BVI Businesses Warned About "419" Scam

CCHA  Headquarters has advised BVI Businesses about the up surge in variations of the Nigeria Scam letters schemes. This latest  scam is currently  ensnaring many Caribbean businesses. This  modified version of the "419 Nigerian advance fee" scam is now targeting Caribbean tourist related businesses.

  The hotel/villa receives an email reservation from a guest (or more usually their "travel agent") for  which it processes a rather large deposit transaction, often the entire  amount, through the visitor's credit card. The merchant is then requested to process an additional amount which is to be remitted directly back to the  guest, travel agent or  other 3rd party. The reasons given for this additional amount can vary.

  In this case the merchant (hotel/villa) is out of pocket for any money they  may remit and they face a charge-back on the entire amount of the  transaction. Also, and what could be the most devastating of all to a small business, is that card companies are now taking a very narrow view of this  kind of activity and may cancel the establishment's merchant account leaving them unable to accept credit cards in the future.

   In the past week alone Caribbean properties have received reservations in the amounts of $15,000.00, $7,000.00 and $5,500.00 all of whom are very strongly suspect and therefore none of them have been, or will be, processed until proper confirmation has been received.

 Hotels/Villas are asked to review   all  currently outstanding bookings and are completely satisfied they are totally legitimate.

The general indications of this scam are:

 Poorly written English.

 An anonymous email address (yahoo/hotmail/msn).

 Little or no price negotiation.

 Little or no questions regarding facilities and/or amenities

 Excessive and/or unwarranted praise for the beauty of the property in question.

 Excessive and/or unwarranted insistence of the importance and/or   net-worth of the guest.

 Unwillingness to provide a properly executed rental contract.

 Willingness to send unencrypted credit card information

  None of these on their own prove a fraud is intended, but if you see

More than a couple of these hints you should consider the transaction suspect and  proceed with caution.

   What is almost a dead certain indication of a fraud is any request to  remit  cash (or cash equivalents) that are over and above your normally offered product/service.

  The average "419" has gradually become more sophisticated over time there is no reason to believe that this variation will not also evolve and change as the fraudsters determine what works the best.

If you would like mote information in regards to "419" Fraud visit www.419eater.com among  other sites