Can anyone in Houston help check out a business? - Update

[dcphoto]

Take it from the banker; use your CC on line NEVER debit.

The protections in place are not the issue (yes more or less the same). It’s that the debit is tied to your bank account. If they clean you out, the money is GONE and stays gone while you dispute. So if you have bill or checks you have written tuff luck. Now the bank will probably make it right but not same day. There will be a delay in your funds. What if the check bounces before you know the damage? You’ll get fees on the other end.

And lots of banks procedure will be to close your account and re-open another,,, this will mess up all your auto everything.

Any one who thinks a debit card is ok online because it has the same protections….has never dealt with cleaning up a fraud.

It just opens a lot of headaches that are avoided with a CC.

To take it a step forward, I suggest you use a dedicated CC, one you only use online so it’s easy to see fraud.

Why would you keep ALL of your money in your checking account where it can be "cleaned out" leaving you without any money?

[boomerang]

Maybe not "ALL of your money" but some people still buy cars without financing or buy homes with a non-zero downpayment. That money has to be in a checking account to write a valid check for the purchase.

[dcphoto]

So have a second account. I guess my point is, why acquire additional debt just for the sake of purchasing online when there are ways of purchasing safely with a debit card.

[boomerang]

So have a second account. I guess my point is, why acquire additional debt just for the sake of purchasing online when there are ways of purchasing safely with a debit card.

My second account is a credit card account.

I pay off my credit cards every month. I don't see a material difference between having $1500 in my checking account after a $500 debit transaction for purchase X and having $2000 in my checking account and owing $500 of that to a credit card company for purchase X. I understand some people have an emotional reaction against credit cards and they're free to avoid them. Just as I'm free to use credit cards and avoid debit cards if that makes sense for me.

[jorge]

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone in Houston might be able to take a drive past this place to see if it is actually a legitimate business (this location is supposedly their warehouse according to the website). The company is located near the intersection of Richmond Ave and S. Shepherd Dr., just a few blocks North of the 59 Expressway (according to google maps). If anyone travels in this area and would be willing to take a look, please send me a PM and I'll give you the exact address and details (I don't want to give the company bad PR if they were a victim as well).

What happened with this? Does the company exist?

[sss]

Yep, it exists. Their merchant account was probably phished and the charges were likely applied that way. I drove by and IM'd the original poster some info... I think he's good to go for now, but I don't want to put words in his mouth (or text on his keyboard :))

[Dave01]

I wanted to sincerely thank member sss for going by and taking some photos (also thanks to bdickens for the offer to do same).

The name of the company is Gulf Coast Veloteq. They sell motorized scooters (think Vespa).

A little clarification...I did not actually place an order for anything from this company. It was not a case of them charging me $9000 for a $90 item (for example). Someone else used my credit card number to make the purchase. As sss mentioned, there is actually a storefront and they appear to sell exactly what they advertise on their website (I checked the company out after seeing the charges on my credit card bill). However, I have not been able to contact anyone at the company via phone (I've tried 2 times a day all last week). What kind of legitimate business doesn't pick up the phone? They don't even have an answering machine. I still have my suspicions about this company.

I filed a police report where I live (this is what the Houston PD told me to do), and filled out the fraud paperwork for the credit card company. Sadly, I don't have a lot of faith that anyone will be brought to justice for this.

Dave

[sneedb82]

A debit card does not work like a debit card online.
A debit card works like a credit card online and is protected the same as a credit card.

The only way a debit card could be used immediately as a debit card is from actual use at point of sale (with PIN).

To further this, your Visa or Mastercard Debit card is given the SAME protection from Visa and MC as ANY credit card. That means that you ARE NOT responsible for fraudulent charges.
[/quote]

Try telling Enterpise that if you want to rent a car, and all you have is a Debit card (MC). Those stupid people!!!

[Keith B]

A debit card does not work like a debit card online.
A debit card works like a credit card online and is protected the same as a credit card.

The only way a debit card could be used immediately as a debit card is from actual use at point of sale (with PIN).

To further this, your Visa or Mastercard Debit card is given the SAME protection from Visa and MC as ANY credit card. That means that you ARE NOT responsible for fraudulent charges.

Try telling Enterpise that if you want to rent a car, and all you have is a Debit card (MC). Those stupid people!!!

If I'm not mistaken, there are some debit cards that function ONLY as a debit card and do not give you credit. If that is the case, they may not take it since you could go deplete your account while you have their car and they could not collect on the final amount owed.

[Dave01]

So I received a call from the police department in regard to the report I filled. They had better luck contacting the business owner.

Anyway, it seems the business received a phone order for 10 scooters. My credit card was used as payment for some, and I assume another card as well considering the total price was much more than the amount charged to my card. The person ordering gave their name (not mine) and requested the scooters be shipped to somewhere in Africa. Apparently the person ordering the scooters asked the business to use a specific freight company (the shipping costs were actually more than the scooters). The business sent money to the freight company to cover the costs, but shortly after, the freight company disappeared.

It appears this was an international scam on multiple levels. I feel bad for the business owner as well. Hopefully there is some avenue for him to recoup his losses. I can't help but feel this situation could have been avoided altogether though.

I'm still in the process of getting the charges reversed on my card. There seems to be plenty of evidence in my favor.

Oh, and a big thumbs up to the Rockwall PD.

Dave

[BradGroux]

I feel bad for the business owner as well. Hopefully there is some avenue for him to recoup his losses. I can't help but feel this situation could have been avoided altogether though.

I wouldn't feel bad for the business owner, he was probably in on it and got a cut of the profits. Honestly, if someone called you to order a large number of scooters on multiple credit cards and they wanted you to ship them to Africa with a specific freight company you should have had multiple bells going off. Most than likely he also won't have to recoop any of the costs so he got his money.

[sss]

I wouldn't feel bad for the business owner, he was probably in on it and got a cut of the profits.

I don't think the owner of this scooter place was in on it. I get very similar emails - some very specific as to what the "customer" is looking for - on a regular basis for a local A/C contractor friend's site, which I manage for him. Some of these stories are convincing enough for people not savvy with computers and the Internet to fall for them.

[BradGroux]

I wouldn't feel bad for the business owner, he was probably in on it and got a cut of the profits.

I don't think the owner of this scooter place was in on it. I get very similar emails - some very specific as to what the "customer" is looking for - on a regular basis for a local A/C contractor friend's site, which I manage for him. Some of these stories are convincing enough for people not savvy with computers and the Internet to fall for them.

It is frustrating as a consumer that I continue to pay high interest rates because of these scams and the fools that fall for them. Vendors around the US need to stop "playing ignorant" when it comes to sales and start being diligent. Everytime someone gets scammed those lost revenues are simply passed on from the bank to the consumer.

Vendors continue to see big-dollar orders and they do nothing about it, they can't get past the dollar signs dancing in their heads. The internet and African scams are far from a new thing, they have been going on for over 12 years now! To me, if you own a business and you take credit cards it is your duty to do all that you can to see that this type of stuff doesn't happen.

In the story described there were multiple cards used by this vendor directing him to do the same thing for every card... which tells me that he is indeed an idiot or that he was a greedy you know what. Either way in my book he deserved what he got for not being educated about the business he works in. But meanwhile, it is the consumer that gets screwed because again he'll just pass his lost profits on to the consumer.