DEALER HIT BY CARD FRAUD FOLLOWING RECENT BREAK-IN
Scam costs Penn Lawn Mowers £2,500
Ringwood-based dealership Penn Lawn Mowers, who suffered a break-in during January which saw thieves smash through a brick wall to steal around 14 chain saws, including a rare, valuable one, have now become the victims of a card fraud.
Dawn Smith, who owns the business along with her husband Roland, contacted Service Dealer in the hope of warning other dealers about the hoax.
Dawn said, "I would like to bring other dealers attention to a card scam that we have been hit with - to the tune of £2,500.
"How it works is the person phones up to order the goods, in our case chain saws, and pays by card over the phone. They then send in a guy to collect them."Weeks later we have received charge back letters from the bank saying that the customer knows nothing about the purchase.
"It now comes to light that we are not alone in this and other dealers have also been hit by the same guys. The criminals have managed to get the card details from the card holder by saying they are from Sky or BT and that their package is wrong. The customer then gives them all the details from the card.
"The sad thing is that the card holder gets the money back but us poor retailers are the ones that suffer the loss.
"I just don’t want other dealers to be stung as I know talking to suppliers that they are still out there. The Police are aware of this and so are Action Fraud.
"We await to see if anything comes of the CCTV and vehicle details that we have handed over."
Has your dealership been affected by a similar fraud? Do you have any advice to help other dealers? If so, please leave a comment below.
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