Vendors Beware – Credit Card Fraud With "Relay Calls"
A client of mine owns a bakery. Most orders come in over the phone or by email. One afternoon she took an unusual call that piqued her interest.It was a relay call, used by hearing or speech impaired people to make phone calls. During a relay call, an operator acts as an intermediary between you and the caller. The operator relays the information to each party via voice (for those who can hear) or a text message (for those who cannot speak or hear).She answered the call and an operator says, “this is AT&T with a relay call – will you accept it?” She said yes. The conversation proceeds, and she comes to find out the caller wants 550 cupcakes for a “surprise” birthday party. At her current prices, that’s about $740, with tax. It’s a big, exciting order, to say the least.Then comes the kicker – the caller wants to add $700 to the order. The caller wants her to give this $700 to their delivery person when the order is picked up. It’s supposed to be payment for the delivery. It would come out of her account, not the callers. Definitely a “red flag.”She feared that it was a scam, but played along a bit. When she told the caller she would only accept the order if she could deliver the cakes (the delivery distance was only 50 miles), the “relay” caller suddenly disconnected. Surprise, surprise.She called to report the incident. Interestingly enough, the call back number was a Sprint number, not AT&T. The customer service representative said that the number the person was calling from was also part of the ruse – the call didn’t even originate through AT&T.The representative explained that scam artists will use stolen credit card numbers to try to trick unwitting business owners out of the delivery charges, as well as actual products. (What would these people do with 550 cupcakes?) Plus, the business owner would be on the hook for the entire amount charged to the stolen card.Here’s the takeaway for vendors: Be sure to question very unusual orders or unusual requests that come in via relay calls. In her case, it was a big, tempting order, but it had the extra shipping charge that she would have to pay out of her pocket. In your case it may be something different. The best rule: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Or if it sounds very strange compared to other orders you get, it may be a scam.If you’re suspicious, keep asking questions of the caller. If it is a scam, the caller will likely disconnect as the complexity of your questions increase.Lastly, please don’t automatically dismiss relay calls. They are a necessary link to the outside world for many hearing or speech impaired. It is too bad scam artists are spoiling a great service for so many people.UPDATE: Watch our for emails too. Received one over the weekend with an identical set up — the person claimed to be hearing impaired so they needed to use email. They wanted wedding cake that served 300 and needed it on a Tuesday.
