Nigerian Wine Spam - but what is the wine?

Amongst the countless unsolicited emails that now arrive in my inbox, there was one from Nigeria requesting prices on the following wines.

1.Crest Cabage

2.Moet Chadon

3.Don Perion

So the second one is meant to be Moet et Chandon and the third, Dom Perignon, but what could Crest Cabage be?

1.Crest Cabage

Sue, I'm betting it's a "Columbia Crest Cab(ernet)". The "cab" part got confused in the translation. It could be one of the various other "blank Crest" that they are interested in as well, but I would definitely bet that "cabage" is meant to be "cabernet".

would be that it refers to the new Crest Cabbage-flavored toothpaste!! Deelish!!
Agree that it's probably the ColumbiaCrest Cabernet.
Tom

It's likely the Columbia Crest Cabernet that went into ml in the bottle and came out smelling like saurkraut.

What I'd like to know is what exactly is this scam? They ask for prices and then what? They place an order and don't pay for it? I don't know any retailers who take orders that are not paid for before they ship. Maybe the Nigerians know retailers that have no smarts...

It's likely the Columbia Crest Cabernet that went into ml in the bottle and came out smelling like saurkraut.

What I'd like to know is what exactly is this scam? They ask for prices and then what? They place an order and don't pay for it? I don't know any retailers who take orders that are not paid for before they ship. Maybe the Nigerians know retailers that have no smarts...

Its a long running and common con. They ask for premium wines to be shipped to Nigeria and they pay for them with false/forged/stolen cards etc.

I doubt it's the Columbia Crest, as it's just not expensive enough. They're looking for luxury commodity items.

The scam is quite simple, they try to order expensive wine (mostly Champagne) and pay for it with stolen credit card numbers. It's delivered, and sold as a commodity. Dom, Cristal, etc are the usual targets, though occasionally you'll hear of Opus One, 1st growths, etc. The common denominator of the wines is they're (1)famous & (2) expensive. Mostly probably sold to non-wine-centric restaurants.

BTW, it's worth noting that probably most of these scams in US don't use Nigerian delivery addresses, but US addresses (NJ seeming to win the championship). Any retailer getting big orders for expensive wines from unknown clients should probably do some homework (maybe Alan U. might chime in, I seem to remember he foiled one of these).

It's likely the Columbia Crest Cabernet that went into ml in the bottle and came out smelling like saurkraut.

What I'd like to know is what exactly is this scam? They ask for prices and then what? They place an order and don't pay for it? I don't know any retailers who take orders that are not paid for before they ship. Maybe the Nigerians know retailers that have no smarts...

Well, the order appears to be paid for, in that the credit card company approves the charge. However, when the number turns up stolen, the merchant is the one responsible for the charge, not VISA or Mastercard. So yes, the retailer fails to get paid for the wine, and the police will rarely "sting" the delivery to the crooks. Retailer beware.

Walt

Thanks for the information on the scam.

Perhaps it's a good idea for retailers not to sell to people who contact them out of the blue and who can't spell the names of the wines.

Plus, with a few days shipping delay, couldn't the cc be traced in that time and discovered as a fraud?

Thanks for the information on the scam.

Perhaps it's a good idea for retailers not to sell to people who contact them out of the blue and who can't spell the names of the wines.

Plus, with a few days shipping delay, couldn't the cc be traced in that time and discovered as a fraud?

Those UK retailers that have had the time to play along have quoted them a price, dependent on them paying cash. None have accepted.

1.Crest Cabage

Sue, I'm betting it's a "Columbia Crest Cab(ernet)".

Thanks Sam and others. Columbia Crest hasn't found its way to NZ yet (and is unlikely to unless in someone's checked in luggage), hence my inability to deduce the name.