Google Maps helps nab fraudster
A month later, the would-be thief rang him up and paid.
Niall McCann, who runs the Waterford-based online business The Wool Shop was so aggrieved at the attempt to defraud him, he took direct action.
“This guy came onto our website and bought €75 worth of wool; he paid via credit card and we shipped it off to the address, in Helemstedt, near Hannover.
“As we had been stung a few times before, I have a policy of using Google maps to check the address actually exists. If, for example, it’s just a flat or apartment number we’ve been given I’ll try to check a bit more as the people might be renting and could disappear with the goods. That has happened.
“This guy lived in a house in a rural town so I was happy with that. A few weeks later, we got a call from the bank saying the card owner did not recognise the transaction and payment was refused.
“I suppose I got the hump, so I took to Google maps, discovered the nearest police station and wrote to them. I’ll admit I didn’t expect to hear anything back.”
A month later, the fraudster rang. “He had the brass neck to ask me for my bank details. I told him ‘no’ but he could pay via PayPal.
“I thought that was the last I’d hear of it but, amazingly, five days later the money arrived. I was gobsmacked.”
