Kitchenaid Kaper

On Wednesday this week I received a call at work from a man claiming he was calling from Scotland and wanting to purchase some Kitchenaid mixers for family living locally.  He knew exactly what he wanted; he quoted colour and price correctly.  I told him that we'd have to order these items as they were not in stock and that I'd call our supplier to see both if they themselves had them in house and how many days it may take to have the mixers be delivered.

nine hundred ninety-eight pounds

What I actually did was to call my boss and confer with her whether she thought this transaction were on the level.  I thought that the whole thing smelled of fraud and really didn't want to have anything to do with 'Jay' and his mixer mission.  I also envisioned somehow being tagged as an accomplice and having my visa revoked.  If I were going to be kicked out of the UK, then I'd certainly want it to be for something a bit more racy than wonky Kitchenaid mixer purchases.

My boss, too, felt like something wasn't right, but bade me to continue on with the transaction.  That meant taking payment for the items via telephone.  Apparently, performing credit card transactions over the phone here aren't that uncommon and we accept payment at work this way on a regular basis.  I find it strange not to see the person, and, more importantly, not to be able to verify that the person using the charge card is the actual card holder.  I know that this a 'chip and pin' society, and that, really, if you don't have the pin associated with the card, then you may as well be holding a cheap piece of plastic.  However, if you're paying via phone, then you, magically and confusingly, don't need your pin at all.  CC# and expiry date=sale.  Nuckin' futz.

On Thursday I sent my boss a text asking her if she wouldn't want to phone the credit card company asking if they couldn't please contact the card holder in order to verify that the transaction was valid.  I didn't hear back from her.  In the afternoon I went by work to talk to her directly.  She said that she'd call the cc company later that afternoon to ask if there were anything she'd need to 'look out for' with such a large purchase amount.  With imaginary question marks over my head, I smiled at her, nodded and let the matter drop.

Charge it!

The transaction went through without a hitch.  I packed up the order on Friday and someone--not the guy with whom I spoke because he was allegedly in Scotland--came shortly before closing time yesterday to collect it.  It felt weird.  I wondered where these mixers were headed.  Their fate seemed as enigmatic as the sale.