Entrepreneur Silvia Bruin of ‘t Veld warns compilers about Christmas packages for area scammers. She this week she was a victim. “I am very sad. Now there are eighty Christmas parcels here, I am 4500 euros lighter and I had to say no to the customers”.
Silvia received a last-minute order for eighty Christmas parcels last Monday. She immediately called the customer because something had changed in the standard package. A nice lady answered her phone and a pleasant conversation ensued. “The woman told me that she had her own beauty salon and that she did a lot for charity. She also had a thrift store and she wanted to give all the volunteers a Christmas package. The conversation was not only about order, but also about how difficult it is to be an entrepreneur nowadays. I heard for her.
Blocked
Silvia and her team immediately set to work delivering the parcels on Wednesday in Schoonebeek, a village in the municipality of Emmen. “We had to order some items that we no longer had in stock, including JBL speakers. Together with my colleagues, we worked until nine on Tuesday evening. We discovered on Wednesday morning that an item would not arrive on time. For this reason we would not be able to deliver the Christmas parcels on time. I tried calling the customer, but he was suddenly unavailable. I’ve been blocked.
To find out what’s going on, Silvia asks an employee to call the customer’s number from her cell phone. The phone rings, but there’s no answer. “Eventually, my employee received a text message from another 06 number asking him why he had called. I was sure of it then; There is something wrong.”
Eventually it turns out that the Schoonebeek Ladies’ Salon doesn’t exist at all. The Chamber of Commerce number is not known and nothing can be found on the thrift store. Silvia says that after this discovery she immediately put the order ‘on hold’. “I had a very bad feeling about this situation and asked the customer to pay the invoice immediately. I didn’t dare cancel the order. What if it really was a surprise to her employees? Then I’d ruin it. Unfortunately, I have not heard from the customer.
Cancel
Silvia decides to cancel the order without a hearing. “I am very sad and I don’t understand it. Now I have eighty Christmas parcels that I will never lose, that’s forty-five hundred euros less and my employees have all worked very hard. I just have to pay for that too.
Silvia has also lost customers due to this large order. “Since such a large order arrived on Monday, I had to refuse other customers. There was no time to make any more packages.
Aware
Silvia suspects that this is a deliberate fraud. “When I look at the packaging now, it’s just Christmas packaging full of branded products. JBL, Rituals, Food and Carts. I think the fake customer wanted to resell the products after delivery. I’m very happy that we didn’t deliver the parcels in the end, but I’m very shocked. How can you do such a thing on vacation?
Silvia wants to warn other entrepreneurs. “I fear that others will also suffer. That’s why I’m telling my story now. Scammers are getting smarter and you have to be extremely careful with last minute orders. I’m always attentive, but I really didn’t expect it. Partly because I had a nice conversation with the customer on the phone. My alarm bells didn’t go off at the delivery location either. We deliver throughout the Netherlands and Belgium, so it didn’t surprise me. From now on, I will double check everything before taking an order.”
