What is this scam?

Bar manager got an e-mail from a guy wanting to reserve space for a private party. Whole thing reads like a scam. We've essentially written it off, but are trying to figure out how exactly the scam works. Do not worry. We are not biting. Just wondering.

Guy wants to reserve space. Says he wants 90 $7 beers (our standard pour price is $6). Says he is fine with a $700 deposit. (We did not ask him for a deposit, or mention $700.)

Then he asks if we can do him a "favor". He's renting a party bus, and the driver doesn't accept credit cards (suuuuure...). Can he pay us, and when the funds clear our account, we can pay the driver of the party bus.

Haha! NOPE!

This sounds like a variation on the standard, "The price for your item is acceptable. I will wire you $1000 more than your price. When the funds clear, can you please send me a check for the difference?" scam. Except that he sounds like he's talking about using a credit card, which I was under the impression had a lot better security checks. Also sounds like a group showing up in person, and that would expose them to a lot more risk...

Oh yeah. It's also for his son's birthday, but he can't be there because he's going to be having his 4th operation. Riiiiight...

Guy's English is kind of broken, but in some ways weirdly polished and using weirdly large words like, "receptive". I'm guessing Eastern European using a translator program.

Bar manager thinks it's try to get money using a stolen credit card. I think this is letting things go too long with the risk of the card getting canceled.

I think he's going to turn around with wanting to pay by "transferring money to our account" or something and get everything set up ahead of time.

My guess is that the "party bus driver" is the mule to get the money out, you pay the "driver" and shortly afterwards the real owner of the credit card disputes the charge and you end up holding the bag.

In reply to BoxheadTim :

So they would actually try to show up in person and use a real credit card? Then attempt to dispute the charges and get their money back later?

In reply to Beer Baron :

I'm guessing they might try to do the deposit over the phone. I don't think it would be the people who called who're going to dispute the transaction, it's going to be the real owner of the card number most likely

BoxheadTim said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

I'm guessing they might try to do the deposit over the phone. I don't think it would be the people who called who're going to dispute the transaction, it's going to be the real owner of the card number most likely

Ohhhhh... THAT makes sense. It's not a stolen credit card. It's a stolen credit card NUMBER, but they haven't started using yet to tip off the owner. They roll deep around some city, party hard, make big ticket purchases, and rake in cash. One of them calls with the credit card number. Mule carries cash out. They don't care how whether or not charges get disputed because they're long gone with the cash by the time that happens.

Beer Baron said:

BoxheadTim said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

I'm guessing they might try to do the deposit over the phone. I don't think it would be the people who called who're going to dispute the transaction, it's going to be the real owner of the card number most likely

Ohhhhh... THAT makes sense. It's not a stolen credit card. It's a stolen credit card NUMBER, but they haven't started using yet to tip off the owner. They roll deep around some city, party hard, make big ticket purchases, and rake in cash. One of them calls with the credit card number. Mule carries cash out. They don't care how whether or not charges get disputed because they're long gone with the cash by the time that happens.

That would be my guess. The mule of course is disposable and very likely the only person you might get on CCTV while the higher ups cash in the gift cards/Western Union transfer/Bitcoin.

Sounds like the Nigerian "I'm out of the country now but will have my representative ...."

Scam scam scam scam Scammy McScammerscam.