How does this email scam work?

I've just received the following email which is of a type that I've had before. It asks to purchase an item from our website but for a quantity many times larger than anybody ever purchases. It is a scam but I would love to know how it works? This product is so specialised it is not something they could sell on if they gave us a fake credit card or similar to pay for the goods so how does the scammer make money out of it?

There is a list of similar emails here: http://www.slack.com/scam.html

To Whom May It Concern,



My name is Chuan I have just visited your website.
I decide to make an request order directly from you.
Could you assist and supply me for my request.This's my order list:

- FW-2000

Qty : 100

Please give me quote your best price complite with shipping cost by fedex to
singapore country because I would like to purchase this and make some business with you.
I'll be waiting for your confirm. Your prompt reply will be greatly appreciated and Ilook forward to hear
the good news ASAP.


Sincerely Yours,

Chuan Ming Tan
Elect Technologies Pte Ltd
Blk 147 Hougang St 11 #02-46 Singapore 530147
(+65) 6484 0419
[email protected]

Possibly it is a child playing around or some one who has been told to try it.
A lot of the African scams "I have money that I want to transfer to your country" are actually done by people who bought the scam (prewritten) by some one else for a small fee. They send to thousands and if just one gets a result they can get a months or even a years income in one go. Sadly every year some one gets caught by these scams.

Singapore is a major trading center (port) and there is not much they cannot sell on to some one world wide.
If they scam you and get it for free all they get for it is profit and there is a very small chance of getting caught. At worst they will put it on their shelf as a talking point about how clever they are.

By the time you have a crime to report to the British Police it is too late and the Singapore police will want a formal complaint before they act.

.

Hi

I wonder if they pay with a stolen credit card, then "something" happens and they need to cancel the order, where they then ask you to refund the money into a bank account.

Regards

Phil

"Sadly every year some one gets caught by these scams."

Sadly I am wrong, last week I read about the police raiding a house, in response to the "you have won a lotto and if you send me money I will tell you how to claim" scam, during which they found letters with over £30 000 that had been sent.
Most had £20 inside the police hope to return all the money, with a letter explaining the scam.

How much had got taken before thepolice stopped it?


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I think this scam works by transferring money by a wire service, and a peculiarity in the money wiring system where the money appears in your account, so you ship the goods, then they reverse the transaction, and they take the money out again.