I received a scam email enquiry for a web design project involving a stolen credit card, where the scammer tried to trick me into transferring money before the fraud is revealed.
The individual writing to me was keen – desperate in fact– to begin the project, with the surprise addition that he was from a Manchester borough with a budget of up to £8,000 for a project he described as simple. 😇🧐
Odd, I thought, that someone living in a metropolitan area of a huge city in Lancashire is contacting a web designer working in a suburban area of South Derbyshire. 🤔
Granted, I’ve received such requests and even done international work via Small Biz Geek but my Ilkeston Web Design service is so niche that it doesn’t warrant this sort of contact out of the blue.
I smelt a rat. Later, it became apparent a stolen credit was the star of the show. 😬
How a Credit Card Chargeback Scam Works
The emailer’s first language was not English, judging by the rambling discourse and terrible spelling. Plus, “Deroin” claimed he was unable to talk to me on the phone because of his physical disabilities. Sure Deroin, sure. 💩
In summary, here’s what he wanted me to do:
- Invoice him for a couple of grand on his credit card
- Receive the money in my account and feel confident – I’ve got the money, what’s not to believe, right?
- Pay a large chunk of that money to his associate who, allegedly, was unable to receive credit card payments, hence my involvement
Of course, the credit card used in the transaction would eventually be reported as stolen by the real owner, meaning the criminal had to act fast to execute the plan. 🌩️👀👮
Legally, a retailer or service provider has to make good on the loss on a fraudulent or disputed transaction with the true card holder. This is called a chargeback. 💷
If the scam had succeeded, two lots of money would have left my account:
- Money I transferred voluntarily to the scammer 🫡
- Money which would be later seized by the credit card company and given back to the credit card owner 🫣
As you can tell, there are two victims in the operation.
The Credit Card Scammer’s Script
As the email conversation unfolds below, you can see the hallmarks of a socially-engineered scam which, had it worked, would have hinged on my greed, my sense of opportunity, their excuses and their persuasion.
Deroin Kelvin
24/01/2018, 01:14Hi, I’m Kelvin Deroin i will like to know if you are available for website design please get back to me so we can discuss in details
Ilkeston Web Design
24/01/2018, 11:48Good afternoon Kelvin,
Yes, I am available to discuss new projects.
How can I help?
Regards,
Darren
Deroin Kelvin
24/01/2018, 11:54I have a small clothing business for both male and female which i run here in Whitefield, Manchester, now am trying to expand the business and i want you to build an informational website for it for advertisement and to increase my sales rate.
I need you to checkout this site but i need something more perfect than this if possible,http://www.missrebel.co.uk.
The site would only be informational, so i need you to get back to me with an estimate for the web design, the estimate should include hosting and i want the site to have not more than 8 pages since it is informational.i have a private project graphic designer,he has the text content, images and the logos for the site.
Ilkeston Web Design
24/01/2018, 14:14Hi Kelvin,
I recommend you sign up for a shared web host. This would mean the hosting would be in your name, and would give access to URL and email etc.
I looked at the example website you provided but I’m curious to know what you meant when you said your site would need to be “more perfect”.
Roughly, we’re looking at a price of £500 for a WordPress website, which would give you the ability to login and make small changes yourself.
It would also be helpful if we could talk over the phone or Skype.
Kind Regards,
Darren
Deroin Kelvin
24/01/2018, 14:19You just have to bear with me regarding my hearing impaired and physical disability
Note:
1. I want only English language
2. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as kelvin-deroinwears.com or Deroinwears.com
3.You will be updating the site for me.
4. I will be proving the images,logos and content for the site.
5. I want the site up and running before ending of January.
6. My budget is £2000 to £8000 Kindly get back to me with:
(1) an estimate
(2) I will like to know if you are the owner ??
BUSINESS NAME ; Deroin WearsThanks,
Deroin Kelvin
Ilkeston Web Design
24/01/2018, 14:40Kelvin,
Having the site up and running by the end of January is just not possible. It would take a week just to plan the work.
The estimated cost is at least £500, but the budget you’ve mentioned seems excessive for such a simple project. There would be no need to spend anywhere near that amount.
I always insist on a signed contract before any kind of deposit is made.
I can mail a copy to you if you can supply your Manchester postal address?
