- This topic is empty.
ATTENTION: SCAM
-
As I wrote before, I should have been way more careful than I was, but I guess this time I was just too superficial, or maybe I didn’t think it could happen to me. It’s the first time that something like this has happened, and it taught me a lesson. In the last 15 years, I’ve bought and sold stuff online, usually through the usual “big” websites (ebay to sell, amazon and other certified vendors to buy), and the only time I did things differently, it was a scam.
Anyway, I called both the Post Office and the Garda, and they told me 2 very important things: first of all, once a package has been sent, even if it’s trackable, there’s no way to pull it off the system. In other words, even if the package is still at the post office, once it’s in the system it cannot be pulled out for any reason. The only way to do it would to file a report to the local police authority and pass it over to Interpol, but for items of small value is almost guaranteed you’re not going to get it back (and Interpol has bigger things to deal with).
Secondly, never give away personal details, such as bank account numbers, addresses, phone numbers or other personal details (glad i didn’t): in the world we live in, ID theft is really easy (think about the amount of stuff that can be found via websites, facebook, forum boards), and these criminals only need one or two details to get to your bank account. Sometimes these scams are set up to steal money from bank accounts or to use personal information in criminal operations. NEVER EVER accept a direct payment on a bank account: use Paypal if the buyer can’t pick the item up in person.
francesco wrote:
As I wrote before, I should have been way more careful than I was, but I guess this time I was just too superficial, or maybe I didn’t think it could happen to me. It’s the first time that something like this has happened, and it taught me a lesson. In the last 15 years, I’ve bought and sold stuff online, usually through the usual “big” websites (ebay to sell, amazon and other certified vendors to buy), and the only time I did things differently, it was a scam.
I wouldn’t let it put you off, Francesco. If you follow good practice, ie if you’re a seller, don’t despatch the goods until you’ve received the funds first. It’s tougher as a buyer I feel, and I almost always insist dealing in person. The only time I will make an exception, and do a deal via shipping would be if the seller was well established on a website/ forum, as I feel once a seller has your money you don’t have too much power if anything goes wrong.
francesco wrote:
Secondly, never give away personal details, such as bank account numbers, addresses, phone numbers or other personal details (glad i didn’t): in the world we live in, ID theft is really easy (think about the amount of stuff that can be found via websites, facebook, forum boards), and these criminals only need one or two details to get to your bank account. Sometimes these scams are set up to steal money from bank accounts or to use personal information in criminal operations. NEVER EVER accept a direct payment on a bank account: use Paypal if the buyer can’t pick the item up in person.
Could you elaborate on your last point Francesco, and the risk you reckon is there from bank transfers? With paypal fees increasing, you often see increasing number of sellers (most genuine, I imagine) requesting payment by bank transfer, to avoid the 3% paypal fees. Many ebay sellers in Germany, in particular, frequently request bank transfer payments, and to date I had thought nothing of it (aside from the hassle, of course),
Damien
“All offers made must be either accepted or refused in the thread”
One of the rules is that dealing should be done on thread only. This would at least allow lurkers to spot potential scams and alert buyers/sellers. The Nigerian scams are rife not just here, but on every selling site. If anyone receives off thread offers they should report the member.
francesco – sorry to hear of your loss but you’ll be wiser the next time.
damien.murphy wrote:
I wouldn’t let it put you off, Francesco. If you follow good practice, ie if you’re a seller, don’t despatch the goods until you’ve received the funds first. It’s tougher as a buyer I feel, and I almost always insist dealing in person. The only time I will make an exception, and do a deal via shipping would be if the seller was well established on a website/ forum, as I feel once a seller has your money you don’t have too much power if anything goes wrong.
You’re absolutely right, Damien. That’s exactly what I’ve done in the past. This time around, though, as I wrote before, I was so superficial…I’m so upset I didn’t see the scam happening right in front of my eyes!
damien.murphy wrote:
Could you elaborate on your last point Francesco, and the risk you reckon is there from bank transfers? With paypal fees increasing, you often see increasing number of sellers (most genuine, I imagine) requesting payment by bank transfer, to avoid the 3% paypal fees. Many ebay sellers in Germany, in particular, frequently request bank transfer payments, and to date I had thought nothing of it (aside from the hassle, of course),
This is what the Garda (and later the Bank) told me: in order to have some money transferred to your account, you must give the buyer your account number and other information (name of the bank, NSC, it depends on the country: in Italy we must give a code called IBAN). Technically the system is secure, but if someone manages to obtain other personal information from you, as address, phone number, etc, nd sometimes that’s very easy online, they could, in theory, use that information to forge a legal document (I don’t know the correct word in English, it’s a piece of paper certifying you’ve given them permission to do some operation on your account) and use it to take money from your bank account. These days some banks want you to show a legal document if you want to access your own bank account, others are not as strict, and in any case, these people could use forged documents. I don’t know how risky it really is, but this is what the Garda and the Bank told me: NEVER EVER give anyone you don’t know your account number or any personal information.
