Electric Heating Co., Inc

Clever Thieves

Well, we are recovering from the holidays and beginning to settle in with our new computer software. If you have ordered from us, you will notice an entirely new look to acknowledge-ments and invoices. But while this was all going on, we experienced an attempt to swindle some significant dollars by a "company" in China and a "shipper" in the U.K.

Here was the plan: Daniel Brown (probably a bogus name), from Dimetric, Ltd. in China, contacted us by email with a purchase order for heaters. It was a significant order and he first set about arranging shipping with a freight company in the U.K. named Nik Moore Shipping. They also go by the names, Nikmooreshipping, Nikmooreshippingagent, Daniel gave us a number of credit cards, charging $7,400. When the money was in our bank, he asked us to wire transfer the funds to Nik Moore so he could arrange for the pick-up.

During the process of setting up a transfer to Lloyd's Bank, several red flags were raised. Dimetric, Ltd. was a bit slow in paying for the order of heaters and one of the credit card companies reported to us that one of the cards was being investigated for fraud. As we investigated, we learned that each of the cards were issued to private individuals. If we had successfully transferred the funds, we simply would have been charged back for each fraudulent transaction and been out the $7,400 with no recourse for recovery.

We have taken issue with the fraud department because all of the transactions were authorized, even though we entered the name on each card as Dimetric ... the card companies did not match the name submitted with the name on the card, potentially leaving us on the hook for the charge. We fortunately escaped without damage and a bit wiser regarding potential scams.

Friday Funnies ... a little Q & A

Q: Why are many coin banks shaped like pigs?

A: Long ago, dishes and cookware in Europe were made of a dense orange clay called "pygg". When people saved coins in jars made of this clay, the jars became known as "pygg banks." When an English potter misunderstood the word, he made a bank that resembled a pig. And it caught on.

Q: Did you ever wonder why dimes, quarters and half dollars have notches, while pennies and nickels do not?

A: The US Mint began putting notches on the edges of coins containing gold and silver to discourage holders from shaving off small quantities of the precious metals. Dimes, quarters and half dollars are notched because they used to contain silver. Pennies and nickels aren't notched because the metals they contained were not valuable enough to shave.

Dalton Electric Heating Co., Inc (978)356-9844
28 Hayward Street Ipswich, MA 01938 USA

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