We recently received an inquiry via email for a very large order: 4,500 Jazz Bands at full retail.

At first glance, we were thinking “WOO-HOO! Let’s fire up the machines and get these babies rolling!” However, something was amiss. The order was from Australia and it was from a company called Ausparts, which makes car parts. Why would they need so many Jazz Bands?

There are some who claim that it is not theirs to ask why, but to accept what is. That’s all well and fine until you lose thousands of dollars and have to lay someone off to make up the difference.

Instead, we looked up their website, then inquired to see if “Mark Nelson” was correct in wanting so many Jazz Bands. The reply we received was that they get such questions weekly and that Mark Nelson is a fraudster who also works under the name Jackson Payton……and, no, they are not currently in the market for $63,000 worth of Jazz Bands.

What are the Signs That a Fraud may be Occurring?

It is very easy to be swindled, especially by a professional con artist. One reason we were skeptical was that it was out of the ordinary, and from a company that would not typically need this kind of order. To say the least it was too good to be true.

The BBB has 10 signs of a scam that it notes for consumers. The two that stood out to us were:

• #5. Grammar and Spelling Issues
  • This Aussie’s English seemed to be his second language
• #9. Name and Sender Disagreement
  • The email was from lnfoauspartsgroup@gmail.com.
    • While some companies do use gmail, Ausparts has been around nearly 10 years and they have a professionally done website. Additionally, being located outside the US, a gmail account makes even less sense

How we Concluded Things With Mark Nelson

After receiving the message from Ausparts we considered writing a strong email telling Mark Nelson what an [expletive deleted] he is. Instead, we filed a complaint through the IC3 – Internet Crimes Complaint Center, noting everything we could.

If you find that you have been swindled, or that a crime is taking place online, you can file the same complaint as we did by clicking this link, or copying/pasting the address below.

http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

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