New Credit Card scam - beware of unexpected delivery of flowers etc

usignuolo

My sister just sent me this about a new scam involving an unsolicited and unexpected delivery of flowers/wine/chocolates.
It works like this

It just happened to someone a week or so ago in St. Albans , and it can
pretty well now be happening anywhere else in the country.

It works like this: Wednesday a week ago, they had a phone call from someone who said that he was from some outfit called "Express Couriers" asking if they were going to be home because there was a package for them, and the caller said that the delivery would arrive at their home in roughly an hour.

And sure enough, about an hour later, a Delivery man turned up with a beautiful Basket of flowers and wine. they were very surprised since it did not involve any special occasion or holiday, and they certainly didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued about who would send them such a gift, they inquired as to who the sender was.

The deliveryman's reply was, he was only delivering the gift package, But allegedly a card was being sent separately;(the card has never arrived!).

There was also a consignment note with the gift. He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a £3.00 "delivery charge" as proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult, And not just left it on the doorstep to just be stolen or taken by anyone.

This sounded logical and they offered to pay him cash. He then said that the company required the payment to be by credit or debit card only so that everything is properly accounted for. The husband, who, by this time, was standing beside his wife, pulled out of his wallet his credit/debit card, and 'John', the "delivery man", asked the husband to swipe the card on the small mobile card machine which had a small screen and keypad where he was also asked to enter The card's PIN and security number.

A receipt was printed out and given to them.

To their surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, £4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various ATM machines, Particularly in the Midlands area!

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Fair enough, but it's also worth reading what Hoax Slayer and Snopes say about this.

(BTW It started in Australia in 2008)

LutonGirl

Looks like it's been circulating since 2008

Have a look at Hoax Slayer http://www.hoax-slayer.com/flowers-wine-credit-card-scam.shtml

Looks like Fruit and Nut beat me to it though!

usignuolo

That's interesting becaue my sister sent it to me from someone else but the wording you quote is identical for the australian version. Is it a hoax hoax?

katejo

usignuolo wrote: »

My sister just sent me this about a new scam involving an unsolicited and unexpected delivery of flowers/wine/chocolates.
It works like this

It just happened to someone a week or so ago in St. Albans , and it can
pretty well now be happening anywhere else in the country.

It works like this: Wednesday a week ago, they had a phone call from someone who said that he was from some outfit called "Express Couriers" asking if they were going to be home because there was a package for them, and the caller said that the delivery would arrive at their home in roughly an hour.

And sure enough, about an hour later, a Delivery man turned up with a beautiful Basket of flowers and wine. they were very surprised since it did not involve any special occasion or holiday, and they certainly didn't expect anything like it. Intrigued about who would send them such a gift, they inquired as to who the sender was.

The deliveryman's reply was, he was only delivering the gift package, But allegedly a card was being sent separately;(the card has never arrived!).

There was also a consignment note with the gift. He then went on to explain that because the gift contained alcohol, there was a £3.00 "delivery charge" as proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult, And not just left it on the doorstep to just be stolen or taken by anyone.

This sounded logical and they offered to pay him cash. He then said that the company required the payment to be by credit or debit card only so that everything is properly accounted for. The husband, who, by this time, was standing beside his wife, pulled out of his wallet his credit/debit card, and 'John', the "delivery man", asked the husband to swipe the card on the small mobile card machine which had a small screen and keypad where he was also asked to enter The card's PIN and security number.

A receipt was printed out and given to them.

To their surprise, between Thursday and the following Monday, £4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at various ATM machines, Particularly in the Midlands area!

I wonder how the conman/thief got hold of their address combined with phone number? Had there been a previous leak of information? Perhaps the thief had gone through the bin to get non shredded mail.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

usignuolo wrote: »

Is it a hoax hoax?

It seems to be rooted in fact, but maybe it's not as prevalent as the message implies.

Biggles

I'm struggling with the concept of it 'sounding logical' to pay £3 instead of signing for a delivery. Why would you buy your own gift? I'd have told him to either leave the goods or shove off.