Atlanta, GA - Insurance and Fire Commissioner John W. Oxendine said fire extinguisher suppliers in Georgia have been targeted by scam artists using stolen credit cards and a tale of an orphanage to rip off the companies.
An extinguisher company recently received a call regarding the purchase of extinguishers for an orphanage in Ghana. An attempt was made to pay for the product with stole credit card information. The perpetrator also requested that shipping costs be wire transferred to Ghana.
"In cases we've seen, the credit card numbers belong to an unsuspecting individual," Oxendine said. "By the time the extinguisher company becomes aware of the scheme, they may have already wired funds for alleged shipping. The shipping costs are simply a way for criminals to use a legitimate company to generate illegal cash for them."
"Any extinguisher company that gets a similar call or request via email requesting product to be shipped out of the country should check the purchaser's information carefully," Oxendine said.
In one case the scam artist gave the shipping address of the orphanage as OSU Children's Home, 1524 Orphanage Rd., Accra, Ghana 00233. The "shipping company" was listed as Diamond Star Shipping. |
