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What was the scam? That maybe you forgot you ordered it? Or that since it's a company someone will more likely take possession and pay thinking it's for someone

What was the scam? That maybe you forgot you ordered it? Or that since it's a company someone will more likely take possession and pay thinking it's for someone else?

pricci 6y ago
Maybe the book seller sent several books to different locations expecting that someone would end up paying for it?
crooked-v 6y ago
I would presume the scam is more or less: ship a cheap book to random company owners with an inflated C.O.D. price, under the assumption that they'll pay for it thinking it's some other package they're expecting.
myself248 6y ago
That someone, like the doorman, will just pay it and assume someone ordered it and they'll collect from the someone. Scammers used to do a similar thing here with xerox/laser toner cartridges. They'd call ahead and find out what kind of machine you have, and then ship a pallet of the right cartridges for it. Cheap refills, terrible quality, they'd be worth pennies on the dollar compared to the real ones. But, they fit and they print, so the alarm bells aren't ringing yet. Someone else must've ordered these, but they're "the right ones". Some time later, an invoice shows up. For the amount you'd expect to pay for a pallet of genuine cartridges, which is vastly more than this junk was worth, but does anyone notice? Sometimes, it just gets paid; someone forgot they ordered this, yeah? Whatever, just pay it. Sometimes, this smells fishy enough that it doesn't get paid, and then the scammers call up (sounding like a legitimate office supply firm) concerned about the overdue invoice, and "if you've already opened them then it's not returnable, so yeah, you have to just pay it at this point." All lies -- it was sent unsolicited, you're under no obligation to pay for it. But a lot of people will, especially if the cold-call weeks ago where they asked about the machine might be vague enough in the memory that, maybe you did agree to buy some? So the scammers take $600 in product and get $4800 for it. Enough return to make it worthwhile even if quite a few don't fall for it!
jaclaz 6y ago
While we are at this, let us not forget the scam in Roald Dahl's "The Bookseller": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookseller_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookseller_(short_story) I don't know if it was pure fiction or something like that actually happened that inspired the story.

What was the scam? That maybe you forgot you ordered it? Or that since it's a company someone will more likely take possession and pay thinking it's for someone else?

pricci 6y ago

Maybe the book seller sent several books to different locations expecting that someone would end up paying for it?

crooked-v 6y ago

I would presume the scam is more or less: ship a cheap book to random company owners with an inflated C.O.D. price, under the assumption that they'll pay for it thinking it's some other package they're expecting.

myself248 6y ago

That someone, like the doorman, will just pay it and assume someone ordered it and they'll collect from the someone. Scammers used to do a similar thing here with xerox/laser toner cartridges. They'd call ahead and find out what kind of machine you have, and then ship a pallet of the right cartridges for it. Cheap refills, terrible quality, they'd be worth pennies on the dollar compared to the real ones. But, they fit and they print, so the alarm bells aren't ringing yet. Someone else must've ordered these, but they're "the right ones". Some time later, an invoice shows up. For the amount you'd expect to pay for a pallet of genuine cartridges, which is vastly more than this junk was worth, but does anyone notice? Sometimes, it just gets paid; someone forgot they ordered this, yeah? Whatever, just pay it. Sometimes, this smells fishy enough that it doesn't get paid, and then the scammers call up (sounding like a legitimate office supply firm) concerned about the overdue invoice, and "if you've already opened them then it's not returnable, so yeah, you have to just pay it at this point." All lies -- it was sent unsolicited, you're under no obligation to pay for it. But a lot of people will, especially if the cold-call weeks ago where they asked about the machine might be vague enough in the memory that, maybe you did agree to buy some? So the scammers take $600 in product and get $4800 for it. Enough return to make it worthwhile even if quite a few don't fall for it!

jaclaz 6y ago

While we are at this, let us not forget the scam in Roald Dahl's "The Bookseller": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookseller_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bookseller_(short_story) I don't know if it was pure fiction or something like that actually happened that inspired the story.