randyjawa 

Through Ebay, I purchased a Campagnolo entry level transmission. Got a good deal, in my opinion, and it was sent to me via International Priority Shipping to Canada via the Global Shipping Program...


I was supplied a tracking number and everything looked good until I received an email from Canada Post that asked me to send them $2.99 import fees, payable by credit card. Red flags went up, in my mind. I never just click on something unless I feel safe in doing so. The email said that if I did not pay with-in 48 hours, the package would be sent back to the sender. I darn near clicked. Thank goodness I didn't.

The next morning, first thing, I drove into the city to pick up the parcel, which is what I would normally do when a package was listed as arrived. I was also concerned about the new pay us first by email and wanted to be sure of what I was doing. Turned out to be a scam and the lady at the post office told me that a lot of people had been caught by the scam. I offer this event as a warning to others. Be careful, there are are viruses out there than the one that is killing people.

bOsscO

Thanks for the heads up randyjawa

The Golden Boy 

Thanks Randy!

DiegoFrogs

I'm curious... how did the spoofer know that you were expecting an international package? And that you're Canadian, no less...

repechage

makes one wonder how the scammer knew you had a package due?
Canada Post hacked?

I get plenty of potential scam calls at work...
robo and live... we are going to shut off your electric service in 30 minutes... once even giving a toll free number to call... Sure.
that sense of Alarm, induce you to not think straight.

Kat12

Yup, that's what I'd wonder, too. Unless it was a "hail mary/throw out a ton of emails" phishing thing and it just so happened that one of the people they sent it to (you) had actually ordered something online...

jon c. 

These days the percentage of people who have recently ordered something online is fairly high.

canklecat

Probably a Hail Mary toss, hoping to hit something. I get a lot of email scams but most go directly to my junk bin. I have a few email accounts and use only one for PayPal, another for Amazon, another for ebay, etc., so if I ever receive an email alert about PayPal in the account that I never use for PayPal, it's easy to spot the fake.

I always go directly to the appropriate website to confirm anything. Which is why it's so annoying that so many organizations still expect us to click on buttons directly from emails, rather than navigating to our accounts on the websites. It tends to lull us into carelessness. I tend to trust only the organizations that notify me of something that needs my attention, but don't provide any direct link.

During the past year I'd guesstimate more than half of my emails and received phone calls are spam and scams. Probably closer to 75% with my incoming phone calls, including up to a dozen a day about "your car warranty expiring."

randyjawa 

Exactly and I am darned curious also. That's why I drove all the way into the city to check into the situation. Lucky I did.

nlerner

Seems like a lot of effort for $2.99.

Pompiere

Where I work, we have to take annual cyber security training. We don't give it much thought until an email arrives stating the training is due. The training is done through a contractor instead of our own in-house training department.
The training includes red flags to spot phishing email like:
Comes from an organization you are not familiar with. Check.
Includes a link in the email to take you directly to the site. Check
Includes a sense of urgency or that something bad will happen if you don't respond. Double Check.
Every year we wonder if it a trap until someone tries the link to see if it is legit.

cudak888 

So the email arrived just before - and on the same day - as when the package arrived?

Or did you make a trip into town because of the email and by chance the package had already arrived?

Just trying to make sense of the story. But yes, like many here...eager for additional information.

-Kurt

bark_eater 

The other question I would add, is how did you track the package as it was in transit? When I check the tracking of a package from Ebay, Googling the tracking number ebay provides pushes you into a google tracking page or app that acts as a middle man that you need to click through to get to the actual carrier page with tracking.

randyjawa 

True enough but consider this. To pay that paltry amount, I would have to use either my VISA or Mastercard, thus, perhaps, allowing the scammer access to either of those accounts. That, in my opinion, is where the danger lies. Not just loosing three dollars. Additionally, even if the scammer does not access my credit card account, and succeeds in getting 1000 people to click, he or she ends up with three thousand dollars.

