This is really not a surival per se subject, but I just got off the phone with someone and the conversation got me really on edge. I am wondering if I could have done anything different.

I picked up the phone and the person on the other end was actually a telecomunications relay person. The person she was in contact with was presumably deaf. As the conversation unfolded over 45 minutes, the person claimed to be in New York City, with a broken leg and wanting 20 peices of computers to be sent to Nigeria.

Um, right.

First of all, I am in an office in Wisconsin. I told the person on the other end that several times through the translator.

Second of all, 20 PEICES?

Three... Nigeria?

I tried several times to tell the person that we are not authorised to do sales outside the US(not entirely a lie), but they insisted that they would have DHL come and pick up the computers.

The conversation ender was when I was told that our company had been highly recomended but when I asked who had recomended us the person would not tell me... They hung up after I insisted on knowing who reccomended us.

The greedhead in me is sighing over the potential loss of computer sales.

The cynical paranoid in me had so many bells and whistles and klaxons going off that I could barely hear the relay person.

Was there something I should have done to get more information? Could I have been ruder to stop the conversation sooner?

Any ideas?

Rena
(MacMadison.com)

Nigeria is homebase for any number of scams, cash, gold, oil, you name it. You were right to be suspicious, the deaf person is a nice touch. I guess they could just FAX their order in. Would be interesting to see if any others in your business have received similar calls.

Legitimate businessmen in Nigeria must really be having a hard time getting anything done these days. There's a slight chance (1 in maybe 10,000) this is legitimate, but I can't think of any way to do this safely. If you ask for a certified check, and cash it and it clears, you're still not safe- I've heard international certified checks can go bad even a month after they've supposedly cleared.

You just saved yourself:
a. headache
b. loss of bussiness
c. loss of inventory
d. loss of money
e. credit card fraud and investigation
f. problems with your bank

I got the same with Indonesia and Nigeria when I sell my stuff on ebay. I get an email offering to buy my equipment for list price but I have to ship it to some place in 4th world country but cc or payment originated from Indonesia or Nigeria but it is registered in Europe or the US. No thank you very much.

You didn't loose anything but you saved a lot.

You could have been really polite and helpfull. Tell them that you have to get information from your cowworker who deals with this and will call back right after you got it or that you need some paper trail (e. g. FAX, letter). That often brings the call to a sudden end. It has the advantage of not having been rude to a potential customer.
In our company customers sometimes call the wrong person and they always accept when you tell them that you are going to relay their request to the person in charge. The callers with dubious offers usually hurry to end the call promising they will call again (none of them actually kept the promise).

Survivalgene:

I got you beat.

Several months ago I received a letter from Italy telling me I had won $869,000.00+ in some lottery I had never entered. It came with a form requesting all kinds of information and both pieces of paper were very impressive. My father (He passed away March 5, 2004) got the exact same letter on slightly different but equally impressive paper saying the exact same thing with the exact same amount and accompanying form. It seems silly to send the same scam to two different people who live at the same address, but I guess the filters on their database program didn't catch that.

The only reason I can think that I would get that sort of solicitation from Italy is because I was born there, or maybe the company I import knives from sold my name to a mailing list.

I am keeping the letter because it is very nicely done.

Bountyhunter

Maybe in fact you did win 900000 but liras not dollars which equals to about $4... <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Naw, the letter said dollars.

Bountyhunter
<img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

This is my conversation in Italy.

Polak: How much for a leather bag?
Salesman: 300000 Liras
Polak: What?
Salesman: 270000 Liras
Polak: You must be a loony!
Salesman:What?

Oh after conversion it sounded reasonable so I bought it but it was weird to pay for stuff in thousands...

Just spoke with an investigator from our Counties High Tech Crime Unit. She laughed out loud as soon as I said Nigeria.
Her advice was " RUN". Said there was no way that was legit, and that Nigeria is full of scams. BTW I'm in Silicon Valley.