Meso
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Feb 21, 2012, 2:50 AM
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Important -- New Scam Tactics
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It seems that there has been an active effort by scammers to try get a better scamming conversion rate. Up until now they would typically use very generic writing in their original response and their replies, but it seems the replies have become a bit more developed and they are starting to sound as though they may actually be skydivers.
There have been several scammers of late who claim that their rigger will come and collect the gear for inspection after they have sent the cheque. And they have even referenced which dropzone they 'jump' at, and there was even one that managed to put forward a USPA license number (which belonged to someone else).
While they have managed to figure this out, their English remains fairly bad and that can still be used as a tell-tale sign. Look out for basic spelling and grammar problems that you wouldn't expect from an English speaking person, especially when the buyer claims to be from a primarily English speaking country.
It will remain good practice, especially in cases like these to call the dropzone that they reference and see if the DZO knows the 'jumper'. This is usually where their scams fall apart.
In short, it is no longer safe to assume that if a buyer gives you a license number and a DZ name that they are a legitimate buyer. If you suspect at all that they may be a scammer, follow up with the dropzone and make sure. Though these cheques that they send are almost always for a larger amount of money than the product and also remains a big alert that the buyer is a scammer.
