Glass Scam Still Haunting Industry, Point of Origin Differing Per Incident

The telephone scam targeting glass shops and requesting large quantities of glass shipped overseas continued unabated and new reports to the USGNN and glassBYTEs.com™ indicate that the calls are being placed from different cities around the country.

First reported three months ago on USGNN and glassBYTEs.com, the scam began with the use of a TTY relay operator, as would normally be used by a person with impaired hearing. The use of TTY operators makes call tracing harder. Glass shops would receive a phone call from a person inquiring about making a large purchase and having the goods shipped overseas.

Over the course of the last few months, shops from across the country and Canada reported having been recipients of phone calls that followed the general modus operandi of the scam, each with a slightly different experience. Some shops reported that they were contacted directly by individuals, and those that had caller ID or redial options on their phones would capture the information. Tracing the phone numbers turned up at least one call coming from Florida.

More than one glass shop representative has written to USGNN and glassBYTEs.com to say that when they called the phone number on the caller ID, they heard background noise that they described as a "call center."

Last Friday, Steve Gross of Gross and Associates in Ohio contacted glassBYTEs.com to say that he received a call that mirrored the glass scam phone calls. His tracing of the phone call showed the point of origin as Detroit and the address to which the order was to be sent a fictitious address.

Most recently, posts on the AGRR/glassBYTEs.com™ message boards indicate that the scam is continuing at a solid pace as ever. One visitor to the boards indicated that he, too, received two such phone calls on Friday, and another visitor noted that his most recent experience with the calls indicate the scam is spreading to include related industries, such as paint.

Has your shop experienced one of the scam calls in question? Tell us about your experience! CLICK HERE to read what others have been experiencing and join the discussion on the AGRR/glassBYTEs.com message board. Or, email us at news@glassbytes.com to tell us what happened to your company and how you handled it..