How to not get scammed

[Irons]

The amount of online fraud that is happening right now is frightening, and don't think it can't happen to you. Many an intelligent man / woman has fallen victim to somewhat sly dealings of our fraudster friends. That being said, there are a couple of simple principles that are key to ensuring you don't scammed. See below, and feel free to add:

• You never release goods on receipt of a POP, SMS, etc. You don't release goods even if you see the amount pending in your account, as fraudsters use cheques, which makes it look like it is in your account, and then cancel it once they have your goods
• The only way to get around this is to always phone your bank to confirm that the cash has cleared into your account (cleared!); ask them clearly if it is cleared and if it is a cheque payment
• The same goes for the trick that 'I paid you twice, please refund me'; wait until the money has cleared until you act and give them their money back
• On the Hub, look at the profile of the person you are dealing with, i.e. have they joined within a ~week, no posts, vague name, or if they have been around for a while, look at their ratings; the sign are usually there

Probably much more to add here, but the first two points should go a long way. Long story short, for all the good and honest traders out there, there are as many fraudsters. Be meticulous.

Edited October 5, 2020 by Irons

[Alouette3]

Then there are the alarm bells when they work on an oil rig / offshore or want to buy it for their cousin... amazes me how often this still catches people!

[DR ◣◢]

Alarm bells ring when they talk way too much and ask no questions. 

 

A legit buyer will ask questions, especially "are you negotiable" 

 

Any offer of a friend or courier coming to collect should also raise alarm bells. 

"I'm in Upington and my friend will collect"

 

Asking you to meet in any location other than what you are comfortable with. 

 

If it's a cash transaction meet at the bank and deposit the cash before handing over the goods. You don't want to be followed and robbed. 

[Shebeen]

not bike related, but let's just say when someone calls you out of the blue from your bank, tells you he's from the fraud dept and has some basic info about your banking accounts as verification which are apparently compromised, and tells you to transfer all your money to an account in your name with a different bank. and you must NOT speak to your you private banker.

 

 

hang up

[Spock]

I was actually very surprised to receive this response to a gumtree ad yesterday. Thought this scam died 20 years ago but obviously must be working!

 

"I am really interested in buying this as a surprise for my cousin, only if you can assure me that everything is in order. I am a petroleum engineer currently on a rig offshore, I want this to be a surprise for my cousin so I won't let him know anything about this until it gets delivered to him. It will be a secure payment via Skrill as I'm on a rig offshore. So let me know if you have an account with Skrill so I can arrange for the payment asap. Please note, a pick up agent will be coming for the pick up once I have made the payment."

[mecheng89]

I was actually very surprised to receive this response to a gumtree ad yesterday. Thought this scam died 20 years ago but obviously must be working!

 

"I am really interested in buying this as a surprise for my cousin, only if you can assure me that everything is in order. I am a petroleum engineer currently on a rig offshore, I want this to be a surprise for my cousin so I won't let him know anything about this until it gets delivered to him. It will be a secure payment via Skrill as I'm on a rig offshore. So let me know if you have an account with Skrill so I can arrange for the payment asap. Please note, a pick up agent will be coming for the pick up once I have made the payment."

If it sounds stupid but it works, it clearly isn't stupid! LOL.

[Nizar]

So on Saturday evening an unbelievable deal popped up in the classifieds section...looked at the ad and thought to myself “if its to good to be true, it probably is”...messaged the guy anyway to see what happens. Two sets of Melee carbon wheels for R850, i mean could this really be true. I received a response asking when i would like to view it as he will be available after 1pm. I asked for his contact number and advised i am in cape town and a family member will collect with cash. No response and i also asked him to whatsapp me and never received anything. Later the day the ad was deleted...now could this have been a scam as the person was a member for 5 years with no ratings.

[DR ◣◢]

not bike related, but let's just say when someone calls you out of the blue from your bank, tells you he's from the fraud dept and has some basic info about your banking accounts as verification which are apparently compromised, and tells you to transfer all your money to an account in your name with a different bank. and you must NOT speak to your you private banker.

 

 

hang up

 

Reply and ask him for his name and surname and direct contact number at the office. 

Also get the exact office address as most banks have multiple locations. 

 

Then phone the actual bank and ask to speak to him. 100% chance the is no-one by that name there. 

 

Also speak to the fraud department yourself and confirm this "breach"

[JBK]

LOL, so one could go on for pages and page on this subject, however, the common denominator is "Common Sense" and as mentioned above, "If it's too good to be true, it generally isn't".

 

However, a couple of comments about a couple of the above posts :

 

1) You must have your guard up as both a buyer and a seller !

