I don't know about you, but we are receiving about 2 or 3 scam emails every single day wanting to order solar modules, solar pumps, or other solar hardware. These are easy to spot because although each one is from a different "firm", here are the the things to look for that they all contain.
Usually they say they are needing this solar equipment for a specific project, which would imply they would at least have a basic idea of quantity and size they are looking for. Instead, they ask for what you have in stock and can ship right away, and they will list several totally different combinations of modules, pumps, or components which clearly would not normally go together.
The written language is terrible with very poor grammar, yet they will give an address in the US. They try to appear to be an established business, yet their email address is always one of those "free" email services.
They will always ask "what credit cards do you honor" and they will make a big deal about paying up front.
When this was going around a few years ago, others on the list said there was some way they worked this scam where it would check out as a valid credit card, but after you shipped the equipment to some bogus address, the credit card charge would be voided. I don't know how you can do this, but I assume they rent some low cost apartment to get a street address for a few weeks, then ship as much stuff that they can to this address, load it all into a shipping container, which is then shipped on to some third world country where they can sell anything solar.
We tried several times to trace these abusiness names or addresses to see if this was real, and have passed them on to Internet fraud groups but that turned out to be a real waste of time.
I am sure all businesses get this stuff from time to time, but it seems like they are really targeting the solar world.
Watch out.....
Jeff Yago
Netscape. Just the Net You Need.
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