Scams and personal abuse
Buyers beware!
Sellers beware!
Personal abuse
To avoid scams we strongly advise buying and selling with people you can meet face to face.
Buyers beware!
Things to be aware of if you are buying:
- Never transfer your money before receiving the item.
- Most frauds are carried out by people who won't meet you. Always try to meet the seller face to face and ask them if you can see their ID.
- Ask for a receipt as proof of purchase.
- For airline tickets make sure the tickets exist and the names are changeable. We suggest you take full responsibility for changing the names yourself.
- In the case of bankers' drafts, we suggest you to go to the bank together with the seller and watch it being drawn up.
- Always try to get more than one contact detail. Email can be a very unreliable form of contact especially with overseas sellers.
Sellers beware!
There are several different scams to be aware of:
Scam 1 - "I live abroad but someone owes me money in the UK"
This is a common case where the buyer who is said to live abroad, will tell the seller that someone in England who owes them money will send the cheque for them.
But the cheque will be sent for the total amount owed to the buyer and the seller will be asked to pay back the difference (usually via Western Union so they can collect it immediately). So for example if the item costs £800, the check will be made for £1000 and the seller would have to send back £200.
The trick here is that the cheque WILL clear into your account, only to be stopped and refused weeks later by your bank when they realise it is a fraudulent cheque. So you lose £200 plus the item.
Scam 2 - "I've changed my mind - something terrible has happened "
The buyer will show interest in your item but again is said to live abroad and will offer to send a cheque to cover the value of the item plus an additional amount for the shipping costs.
The buyer will then send the cheque to the seller's bank, who will clear it immediately and make the funds available.
The scammer then asks the seller to contact a shipping agent to make the shipping arrangements. The agent (another scammer) asks the seller for the fee up front, usually via Western Union which enables him to collect the money immediately. The seller, who has already seen the money cleared into their account, agrees and sends the money.
The scammer suddenly gets in touch with the seller and tells him he no longer wants to purchase the item because something terrible has happened (usually their son/daughter has had an accident and so he needs the money to pay for the hospital treatment). If the seller agrees to this, he sends back all the money through the shipping agent.
It is only later, after a few days or weeks, that the bank realises it is a fraudulent cheque. Then the money is removed from the account, leaving the seller without the shipping costs or the amount he should have earned.
For example, the price of item is £1000, and the buyer sends a cheque for £1200. The seller pays shipping costs of £200, before the £1200 is taken out of his account by the bank. He then sends back to the buyer a cheque for £1200, cannot get the £200 shipping costs back, and so is out of pocket by £200.
Scam 3 - "I've made a mistake and sent you too much money"
Another common case is the one where the buyer has agreed to purchase your goods (that cost for example £300), sends a cheque of £3000 and says that a mistake has been made and that he has sent too much money. So the seller - who has checked with the bank that the cheque has cleared properly - sends back the difference to the scammer (that is £2700).
Days later the bank finds out it is a scam and removes the £3000 from the seller's account, leaving them £2700 out of pocket.
Scam 4 - premium rate telephone number: 07094
If you see a contact telephone number that begins with the numbers 07094, beware. This is not a standard mobile phone code, but a premium rate number. Generally in these cases, the ads will be fake and the poster of the ad makes money through people phoning up to enquire about the ad.
We have set up a bar to stop ads with these numbers from appearing on the site.
If you think you have been a victim of crime or scam, email us at abuse@adzooks.co.uk
Abuse
If someone has posted personal information about you on the site or you are receiving threatening emails, please email us at abuse@adzooks.co.uk.