The other day I received the following inquiry in my e-mail in-box.

Hello,

DAVOG INVESTMENT INC. will like to order some of your products to Suriname, For the shipping, there is this company that a supplier used to ship
for us sometimes ago, ever since then we never have shipping problems, their service is very good, fast, reliable and secured when it comes to
shipping to Suriname. Finally our payment term will be Credit card,also kindly do include your Web-Site so we can proceed with product needed or
attach the available products you have in stock. We await your quick response, Our Website is www.trimsllc.com

Davog Investement Inc.
Groentenweg# 146
Nickerie
Nieuw Nickerie
Suriname
Suriname.
www.trimsllc.com

Regards,
Antonio.

 

On the surface there does not appear to be anything wrong about this e-mail. After all I've sold my products to other businesses and even government agencies. However there is always something that makes me suspicious about anyone who just does order directly from PepperEyes.com's web site. The site has a very secure shopping cart system and the payments are processed through PayPal which is very secure method of money transactions. Unfortunately, in this economy when desperation meets stupidity, bad things can happen.

Now the one feature that my site does not offer is international shipping prices, the primary reason is that federal law prevents us from shipping our pepper spray and stun gun products of the country. However we also have other products such as diversion safes, spy gear, alarm products and security camera, and these are available to be shipped out of the country.

How to prevent being scammed on the internet

• Beware of orders to a foreign country. While I have had orders come in from Canada and Australia, I've also gotten inquiries from customers who wanted to buy my products and ship to some place in West Africa (usually Nigeria). This is a big flag. This order was going to Suriname. (and we all know where that is)
• Especially large orders - On several occasions I've received inquiries for large orders that totaled over $5000. The person who sent me this e-mail did the same. Again, know who your buyer is. I've sold orders this big to government agencies, but my "Spidey sense" tingles when it's to a foreign company with an unusual request.
• Spend enough time on investigating your potential foreign customer. - Unfortunately all of these scammers are not bright enough to change their script. So I just used the planetary databases (Google, Yahoo, Bing) to look up DAVOG INVESTMENT INC. One# listing# had this company linked to a company in Nigeria along with other company names. I also saw the exact same e-mail on##*** http://www.419baiter.com/

• If you are not sure if the company is legitimate - use your business rules. - Our site we have a# policy page# that states under which conditions we will sell our products. Always make sure you have cleared funds before you send anything to a customer.
• AVOID over payment scams - One of the big elements in these offers is where they want to Overpay you for your order and have you send the difference back. If you see this type of deal - DO NOT do any business with them.

PepperEyes.com is dedicated to meeting the safety needs of you, your friends, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime. If you want to take personal responsibility arm yourself, or your business with our products and the knowledge of the best way to stay safe in an ever-increasing violent world. In today's society being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option.