A Mount Pearl businessman is offering a warning to other business owners after he was defrauded of tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise.

Rohit Verma, director of the NL Gold Factory on Commonwealth Avenue in Mount Pearl, says he was contacted by a man in Montreal in November in response to an Instagram ad they posted.

Verma was in conversation with the man on the phone who asked to see a sampling of some of their merchandise.

After Verma sent him a few photos of some of their pieces, the man settled on an item and agreed to pay by credit card over the phone.

Verma says he verified the credit card information, and the caller’s identification, and everything seemed fine. The item was shipped and the payment was received.

The same customer contacted them again and ordered a few more items, all of which were shipped out, and payment received.

A some time later Verma was contacted by the bank with some bad news.

The bank told him they had been contacted by a customer who reported fraudulent activity on their credit card and all the purchases were fraudulent.

He contacted RNC but hasn’t received any updates. In the meantime, he’s out $100,000 and he doesn’t know where to turn next. He’s warning area businesses to be especially vigilant when taking credit card payments over the phone.