Seller's beware of scams out of Atlanta area. An elaborate scheme to steal my Inspire 2 with all its accessories worth over $15K using stolen bank account information and fraudulent company information was nearly successful. This entire system was paid for through Quickbooks ACH direct deposit from a bank account. The perpetrators commit this fraud by using Quickbooks. Quickbooks authenticates the bank account information then informs the seller that "They have been paid" and that funds would be in my account in three days. The problem is the sending bank doesn't realize the bank account information is stolen and performs the transfer to Quickbooks. Once the person actually owning the account finds out that there are thousands of dollars missing they go to their bank which pulls back the money. But by that time the equipment has been shipped and it's gone, and so is your money.
This scam was run out of the Atlanta area. Here is all the information they provided:
David Crammer & Zackary Sloan, RRT INC EXPRESS THE FIRM The Sky is Not The Limit
(404) 360 - 3447 (CELL) (703) 740 - 0201 (OFFICE) (800) 503 - 8303 (FAX)
455 14TH ST NW ATLANTA, GA 30318 (UNIT 303)
Beware of the following fraud signs and protect yourself if you are selling on these classifieds.
1) Buyer pays stupid money to ship federal express next day delivery, for this system that would have been well over $1500. They have to get the system before the bank account holder figures out what is happening. Quickbooks enables this fraud. by notifying the seller that they have been paid and the money has been transferred to your account. The only thing that has really happened is the bogus buyer has provided stolen bank information so the transaction is not declined when QB processes it. They tell you that you have been paid but in reality you haven't received a penny and you probably won't. First huge red flag for me.
2) Insist that you can verify the bank account information. When the money was put on hold Quickbooks told me to get bank authorization from the buyer and they would release funds. The buyer stopped talking to me
3) Get ID from the buyer and make sure the funds are coming from the same account name at the bank.
4) Have the account holder contact the bank to authorize the payment and get it in writing from the bank. They will do this especially when it involves thousands of dollars which they will be responsible for retrieving.
5) Talk technical to your prospective buyer, throw in little things about drones that only an experienced owner would know.
6) Check out the prospective customer. My criminal had a great rap about their business, holdings, offices etc. I started looking for information on the business and I found nothing in his area. The website was beautiful but many pages had un-related information on them as if the site was stolen from a legitimate business. The domain had only just been registered, the company email address was listed at one of these on-line company registration firms.
7) Do a phone number trace on your buyer. You would be surprised how cheap it is to do a background check. This guy was obviously using prepaid phones that were untraceable.
One last bit of advice, never use Intuit Quickbooks for payments. They are almost as bad as the criminals. First, they put a hold on the funds they received already. Their excuse was they suspected that the transaction was a scam. In this case they were proven right but had they been wrong I wouldn't have seen my money for 270 days. That's right, they can hold your money for up to 270 days waiting for a charge back that may never come just because they are suspicious, for no other legitimate reasons. The losers that are empowered by Intuit to make these decisions were probably slinging burgers at the local pub before this job. I spent days on the phone with multiple "customer service" representatives trying to sort this out. All of them kept telling me my money was released and I would have it the next day. They all lie over there. There are legitimate reasons and buyers out there that conduct on-line transactions for thousands of dollars. Intuit will be making the decision for you or your business if your transaction is legitimate and disregard the banking laws. The worst part is that they state in writing that you were paid and tell you when the funds would be deposited in your account. They do not even attempt to verify that the transaction is real or not. You can be tricked and lied into sending your merchandise to the buyer by Intuit. I called them several times and had no less than 3 people re-assure me that the funds were received and would be in my account within 3 days. I almost fell for it and sent the equipment but I just knew dealing with these idiots over the phone that I better wait. The sad reality is that they actually did receive the funds. For all I know they are still holding on to them.
This scam was run out of the Atlanta area. Here is all the information they provided:
David Crammer & Zackary Sloan, RRT INC EXPRESS THE FIRM The Sky is Not The Limit
(404) 360 - 3447 (CELL) (703) 740 - 0201 (OFFICE) (800) 503 - 8303 (FAX)
455 14TH ST NW ATLANTA, GA 30318 (UNIT 303)
Beware of the following fraud signs and protect yourself if you are selling on these classifieds.
1) Buyer pays stupid money to ship federal express next day delivery, for this system that would have been well over $1500. They have to get the system before the bank account holder figures out what is happening. Quickbooks enables this fraud. by notifying the seller that they have been paid and the money has been transferred to your account. The only thing that has really happened is the bogus buyer has provided stolen bank information so the transaction is not declined when QB processes it. They tell you that you have been paid but in reality you haven't received a penny and you probably won't. First huge red flag for me.
2) Insist that you can verify the bank account information. When the money was put on hold Quickbooks told me to get bank authorization from the buyer and they would release funds. The buyer stopped talking to me
3) Get ID from the buyer and make sure the funds are coming from the same account name at the bank.
4) Have the account holder contact the bank to authorize the payment and get it in writing from the bank. They will do this especially when it involves thousands of dollars which they will be responsible for retrieving.
5) Talk technical to your prospective buyer, throw in little things about drones that only an experienced owner would know.
6) Check out the prospective customer. My criminal had a great rap about their business, holdings, offices etc. I started looking for information on the business and I found nothing in his area. The website was beautiful but many pages had un-related information on them as if the site was stolen from a legitimate business. The domain had only just been registered, the company email address was listed at one of these on-line company registration firms.
7) Do a phone number trace on your buyer. You would be surprised how cheap it is to do a background check. This guy was obviously using prepaid phones that were untraceable.
One last bit of advice, never use Intuit Quickbooks for payments. They are almost as bad as the criminals. First, they put a hold on the funds they received already. Their excuse was they suspected that the transaction was a scam. In this case they were proven right but had they been wrong I wouldn't have seen my money for 270 days. That's right, they can hold your money for up to 270 days waiting for a charge back that may never come just because they are suspicious, for no other legitimate reasons. The losers that are empowered by Intuit to make these decisions were probably slinging burgers at the local pub before this job. I spent days on the phone with multiple "customer service" representatives trying to sort this out. All of them kept telling me my money was released and I would have it the next day. They all lie over there. There are legitimate reasons and buyers out there that conduct on-line transactions for thousands of dollars. Intuit will be making the decision for you or your business if your transaction is legitimate and disregard the banking laws. The worst part is that they state in writing that you were paid and tell you when the funds would be deposited in your account. They do not even attempt to verify that the transaction is real or not. You can be tricked and lied into sending your merchandise to the buyer by Intuit. I called them several times and had no less than 3 people re-assure me that the funds were received and would be in my account within 3 days. I almost fell for it and sent the equipment but I just knew dealing with these idiots over the phone that I better wait. The sad reality is that they actually did receive the funds. For all I know they are still holding on to them.