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- The buyer is tempted into buying the item from the seller for some amount of money.
- The "program" is given to the buyer and basically tells the buyer to pretend they are a business (THIS IS FRAUD) and request free samples of products from many different manufacturers and wholesalers.
Now one of a few things can happen:
- The buyer may receive a few extremely cheap items from various companies (pens, pencils, etc.) and be satisfied.
- The buyer is caught fraudulently pretending to be a non-existent company and is charged with fraud.
- The buyer receives no free items, cuts their loses, and never uses the "program" again.
Since the final option by far happens to most people, many victims will try to get their money back by relisting the program for sale again on ebay, or will even try to scam others the same way they had been scammed. This is why so many people continue to list this program all over ebay.
The Actual Program:
Given below is the actual free item program, this is exactly what you are given after you pay your money to the scammer.
I know it may sound tempting, and you may think it could actually work, but I assure you it is illegal and could get you in a lot of trouble.
The red bold font found throughout the article is text FlipShark.com has inserted to help better explain the scam, or what the scammer is doing.
---------------------------------- Start Of The Program -----------------------------------
Introduction:
How You Can Receive Consumer Electronics and Other Products Completely Free!
First off I would like to thank you for purchasing my program and in the near future you will most likely be thanking yourself for purchasing it also. I would suggest getting comfortable because once you get started you won’t want to stop. I know you are extremely anxious to know what exactly this bizarre sounding program is and how it works; now I am going to finally reveal this little known secret to you.
Please read everything over before you begin
STEP 1:
As I mentioned the only things you need to get started are a mailing address such as your house or apartment, and an email address. I’m assuming you already have a house or apartment, but if for some reason you don’t you will need to get a post office box at a Mail Boxes Etc. or related service since some of your packages may require a signature upon delivery and they will sign on your behalf. Second you need an email address. You already have one since you received these files however I suggest setting up a second email account for business use. Your second email should be professional sounding; for example, something like "redwingsfan02@porn.com" wouldn’t cut it. I would recommend the initial of your first name followed by your last name. If your name was John Smith, then “jsmith@email.com" would be great.
(If your going to fraudulently pretend to be a business, you need an email address which sounds like a real business.)
A few good locations to get free email I have listed below. I wouldn’t suggest getting an email at Hotmail or Yahoo considering literally any username you can think of is taken and they are well-known for being used to spam. (Yeah, you'd hate to look like a spammer, especially when you start spamming all sorts of companies for products.. oh sorry I'm getting ahead of myself)
http://www.email.com
http://www.postmaster.com
http://www.emailaccount.com
I also suggest opening up a free account with FedEx or DHL online using a debit or credit card. You will then be issued an account number. If you are unfamiliar with the way this service works, think of it as a credit card for shipping. You can include this account number with the emails you send.
(If your going to impersonate a business interested in buying their products, why not set up a business shipping account??) If the manufacturer requires you to pay for shipping, they can simply enter your account # on the international airwaybill for the package. The shipping costs are then billed to the credit or debit card on your account. You do not want to have these packages shipped overnight or 2 day airmail. As you can imagine a TV sent FedEx overnight from Malaysia to the US is not too frugal. Instead, check with the shipping courier your account is with (FedEx, DHL) by phone to speak with customer service and find out which international shipping method would be the absolute cheapest. DHL in most cases is the cheapest since they offer slower delivery than FedEx. Once you have researched and found which shipping method is cheapest (each courier has names, i.e. “FedEx International Economy Rate) mention in the email you would like the sample shipped using that method. Although paying for shipping is not necessary to receive free products, you should have much better success if you do. The cost of the sample usually isn’t what the manufacturer cares about; it is the cost of shipping.
(of course if you're trying to steal products from legitimate companies, paying a little shipping charge isn't much is it?)
STEP 2:
Now that you have the two things necessary you can start. Instead of you searching and seeking out companies and their products directly, I am going to provide you with a website which will allow you to do it directly to begin with, which my company as well as hundreds of thousands of others uses. Eventually after you have done this for a while you will be able to search out other manufacturers directly to contact using search engines. However this website offers access to about 150,000 suppliers which are plenty to get started with.
(This site has been set up for legitimate companies to find legitimate distributors, wholesalers, etc., so you probably won't be suspected of being a scam.)
http://Due to a request by the website in question the link has been removed.
After you arrive at the website you will want to register for a membership, which is free. Click on the “Login/Register” and you will come to a page for current members to enter their login name and password, scroll below to where it says “register now.” Now that you will be conducting business relations you will need to have a name for your company. (Wait a second... what company?? Oh yeah, he must mean the IMAGINARY company that you're fraudulently pretending to be.) Once you have decided enter the name as well as the rest of your other contact information and submit. Then select the categories of items you are interested in if you would like to receive product alerts (optional).
Now you are ready to begin (defrauding legitimate companies).
On the main page of the --name removed-- website, click on “product search” and from there you can either browse or search. Take an hour or so to relax and look around at products which interest you. Do not contact or request any samples yet. (Of course you can't request any items yet, you haven't learned how to properly falsify a product request form to make it look like it came from a legitimate company.)
STEP 3:
Now that you have looked over the products it is time to start requesting your free samples. Since you are just starting, you should begin with products (from any category) that have a consumer retail value of $20 or less. Only after you have had some experience and received a few should you start requesting the more costly items such as televisions, DVD players, etc.
(Companies are often much more careful when sending out expensive samples, so you should have some base experience in stealing low cost items before moving on to the bigger ones.)
