Scams Galore: Booksellers Beware

'Tis the season to watch out for scams and credit card fraud. Along with the many joys of the holiday season come persistent attempts by some to swindle booksellers and other small retailers with a host of old and new ploys. Some scams may seem obvious to experienced booksellers, but all new staff and holiday extras may need special training in identifying the many varieties of fraud.

Fraudulent orders from abroad or out of state for expensive medical and law textbooks, technical books, or Bibles frequently appear. Often with these scams, the retailer's preliminary swipe of the credit card indicates a valid card. Subsequently, the card is reported stolen and payment is stopped. Thieves often use stolen cards just before weekends and holidays when main credit card offices are closed, delaying reporting of stolen cards.

Large orders of expensive books, unfamiliar customers from other states, orders from teletype relay services (TTY) for hearing-impaired people, e-mail addresses from overseas with domestic shipping addresses are all red flags indicating possible scams.

As a case in point, a Vermont bookseller reported to BTW that in October she received a large e-mail order for medical textbooks, initially from a ".uk" address. The customer indicated that he would arrange for a pick up at the store. The bookseller ordered the books from the distributor and had several of them sent via airfreight to the store. The customer continued to e-mail and to call the store via a TTY connection, finally requesting a DHL delivery to a California address. Although the initial credit card was accepted, problems arose with the ensuing delivery and credit card transactions; the e-mails and TTY calls became more frequent and less coherent, and the bookseller determined that she was a victim of a scam. She was able to return the books for full credit to the distributor, who agreed to warn booksellers requesting those titles in the future, and she paid the airfreight and return shipping charges.

Many attempted scams that involve the TTY service, such as this one, can be exposed by the store staff's use of a simple script similar to one developed by Harvard Book Store.

In short, the bookseller politely insists that the customer, in a conversation "relayed" through a TTY operator, give his or her full name, billing address, credit card number, expiration date, and security code on the back of the card. The customer is informed that verifying the credit information, through the card issuer, will take three to five days. This is usually adequate to foil most bogus orders.

Another scam alert, courtesy of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association newsletter, featured an Oregon bookseller who received a tube of "labor law" posters that had not been ordered. Recalling a previous manager who had been charged for materials in a similar scheme, she refused the FedEx delivery. These posters, apparently depicting some aspect of workplace regulations, come unsolicited, and some booksellers may be inclined to accept them without question. A more aggressive approach by the poster supplier involves a contact by mail or phone in which the store owner is told that he or she will be assessed huge fines if the expensive posters are not purchased and displayed in the workplace.