Classifieds Buyer Scams

The typical Buyers Scam involves someone offering to purchase gear and sending more money than the advertised price, asking that the seller send the over-payment ("change") to someone or deposit it into an account. The scammers use different names and the exact form of the offer may vary.

See the Security and Scam Alerts forum for the most recent reported scams.

General advice:

• DO NOT do business with anyone who offers to send you payment for a higher amount than your selling price with the understanding that you'll send back the balance.


• Be suspicious of anyone claiming to be acting on behalf of a "client" or another "customer".


• Be suspicious of anyone claiming to be from Nigeria or West Africa


• Scam users will often copy and paste the item title when referring to it in their e-mail.


• Their given location will often not sync up with their typing or with their story.


• In almost all cases they will approach you and state that they will organize a courier to collect the item.


• Be suspicious of anyone who refers to the gear as 'the item'.


• Don't trust stories about the gear being bought for ones father's birthday or by someone working on an oil rig at sea.


• If you agree to accept a check payment, then do not send anything, gear or "change" before the check cleared. And be careful, if you manage to clear a fraudulent check then you may be liable for the damages if the bank finds out later. Make sure your bank authenticates the check.


• If it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is.

What do when a scammer contacts you:

1. DO NOT reply with any personal information.


2. Best is to not reply at all. Simply ignore the email.


3. Forward the contact form email to [email protected]

Example of a scam offer:

Username => hawkin



Name => micheal



FromEmail => [email protected]



City =>



Country =>

Comments => hello ,i am mr micheal
One of my customers as told me to help him to purhcase your Cricket
Reserve - 145
.After looking at the adverts on internet ,i noticed
you have it for sale .So i would want to purchase immediately.Please get
back
to me with your final selling price and
also a NAME and CONTACT ADDRESS which you would want your payments
sent to.My customer would prepare and send you a CHECK OR MONEY ORDER
for payments as soon as i hear from you.i would also want you to know
that you would send any excess funds on the CHECK/MONEY ORDER after
deducting the totaL cost of your item ,and any excess
funds on the MONEY ORDER /CHECK would be my own profit + shipping
cause i will handle the shipment of the good too and the funds would
be sent
to me via western union money transfer.I await your reply with
necessary information so payments can be sent immediately.

P.S FEEL FREE TO CALL ME ON MY MOBILE NUMBER +447031840486

Thank you
REPLY