Darren
Deroin Kelvin
24/01/2018, 14:47I am ok with the timing and, and I am ready to make payment now, I understand the content for this site would be needed so work can start asap but my graphic designer has no facility to take credit card payment at the moment.
you can have all that charged on my credit card now and after you charge my card thru, and you will wait for he fund to clear into your account and after the fund have clear into your account you will have the graphic designer fund send to him I want you to run my card for the total sum of £2,500.00 you will deduct £500.00 as deposit for the design of the website and you will send the remaining £2,000.00 to the graphic designer that has the text content and the logo for my website so once he receive his Fee, He would send the text content and logo needed for my website, and i don’t mind paying the 3% credit card charges that is going to be attached to the excess charges.
Ilkeston Web Design
24/01/2018, 15:03Do you have a contact phone number?
I’m a little confused about your last email – are you saying you want me to invoice you for £2,500.00 now upfront?
Deroin Kelvin
24/01/2018, 15:21You just have to bear with me regarding my hearing impaired and physical disability
Yes £2,500.00,,, £2,000 for the My graphics designer and £500 for deposit of your job
Ilkeston Web Design
24/01/2018, 15:44I’m only proposing to charge £500 for a website – why do you need me to invoice you for £2,500? I’m confused.
Also, where in Manchester is your shop? Why are you not using a web designer who is local to Manchester?
Deroin Kelvin
24/01/2018, 15:52I would have sent him the money myself but am on a business trip right now for the progress of my business and i need the site ready before i get back and i am cashless,only got my credit card here.
Ilkeston Web Design
24/01/2018, 15:59I think you should use a web designer from Manchester. That way you can meet with them and discuss your project.
Deroin Kelvin
24/01/2018, 16:02I am presently not around that is the problem …
Ilkeston Web Design
24/01/2018, 16:30But you’ll be back soon in Manchester from your business trip, and you’ll be able to meet with someone from Manchester to work on your site.
As I said, I won’t be able to build a site before the end of January, which you’re fine with, so wait till you get back and meet up with a person who lives and works in Manchester and can build your site for you.
I’m happy to take a cash deposit in a few weeks time.
Give me a call and we’ll go over it.
Deroin Kelvin
24/01/2018, 16:43I need you to start the job asap if you cant help me just tell me
Ilkeston Web Design
24/01/2018, 17:06I won’t help you run your pathetic scam with someone’s stolen credit card. I’ve grown bored of this conversation and only participated so I could gather evidence for the police.
Summary: A Known Scam That Still Works on the Unsuspecting
That was the end of the conversation. The crime is a well-documented one and was reported by Wave in 2015.
If you’re in the UK and you’ve been the target of this or any similar fraud, report it to Action Fraud.
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Just got the exact same email today from the same email address.
Googled the email as I thought it looked dodgy and found this page. Thanks for the advice as if I didn’t find this I would have sent over a credentials document.
I’m surprised the twat is still using the same Gmail address.
Good on you for doing your research. Today, I had someone call me claiming to be from the local Crime Prevention Unit. FFS.
Hello Darren,
Me too received same email and thanks God I usually do a Google search and found your post 🙂
I also run a local businesse web design agency and was wondering why a Manchester based company was contacting me based in South Wales.
I have an update got also another email with similar content from Peterson Ray.
so there are two emails they are using:
deroink0802@gmail.com
ptray18@gmail.com
Should I report?
Many thanks for posting this….. oh my gosh that was very dodgy.
Best Regards
Roberto
You could report it to Action Fraud. I’ve yet to do this myself because there are som nay scams thath ave come my way. I wonder whether it is worth the efort of reporting it since nothing seems to have happened with the last police I report I made about another scam.
Same here, same email: deroink0802@gmail.com
Thank you so much sharing! It could cause us so much trouble for the small business like ours, it could be really fatal.
So I have just been hit by the same scammer. I was suspicious but followed it to its conclusion to see what happened. The credit card he tried to pay with was obviously stolen and blocked by Stripe Radar.
BTW he has changed his “name” to Peterson Ray.
I received the email on 9/3/18 from the Peterson Ray email address. The email was vague on a few details, professionally speaking, requested clarification and gave outline prices. He replied almost immediately wanting to make upfront payment without answering questions, or clarifying why I had asked others, so wanted to know who I was dealing with. Smelt a rat when I couldn’t locate ‘him’ online and googling the email address uncovered this page. He disappeared when I asked for a contact number.
Live Chat on Action Fraud recommended reporting it, which I have done, even though no financial transaction had yet taken place.
I wonder why he is still using that same email address? He must know he’s now exhausted any credibility he might have had using that particular Gmail.