There are a couple ways you can contact the companies to receive your samples. Once you are on the page of a single specific product, you can click on the company’s name near the top (it should be in a blue font) which will take you to a page which will have their contact information including at least one or two email addresses. You can then email them from your email address.
Another way to email them is to click on “request sample” or “inquire now” on the product’s page; this will contact the companies through the ---name removed --- website instead of you emailing them directly.
When you email the companies, you should introduce yourself, mention you are interested in their product(s) and you would like them to send you more information regarding the product(s) as well as a sample unit. (This way the company may actually believe you are interested in going into business with them; not just taking their free sample and running off like they're giving away sandwhich meat at the grocery store.)
Be sure to include your mailing address. I have enclosed a picture of an actual sample correspondence between myself and a company (must censor text: company policy) (Or maybe he doesn't want you to have his contact information. Or maybe the contact information isn't really his.). What you write in your letter is up to you, it does not have to be long; a paragraph or so may do. The information contained in my letter is true; I do not advocate or support you writing any type of fictional information in your correspondences.(I'm sure if you tell the truth.... hey, I don't really have a company, and you'll most likely never here from me again, please send me free stuff.... it's sure to go over really well.) Include your DHL or FedEx account number as well as the shipping method you would like if you opened an account.
(This was an image of his letter to the company requesting free products because of it's size I have converted the letter into text (terms like PPU have been changed to Price Per Unit for you to understand better, otherwise the letter is unedited)
Dear ****** Co Ltd.,
My name is ******* ******* Cheif Marketing Director of *********** Inc. We have reviewed the printed media your company distributed at their booth during the China International Electronics Trade Expo last month. We are interested in a quarterly purchase of 16 thousand units of model DVD-2400. Please mail me any additional information regarding this model, your best Price Per Unit on the quantity stated, and one or two sample units. Please let me know if the price per unit stated includes royalties on applicable patents to this product.
First, this person is claiming they are interested in buying 16 000 DVD players each quarter from this company (that's over 64 000 DVD players/year). Though this is probably a blatant lie, it would definitely catch a distributors interest.
Second, this person claims to be a Cheif Marketing Director for his company, even if this is not a lie in his case (though again it probably is) for most people using this program it would not be true.
Finally if you were to be caught lying in such an instance, criminal charges would most likely be filed against you.
STEP 4:
You may have to communicate by email with the companies a couple times back and fourth after your initial request. One thing I cannot stress enough is to be patient. In the United States, we do everything fast with a “gotta be done now, can’t wait” attitude and adhere to a strict schedule. Many other parts of the world including much of Asia are not like this. You may not receive a reply to your email for a few weeks. This does not mean they are ignoring you, that is just the way business is conducted there and they reply just as slowly to large corporations usually also. (Notice how most, if not all, of the companies given are located in Asia, and not Western Europe, the United States, or Canada? This is probably done because it is more difficult for foreign companies to determine whether your business is legitimate or not; whereas in the West there are Better Business Bureaus and similar organizations which can easily determine whether your business is fake.)
When you do receive your free products, they will usually be shipped as a “commercial sample, no value” so you do not pay any tariffs on them. This is a very good thing; tariffs can be almost 40% of the product’s value! Below is a picture of an actual invoice.
Located here was an invoice with his "item received" on it. Again due to the size of the image it has been removed. The letter had all names/numbers blotted out and only had text saying "LCD Monitor Sample $0.00"
TIPS AND TRICKS:
(1) Remember there is no limit to how many different manufactures you can request samples from; the more you contact, the more free products you will receive. Remember how I mentioned spam in the first paragraph?? Well basically this tip states "spam as many companies as possible until you get something free". Spam is illegal and annoying.
(2) Start out small by requesting low valued items (products with a retail value of <$20) this allows you to gain the experience you need. It is very important you follow this step. Of course you must follow this step. Otherwise you may find out that companies sometimes send free pens and pencils, but by the time you realize most won't give away free TV's, Computers, etc.; the scammer has your money for the program and is long gone.
(3) Contact companies which do not have any of their products pictured. Click on the “view more suppliers” when you have came to the last page of the pictured products in a category. Email them and have them forward you their product brochures first. Again this technique makes you appear to be a legit business. Also most companies on the first page probably get 5000 emails a day for free products since this program came out. Whereas companies not prominently listed get scammed less frequently, thus your chances of tricking them are a little better.
(4) If you pay shipping costs you will have greater success. Kind of obvious, isn't it?
(5) Be patient.(doo dee doo dee doo)
(6) After you are experienced you can begin contacting manufacturers not listed on --name removed-- by locating them using search engines such as Yahoo.In other words once you've stolen from every company dumb enough of the first site you're ready to find other poor companies to exploit.
(7) If there is a specific model you must have, and the company does not give out free samples, you can always purchase one or more at true wholesale cost.
(In other words, once you realize THIS PROGRAM DOESN'T WORK, especially for good items, you can try and buy products for below retail from these wholesalers... Only problem is you need a real company and business tax ID # to do so... IE your fake company doesn't apply.)
(8) Remember if you receive a product you don’t particularly like you can always sell them.
(WAIT JUST A SECOND, mister program maker man. IT IS ILLEGAL to sell free product samples in over 150 countries worldwide. You wouldn't be telling people to break international law would you??)
(Heck even the site you recommend for your program states this on every sample request page!)
| Requests for Samples are subject to local laws and practice. Requests made by non-qualified buyers for personal sale or use may violate fraud, customs, or transaction laws or regulations and will be investigated. |
(9) Take your time and do not rush the process. (Or in plain English, it will take a lot of time before you find a company stupid enough to fall for this, especially with so many people trying it, so don't expect a free TV, every week.)
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