Another word on online scamming
Sorry for spamming the community on this topic, but I’ve seen so, so much dangerous advice lately.
Essentially, scams that rely on a merchant voluntarily giving you something - you order a product, pay for it, claim it didn’t arrive, the merchant refunds your money or sends you a replacement as a courtesy - are usually harmless. After all, you did your bit and paid. If the seller issues a refund or sends you free stuff, that’s on them.
Lately, however, I’ve seen scams that involves defaulting on your payment, like the PayPal scam where you stop direct debits before the money is processed. If you do this, you legally owe that money. You an be taken to court for it by the company you “scammed”, or they may sell it on to a collections agency. Have you ever dealt with one of those? You really, really do not want to:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19074_5-disturbing-new-ways-debt-collectors-are-getting-your-money.html
Many companies will only go after people if the sum warrants it. However, some will report first payment defaults to the police no matter what, because it’s a very good indicator of fraud, even if they decide not to pursue the debt with you themselves. Depending on your jurisdiction, this even can end up on your credit report.
Tl;dr: Defaulting on a payment means debt. You legally owe that money. This isn’t like lifting, it’s like lifting and sending LP a Christmas card with your face, name, address, and a list of all the things you lifted with dates.
Another thing: targeting payment processors like PayPal is dangerous. Their security is in a completely different ballpark than simple Loss Prevention. Why?
Imagine LP at S3ph0ra isn’t on top of their game. What’s the worst that can happen to the company? You walk out with as much make up as you can carry. S. won’t like that, but they can live with that.
Imagine PayPal’s Security is slacking. What’s the worst that can happen? Drug cartels, child porn rings or terrorist organisations move or launder money. What if another 9/11 happens and it turns out the new Bin Laden relied on PayPal to finance the operation? Apart from public image, PayPal would face massive fines, loss of licensing, loss of vital banking partners and potentially criminal prosecution. You really, really can’t fool PayPal by using a throwaway email.