As with a few of the posters above I’ve found this page after looking up the address ptray18@gmail.com (as Peterson Ray) from a suspicious web design enquiry. We’ve not got to the point where he’s started to talk about credit cards or payments – I’d decided to stop the conversation anyway due to the total lack of credible information being given in return for a quote but having read the above I certainly won’t be wasting any more time on it.
Just had the same email from Peterson Ray.
What’s odd is that missrebel.co.uk is a small online retailer. I actually built their original site in 2010. It’s an odd choice for someone to use as an example, given the much more established and widely know competitors like boohoo.com.
I’ll see how far I can get with them!
Thanks
Maybe you should contact the site owner and ask them if they know their brand is being used in this manner.
Looks like the email has changed, received the same on 18.03.18 via website contact form:
Name: Max Martin
Email: maxm0802@gmail.com
Scammer sent fake address and business name if it helps others find this when searching…
Business name: Deroin Wears
Address: 2 Stirling Grove, Whitefield, Manchester M45 6BY, UK.
Just got this email and it looked suss. Oddly it was from a review site I hardly use so it raised a flag. Searched the email address and your post came up. Thanks for sharing
Same here… this guy sent me email (Yes, from same email address) last night with the same Text in my Inbox. First email was a BCC and that sensed me something fishy… then i did a Google Search and found your link luckily and now i was cautioned but wondering to know his motive… so i proceed further to exchanged few more emails.. this guy offered me 2-3K Us$ for a simple 8 pages cms website… and didn’t wanted to pay me through Paypal – he suggested me to accept payment through Stripe and wanted to involve a 3rd person same like the email as stated.. same story … As stripe is not accepted in India so i stopped there. Did anybody sensing anything..?
Thanks for sharing this.
Apparently, I received the same email twice…one in March and one just recently in July. The first time the guy disappeared straight after I mentioned that I will need him to sign the contract and give me more details before the payment. But I did not pay that much attention at that time as our conversation did not go that far yet and I thought he just found someone else cheaper. But this time when I received exactly the same email text, with exactly the same replies etc but from a different sender and mentioning different business name it looked very suspicious. I did not continue the conversation anymore…
Just make sure you ignore these emails:
ptray18@gmail.com
shannongruber89@gmail.com
Thanks
Just received the exact same email from maxm0802@gmail.com
Thanks for the heads up!
Here’s the email I received at Good Design LLC, 450 Industrial Park Rd. Deep River, CT 06417:
Here is the job details,well I have a small clothing business for both male and female which I run here,now am trying to expand the business and I want you to build an informational website for it for advertisement and to increase my sales rate.
So I need you to check out this site but I need something more perfect than this if its possible http://www.missrebel.co.uk The site would only be informational,so I need you to give me an estimate.The estimate should include hosting and i want the site to have not more than 5 pages,since it’s informational.I have a private project consultant,he has the text content,images and the logos for the site.
Note:
1. I want only English language
2. I don’t have a domain yet but I want the domain name as dMomentWears.net or dMomentWears.com
3. You will be updating the site for me.
4. I will be providing the imageslogos and content for the site.
5. I want the site up and running before ending of next month.
6. My budget is $1000 to $7000
Kindly get back to me with:
(1) an estimate
(2) Do you accept credit card?
(3) And will like to know if you are the owner?
Thanks,
Jackson.
On Thu, Sep 27, 2018 at 2:22 PM Good Design wrote:
Sounds great, Jackson.
Along with the specs, let us know your budget.
Tim
Good Design LLC
450 Industrial Park Road
Deep River, CT 06417
860.526.1600
Fax: 860.526.1601
http://www.gooddesignusa.com
tim@gooddesignusa.com
> On Sep 27, 2018, at 3:19 PM, jackson barth wrote:
>
> Have got the job details here with me,I can send it to you so you can have an idea of what I want.
>
> On Thu, Sep 27, 2018 at 2:12 PM Good Design wrote:
> Yes we can build a website for a clothing shop, Barth.
>
> What would you like to be able to do with the website? Is it commerce? How many sections or pages do you envision for the site?
>
> What is your budget range and timing?
>
> Many thanks!
> Tim Good
>
>
> Good Design LLC
> 450 Industrial Park Road
> Deep River, CT 06417
> 860.526.1600
> Fax: 860.526.1601
> http://www.gooddesignusa.com
> tim@gooddesignusa.com
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Sep 27, 2018, at 12:29 PM, jackson barth wrote:
> >
> > Hello.I’m Barth Jackson,I will like to know if you can handle a website design for a clothing shop?I was referred to you via Facebook.
> >
>
This is still going on with the exact same copy & paste emails. My suspicion grew from email two when they told me they can’t use a phone due to “ear surgery” – on last count humans usually have two ears!