damien.murphy wrote:
Could you elaborate on your last point Francesco, and the risk you reckon is there from bank transfers? With paypal fees increasing, you often see increasing number of sellers (most genuine, I imagine) requesting payment by bank transfer, to avoid the 3% paypal fees. Many ebay sellers in Germany, in particular, frequently request bank transfer payments, and to date I had thought nothing of it (aside from the hassle, of course),
francesco wrote:
This is what the Garda (and later the Bank) told me: in order to have some money transferred to your account, you must give the buyer your account number and other information (name of the bank, NSC, it depends on the country: in Italy we must give a code called IBAN). Technically the system is secure, but if someone manages to obtain other personal information from you, as address, phone number, etc, nd sometimes that’s very easy online, they could, in theory, use that information to forge a legal document (I don’t know the correct word in English, it’s a piece of paper certifying you’ve given them permission to do some operation on your account) and use it to take money from your bank account. These days some banks want you to show a legal document if you want to access your own bank account, others are not as strict, and in any case, these people could use forged documents. I don’t know how risky it really is, but this is what the Garda and the Bank told me: NEVER EVER give anyone you don’t know your account number or any personal information.
Ah, I see where you’re going. Good to know, as I would have been a little naieve with regard to this type of scam. I will be a lot more careful re: bank details in future :)
francesco wrote:
[quote=”damien.murphy”
This is what the Garda (and later the Bank) told me: in order to have some money transferred to your account, you must give the buyer your account number and other information (name of the bank, NSC, it depends on the country: in Italy we must give a code called IBAN). Technically the system is secure, but if someone manages to obtain other personal information from you, as address, phone number, etc, nd sometimes that’s very easy online, they could, in theory, use that information to forge a legal document (I don’t know the correct word in English, it’s a piece of paper certifying you’ve given them permission to do some operation on your account) and use it to take money from your bank account. These days some banks want you to show a legal document if you want to access your own bank account, others are not as strict, and in any case, these people could use forged documents. I don’t know how risky it really is, but this is what the Garda and the Bank told me: NEVER EVER give anyone you don’t know your account number or any personal information.Sounds like very odd advice to me. In most European countries (but not Ireland and the UK) direct bank transfer is the norm, and regarded as secure and a lot more reliable than a (possibly forged) bank draft or cheque. This advice would also mean you could never give anyone a cheque – as they would then have your bank account details AND a specimen copy of your signature. Doesn’t make sense to me – and goes against all the advice I have seen before.
Frank,
From my reading of the above, the advice Francesco was given was precautionary, as with additional information such as address and date of birth, scammers could potentially access your funds,
Damien
Remember, every time you see a message that contains words “money” and “Nigeria”, it is a scam.
This is a real eye opener for people who buy and sell on the internet, at times its a cat and mouce game. usually when I buy I always try meet the person In public even if its on the other side of the country I much rather loose a 50 euro train ticket then hundreds from your account.
damien.murphy wrote:
Frank,
From my reading of the above, the advice Francesco was given was precautionary, as with additional information such as address and date of birth, scammers could potentially access your funds,
Damien
That’s exactly what I meant, Damien. Can someone access one’s bank account just with account number and NSC? No, they can’t. But usually these scammers ask you for other details, like physical address or telephone number, and that info, along with bank details, could be used for account operations. These days, actually, there are so many people that willingly post many personal details on places like Facebook, with little attention to privacy settings, that identity theft is becoming much easier than before.
Sorry to hear that. I reported someone who contacted me regarding an ad clearly marked sold.
LOOK’S LIKE WE HAVE ANOTHER SCAMMER HERE BEWARE.
Thanks iTom,
That is good news, thanks for getting back to me.
I am new to this forum, and I am unsure how we would do a sale here… and I know it mentions not to leave links to eBay items too. How would we arrange a sale between us? I know I have to give you and offer and when accepted where do we go from there? (sorry for my uncertainty!)
I will need it sending over here, via overseas courier and will need dimensions and weight of the whole package to book it. Can you provide me with this please?Thanks again iTom.
Scott
scottakoz
MemberPosts: 3
Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:28 pm
Top
Re: Mitsubishi IT5000 & CP9550DW-S Printer.
by scottakoz ยป Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:32 amscottakoz wrote:
I will need it sending over here, via overseas courier and will need dimensions and weight of the whole package to book it.I could also do with having a postcode or postal address for the collection too please.
scottakoz
MemberPosts: 3
Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2010 10:28 pmATTENTION ADMIN…….I would suggest a minimum membership time…All these scammers have joined the day of the offer. I would suggest 100 posts min. and a waiting time of 2-3-4-5-6 months you decide before being able to post in for/sale forum. IMHO this would knock it on the head
Its not confirmed that this is a spammer…
The poster also has a flickr account etc…
Mark wrote:
Its not confirmed that this is a spammer…
The poster also has a flickr account etc…
No offence, but this is one of the oldest scams in The Internet (so called Nigerian Scam). A good admin should have heard about it…
I think that some period and minimum of activity on this board wouldn’t do any harm to the new members.
To all users – I would suggest you to use paypal when you send something abroad.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
