ZILCH. No personaly info, even if they seem to have some of yours. The internet is an open book.
 
CB - Welcome, glad you are sharing this matter with us and hope you stick around!
Several things come to mind with your post.
You could file for a chargeback through your credit card company as another poster stated. I am not sure you will win this because they did send you the paid for posters. Did the posters arrive with a return address listed and is it the same as the address on the invoice? Reason for this is that if you return the posters (via certified return reciept) you may have a better chance to win the chargeback.
Regarding "Jane's" contact information not matching the invoice. What I am thinking is that 'Jane' fell for one of those 'work from home' scams and is totally unaware that she is part of a scam opperation. She most likely was never paid for her work either!
The last thing is that I would most definitely do is watch your credit card statement VERY closely OR better yet, ask for a NEW CC#. Some of these scams save their CC #'s for several months and then either make fake cards to use or sell the list to other scumbags to do so.
Never give any personal information or credit information to a person that calls YOU. You have no idea who that person is or who they are. If you recieve a call or email from a business you commonly deal with and they ask you to call them at 123-4567 for any reason, do not. Look up the number of this business and call THAT number - 9 out of 10 times, the call or email was a scam artist ready to pounce..
CH - your point about the chargeback is a good one, but I wouldn't waste any time feeling sorry for Jane. The same name, Jane Matthews, has been associated with this scam in several states - Alaska, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Arkansas. Are you a member of PAII? It has been reported on the PAII forum several times.
.
Muirford - No I am not a member of PAII but now that you mention it I have seen the name before on other posts. - Maybe I would have made the connection if I read the original post more carefully (I skim too much
embaressed_smile.gif
).
 
Today I had a phone call with the 'mugged while out of the country' scenario. Someone called pretending to be a local colleague who'd been mugged while in Canada after the sudden death of a friend. His nose was broken - that's why he sounded funny. When he asked me to look up a phone number for Citibank, I realized it was a scam. The real guy might ask me to call some guests for him, but we're not close enough for me to help him like that. I'm sure we were just a small step away from being asked for money. I said I would have to call him back with that information, got a number and hung up. I still couldn't believe that someone was actually making this up. I called their inn and the phone was busy. But this guy's mother lives right down the street from me, so I called her - guess who answered the phone? 'Wow, you're not in Canada! - I said. And the call back number was out of service.
Is it any wonder we're all cynical? Who pulls those kind of awful tricks
sad_smile.gif
.
muirford said:
Today I had a phone call with the 'mugged while out of the country' scenario. Someone called pretending to be a local colleague who'd been mugged while in Canada after the sudden death of a friend. His nose was broken - that's why he sounded funny. When he asked me to look up a phone number for Citibank, I realized it was a scam. The real guy might ask me to call some guests for him, but we're not close enough for me to help him like that. I'm sure we were just a small step away from being asked for money. I said I would have to call him back with that information, got a number and hung up. I still couldn't believe that someone was actually making this up. I called their inn and the phone was busy. But this guy's mother lives right down the street from me, so I called her - guess who answered the phone? 'Wow, you're not in Canada! - I said. And the call back number was out of service.
Is it any wonder we're all cynical? Who pulls those kind of awful tricks
sad_smile.gif
I mentioned this one a little while ago...we got that call about 3 years ago, but this guy knew we were new owners and knew the names of the POs. It was a scam for money. Send them $200 so they could get back across the border. But that dang Canadian accent gave him away, eh?
My guy was beaten up by neo Nazis in Toronto. What the heck? In TORONTO? Neo Nazis?
Around here the scam is to call up pretending to be a grandkid stuck at the border with not enough money to pay the duty on a shopping spree. Call grannie and ask her to send the money. Too many grannies have been caught by that one.
 
Sorry you got burned. Hope you can file a chargeback on them with your credit card processor. Our members were getting these left and right. We followed up quickly and found out a scam..and hopefully saved some of our members from being taken. Best wishes..
i don't think she paid the money ... i think it was a near miss ... she said
"almost cost me $200!"
that's what i'm hoping ................
 
Today I had a phone call with the 'mugged while out of the country' scenario. Someone called pretending to be a local colleague who'd been mugged while in Canada after the sudden death of a friend. His nose was broken - that's why he sounded funny. When he asked me to look up a phone number for Citibank, I realized it was a scam. The real guy might ask me to call some guests for him, but we're not close enough for me to help him like that. I'm sure we were just a small step away from being asked for money. I said I would have to call him back with that information, got a number and hung up. I still couldn't believe that someone was actually making this up. I called their inn and the phone was busy. But this guy's mother lives right down the street from me, so I called her - guess who answered the phone? 'Wow, you're not in Canada! - I said. And the call back number was out of service.
Is it any wonder we're all cynical? Who pulls those kind of awful tricks
sad_smile.gif
.
muirford said:
Today I had a phone call with the 'mugged while out of the country' scenario. Someone called pretending to be a local colleague who'd been mugged while in Canada after the sudden death of a friend. His nose was broken - that's why he sounded funny. When he asked me to look up a phone number for Citibank, I realized it was a scam. The real guy might ask me to call some guests for him, but we're not close enough for me to help him like that. I'm sure we were just a small step away from being asked for money. I said I would have to call him back with that information, got a number and hung up. I still couldn't believe that someone was actually making this up. I called their inn and the phone was busy. But this guy's mother lives right down the street from me, so I called her - guess who answered the phone? 'Wow, you're not in Canada! - I said. And the call back number was out of service.
Is it any wonder we're all cynical? Who pulls those kind of awful tricks
sad_smile.gif
I mentioned this one a little while ago...we got that call about 3 years ago, but this guy knew we were new owners and knew the names of the POs. It was a scam for money. Send them $200 so they could get back across the border. But that dang Canadian accent gave him away, eh?
My guy was beaten up by neo Nazis in Toronto. What the heck? In TORONTO? Neo Nazis?
Around here the scam is to call up pretending to be a grandkid stuck at the border with not enough money to pay the duty on a shopping spree. Call grannie and ask her to send the money. Too many grannies have been caught by that one.
.
Yeah, fortunately as the story came out I remembered your reporting of the scam, and an innkeeper from South Carolina who has also told the story - same as you, called fellow innkeepers pretending to be him. This guy really dragged the story out so that it wasn't obvious he was going to ask for money right away - talking about his nose being broken and having to get it reset when he got back here, not having any credit cards. The phone number was Canadian. I was glad I heard about the scam before or I might have been misled for longer.
 
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