I found this article by looking for “Kelvin Deroin” – can’t believe they are still using the same name.
Thanks for this article.
Got the same scam today from a Gray Dean. Thanks for posting this!
Scumbags!
Connie Brand
CGMEDIA Web Design
SF Bay Area
Resurfaced in Florida, US, now under David Allen, using the email address ttdavid764@gmail.com.
The funny thing is this, he/she/they got in contact with us using the Messages feature of our Business Profile (formerly Google My Business).
Additional names used:
Yatshvbahhiasba Nauasjbauayas (The real name visible on the account that “David Allen” messaged us from. Ran it on Namsor and got a 41% probability of Pakistani and a 30% probability of Indonesian.
Thamos Davi (different attempt, no email address provided) Namsor gave it equal chances of being from Liberia or Benin, both options returned at 44%.
Here is part of one conversation:
Yatshvbahhiasba Nauasjbauayas
Hello, I’m David Allen, I am hearing impaired, i want to know if you can handle website design for a new company and also if you do accept credit cards? Kindly email me it’s important. ttdavid764@gmail.com
Hello Mr. Allen!
Apologies for the delayed response. To answer your first question, we are now accepting new clients. Please let me ask, what type of website are you looking to build? Also, how quickly did you need it to be completed? As far as payment goes, yes, we can accept credit cards. We use PayPal for invoicing, which allows us to accept debit or credit cards, PayPal, and PayPal Credit – plus, you don’t need a PayPal account to pay us. Once we generate the invoice, you will receive an email with a PDF copy and a link where you can make your payment quickly and securely. Just so you are aware, we will send a copy of this info to the email address mentioned in your message to ensure continuity. Again, we apologize for the delay in responding to you and hope we can still work together to get your new website up and running!
Yatshvbahhiasba Nauasjbauayas
Thanks for your swift response, i have small scale business which i want to turn into large scale business now it located in State and the company is based on importing and exporting of Agriculture products such as Kola Nut, Gacillia Nut and Cocoa so i need a best of the best layout design for it. Can you handle that for me? i need you to check out this site but i need something more perfect than this if its possible, http://www.agroamerica.com…. the site would only be informational, so i need you to give me an estimate based on the site i gave you to check out, the estimate should include hosting and i want the same page as the site i gave you to check out and i have a private project consultant, he has the text content and the logos for the site. Note: 1. I want the same number of pages with the example site i gave you to check excluding videos and blogs. 2. I want only English 3. I don’t have a domain yet but i want the domain name as bestfarmproduction.com 4. You will be updating the site for me. 5. I will be providing the images, logos and content for the site. 6. I want the site up and running before the end of next month. 7. My budget is $4000 to $8000 Kindly get back to me with an estimate.
Absolutely! Thank you for providing so many details upfront. It’s always easier working with clients who already have a game plan in mind. We are currently reviewing the details you sent over. At a preliminary glance, everything seems reasonable, and we foresee no significant issues preventing us from making this happen for you. Please allow us a bit to discuss everything with our team, and we will respond with an estimate to you by tomorrow or, at the latest, Wednesday. Thank you again for reaching out, and we are excited to have the opportunity to work with you. Cheers!
Yatshvbahhiasba Nauasjbauayas
Thanks so much and will be patiently waiting for your responds
But secondly my card do not work with PayPal or square for now do you have something like quickbook or any other card processor
Hmmm. Let me get back to you on that. QuickBooks I know we don’t use, but I do believe we can use Stripe, but I need to confirm.
Yatshvbahhiasba Nauasjbauayas
Stripe don’t work for me get another marchant apart from that quick book or clover marchant is okay or find another good one for us
…
(there is where I left them on read)
Sending as Safe This Home LLC
And here was the other scam:
Here is the job details , I have a small clothing business for both male and female, now am trying to expand the business and i want you to build an eCommerce website for it for advertisement. I need you to checkout this site but I need something more perfect than this if possible, violatethedresscodedotcom/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-Jz4m8jS9wIVheDICh0yzwUtEAAYASAAEgIz1fD_BwE (By the way, this site looks amazing, so I have no clue what they mean by more perfect) The site would only be eCommerce , So i need you to get back to me with an estimate for the web design, The estimate should include hosting i want the site to have not more than 15 pages since it is eCommerce. I have a private project graphic designer, he has the text content, images and the logos for the site.
Sun 1:12 AM
Sunday · 7:24 AM
Thamos Davi
Are you interested