 

2) Yes, it is astounding that the "I'm living on an oil rig.." is still going around, but it must be working. I almost sold a bike to this chap about 5 years ago - I advertised it for R10,000 but when he said he's on an oil rig I advised that since he's earning USD$, my price is USD$ 10,000. He said "No Problem" and persisted for my paypal account, which I advised was "ekisnieafokkenpoepalnie". This confused him and he eventually told me he was no longer interested. In all this time, he actually did not know what product we were conversing about as they reply to thousands of adverts a day. So, if you're suspicious, ask a question like "what are you planning to do with this item that you buying". If they can't answer, it's a scam.

 

2) Not all EFT payments are dodgy but only if you are face to face with the buyer. Moral of the story, unless you're face to face with the buyer, never let anything out of your sight for 5 days after payment. If the buyer gives you grief, then its a scam. I've bought plenty stuff over the hub (< R1k) from other province's for courier delivery and always advised the seller to ship once satisfied with payment. I also will ALWAYS speak to the seller to confirm legitimacy, especially with bike parts as a scammer generally doesn't know any technical info. Would I ever buy a Garmin 'blind' ? No never ! Would I ever buy 'blind' off other platforms like Facebook, Gumtree, OLX, etc ? No never !

 

3) Always ask what bank they are with before they ask you. The scammer will generally always match your bank to make you think the payment will be instant. 

 

4) If the buyer is the same bank as you, then the confirmation sms will come from the same number as all your others, hence legit. Banks like FNB have a brilliant feature of being able to confrim a payment by means of a CODE that you can enter yourself on their platform. My wife has an online  store and gets plenty dodgy requests Oct / Nov every year. They always want to collect immediately and get really angry when you stand your ground so do not give out your full address either, until you are 100% happy with the transaction. 

 

5) Always speak to a buyer and confirm that they sound legit before allowing them to come to your home. If at all dodgy, meet at work or nearest shopping centre parking lot / police station. Check them out on Facebook and the Hub. To be honest, Facebook is great, you can tell almost immediately 99% of the time if someone is legit.

 

6) For sure, beware of "I paid you twice" or "I overpaid by mistake". Wait at least 7 working days before refunding but note that the scammer will get really cross with you whilst I genuine mistake buyer will not.

 

However, check out my next post for, perhaps, the exception.

[JBK]

So, the above said, I must confess that I recently posted a kids bike seat on the hub for R1,000 and got the typical 100% scammer response "Good evening, I just want to enquire if the progeny is still up for sale. If so can I contact you to discuss payment and transport method?".

 

The profile on the hub had just been created and was a "(name)1975". Alarm bells ringing and I got so annoyed that I reported to the Hub who investigated from their side and advised that it did not comply entirely with a scam but that I should proceed with caution. I replied simply that the item was still available and got this response "Hi its xxx speaking can we arrange for payment and transport we are in Rustenburg my nr is xxx"

 

I asked and The Hub confirmed that mine was the only advert that the user had responded to which gave some credibility and the only reason that I went any further.

 

However, to prove them a scammer, I then contacted them via whatsapp and it got worse. The reply came that this was the guys wife and that they were in Rustenburg and would pay and get a courier to collect. If you look on OLX, most scammers are "based in Rustenburg". I enquired about the courier and they advised the name of a local motor vehicle dealership ! I was starting to enjoy the game now.

 

So I asked what they wished to do with "the item" for which they have enquired. To which I actually got a feasible response that her and her husband had recently started cycling and that they wanted to start taking their 2 and a half year old daughter with them.

 

So I asked for pictures of the bike "so that I could confirm if the child seat would fit". To which they sent me all the relevant pictures. I advised that we have an account with Courier Guy and that for an extra R100 I could deliver. No problem.

 

I asked "what Bank" which transpired to be the same bank as myself. I then felt confident providing bank details and I got the sms from the same number I get all my other confirmations.

 

I dispatched the following day and guess what, they thanked me for all the assistance in ensuring the seat would work on their bikes and we're kinda mates now. They've sent me pictures out riding altogether and they're happy as can be. 

 

So, not every 'scam' is a scam but it's sad how accustomed we've become to always assuming the worst, first.

Edited October 5, 2020 by JBK

[Daniel Silva]

I was actually very surprised to receive this response to a gumtree ad yesterday. Thought this scam died 20 years ago but obviously must be working!

 

"I am really interested in buying this as a surprise for my cousin, only if you can assure me that everything is in order. I am a petroleum engineer currently on a rig offshore, I want this to be a surprise for my cousin so I won't let him know anything about this until it gets delivered to him. It will be a secure payment via Skrill as I'm on a rig offshore. So let me know if you have an account with Skrill so I can arrange for the payment asap. Please note, a pick up agent will be coming for the pick up once I have made the payment."

It’s actually crazy though, I just posted an add for my bike three or four days ago and I got the exact same message from a Philip Wrightson, I seems too good to be true but luckily I gave his name a quick search on google before it got to far.