Be careful is all I can say about this sort of thing.

repechage

I always forward to the spoof report sites when I receive an email regarding a problem with my bank account ( often big bank I have no connection with or Amazon )

on a phone the sent from often is truncated so that the initial word is legit, but not the extended sent from address.

it’s a dangerous world out there.

repechage

Now the pertinent question- what bike is to receive the Campagnolo parts?

and what must Valentino felt when his name was applied to such a cheap mechanism?
no wonder Corsa Record was such as it was post Tullio.

there is an interview of him in Italian with subtitles on Amazon, from The Italian Masters series. Pretty humble guy, I came away with that he was thrusted with the helm of Campagnolo before he was really ready, having a dynamic father who was still running the show in his 80’s must not have helped.

randyjawa 

The package has not yet arrived. But the scamming email showed up a day before the original tracking indicated when the package was to arrive (potential arrival dates mean little during these pandemic days and delays are more than common - they are expected). It looked legit but I still follow my own procedure and do not click on anything that I think, even for a second, to be out of the ordinary.

The original tracking number, offered by the seller, was not on the scammer's email. Nor was the cross border Canada Post tracking number included on the scammer's email. With that in mind, I went to the post office in the city to check on the validity of the email and, hopefully, to collect the package.

Additional information...

I bought the Campy transmission and paid via PayPal. The seller sent me a USPS tracking number which I did click on, as I would normally do. The click revealed the package's travel situations, where sent from, sent to and how long held at any location.

USPS tracking number changed to a Canada Post tracking number when the package crossed the border between the USA and Canada. I clicked on that number and no issues. Everything seemed to be normal. I have done this before without ever receiving an email indication that I needed to pay anyone, anywhere for any reason.

A day or two, before the original tracking indicated the package was to arrive, I got the scammer's email. Red flags went up at my end. I was warned that I had 48 hours to pay or the package would be sent back. That was in the evening of the day the scammer's email arrived.

The following morning, I drove into the city to verify if the package had arrived and to pay any duties involved there. Needless to say, there was no package and the lady at the post office (I know her well) warned me that the email that I received, insisting on payment, was a scam and one that, according to her, was epidemic (not her word, but mine). Put another way, lots of people had done what I did - check before click.

The package is now slated to arrive tomorrow. I will check, in person, after I see that the original tracking number indicates arrived and on hold for me (I use a post office box for mail, because I spend half of each year riding in Jamaica - a friend collects my Canada Post mail for me during my absence).

randyjawa 

I cannot respond to how Valentino felt nor do I consider the mechanism to be cheap (entry level, certainly, would be a fairer word to use, in my opinion). Not sure about Campagnolo's business decisions, either.

The bike the set is earmarked for is a late sixties or early seventies Torpado (the original transmission was not in great shape, thanks to Mother Nature's attack on the cosmetics). I was going to install a Campy Gran Tourismo rear derailleur but doing so would mean that I would not be able to use the original wing nuts that came on the Torpado I had restored...




If I install this derailleur, I cannot use a wing nut, something that I did not know when I bought the Gan Tourismo...


Anyway, this is my painted with a brush Torpado that the newly purchased Valentino transmission will be installed on (fender line to be set when I install my newly acquired 700c x 28 gumwall tires)...

Bald Paul

Not if the person pays by credit card. Now they have your CC information, and that $2.99 charge will swell to $2999.00 or more in an instant.

fraba

I just received a similar phishing email minutes ago... Please DO NOT CLICK.

Kobe 

I use to see a lot of emails acting like FedEx or UPS saying they have a package that can't be delivered. Almost everyone has a package coming for them. The tip off is usually the grammar is not quite right.

dweenk

I get a few texts every week alerting me that a package could not be delivered and that I should click this link. I also get phone calls from "Social Security" stating that my SSN has been suspended and that I will recieve no further payments unless I call a certain number and provide yada-yada-yada.
These crooks have access to a lot of information about us and they are fishing for the older among us who may be trusting.
I would like to create a new ring of hell for those parasites.

Eric F 

We got that one at my office on Tuesday. They were trying to squeeze us for $2000. Thankfully, our AP manager is not easily fooled by such shenanigans.

cudak888 

Either it's a "hail mary" bulk attempt, or someone has figured out how to use one of the Canada Post tracking APIs to identify packages pending delivery that have emails attached to them.

Let us know if your email was tied to the shipment or not.

-Kurt

randyjawa 

Nothing, not even the way I write my name, was related to the order. This is what was sent to me...
The shipment number was not attached to either of the tracking numbers I received from USPS or Canada Post. Nor did the number on the scammer's email match my order number from PayPal. The fact that Canada Post was not correctly offered (Canada post) was the first red flag. The second was the asking for money. Warning - don't click where it says Click here.

This is a worrisome issue, in my mind. I am reluctant to order anything else from on-line sources now. But I probably will, being careful to watch what happens when/if I do. I still don't have the package.