I' am talking about online scammers, who use false idenities and say they have an item you want, but really dont, and take your money and you hear nothing back.

The number one prevention of this scam is cash on collection. But If you have no other alternative than paying online, heres what can make your

transactions safer.

- Ask the person if you can collect the item before coming to the posting arangement, If they say yes, they will most definity have the item.

- If he fails to give you an adress hes bound to be hinding something.

- If you get the sellers adress, google it a make sure it accurate/ real.

- Pictures speak a thousand words, always ask for pictures.

- Ask if he can put a Date next to item if he is going to take pictures, this pretty much stops any scammers googling pictures

some of this may look extreame.... but if all else fails and you do get scammed, you have his adress. You can go down the police route, or recover you cash via property damage

Some of this is common sence i know...

IF anyone has got any other usefull tips or infomation feel free as i will make an update on the lists when ever.

Edited 17 February, 201016 yr by mattpolo5491

googling the address is a good idea as the scammer is likely to give out the same or similar few addresses each time so this should bring up threads on other forums if there are any.

googling the person's username is a good one too.

In most of the "nik hewitt" cases, he was offering hard to find items at too-good-to-be-true prices, if something looks too good to be true it probably isn't true!

Be vary careful of for sale ads from brand new users with no posts or a few low post count. If a user pm's you offering something for sale either in response to a wanted ad or a reply you made to someone else's for sale ad, be careful too, do all the same checks. if its a user with no posts then its probably a scam.

never, ever, ever, ever, EVER send cash in the post, you have pretty much no comeback if the money "goes missing". Always pay by paypal if its a user you dont already know and trust.

If you do get scammed, go to the police, this is a crime and needs handling as such. There is nothing any forum moderators or admins can do to get your money back. Whether the police get anywhere is a different matter, taking things into your own hands probably wont get your far in most cases. And don't forget, turning up on someone's door step and giving them a piece of your mind might seem a good idea and might even make you feel better for a bit but it is unlikely to get you your money and if you've given them your address to post something, expect them to want some revenge. Some of these scammers wont be just kids.

yeah, knowing the guy is behind bars is better than telling him hes a c*nt any day.

some more usefull info there !

what i always seem to do when buying of forums is ask them to put it on ebay and put the item at a penny and then postage and rest of the amount

wanted then that way you know your money is safe as its going through ebay so if you dont recieve the item you always have the option of putting

in a complaint.

i dont know if its like that with paypal anyway??

If you do agree to collect and they ask you to meet them at a motorway services/car park/industrial estate (anywhere other than a home adress) be very wary, I would

certainly be asking to meet them at their house, this way you have some details on them to pass on to the police or take matters into your own hands if thats your style!

especially with expensive items they claim to be 'genuine' or 'rare' or when buying a new car as most likely if they are meeting you in a service station the items could

be ill-fitting and poor quality knockoffs or the car could very easily be stolen with edited vin numbers and false plates etc

Edited 17 February, 201016 yr by Matt_Oldfield

If paying with paypal, make sure you dont try to decrease the paypal fees by sending the money as a gift. Always send it as a proper payment so you can dispute it if you have any problems. Its worth the extra pennies..

Well after a few years of not having hassle I have just been done.

Only for a tenner, but even still, the guy must have coined it for about 14 days before he was caught by ebay.

Just hope the paypal system works for me now to see if I can claim the money back.

At last, a useful thread on here :)

About time lol

Well after a few years of not having hassle I have just been done.

Only for a tenner, but even still, the guy must have coined it for about 14 days before he was caught by ebay.

Just hope the paypal system works for me now to see if I can claim the money back.

that's interesting as the same thing recently happened to me. A seller who'd been on there for about a year and had 100% good feedback, seems to have ripped people off for £1000's and done a runner. Mine was only £60 and I've got it back off paypal now but some of the other items other people had bought were £1500 mac books and stuff. Just seemed like the seller opened the account and ran it well for a year with the sole intention of listing a load of expensive stuff and doing a disappearing act.

might of been a hacked account /\

it's possible yeah

Well after a few years of not having hassle I have just been done.

Only for a tenner, but even still, the guy must have coined it for about 14 days before he was caught by ebay.

Just hope the paypal system works for me now to see if I can claim the money back.

that's interesting as the same thing recently happened to me. A seller who'd been on there for about a year and had 100% good feedback, seems to have ripped people off for £1000's and done a runner. Mine was only £60 and I've got it back off paypal now but some of the other items other people had bought were £1500 mac books and stuff. Just seemed like the seller opened the account and ran it well for a year with the sole intention of listing a load of expensive stuff and doing a disappearing act.

Most annoyed in my case as I had actually spoken to the guy, I just lost my record of his mobile number; then no trace of him at all!!!! But again, plenty of feedback.

Hacked account I reckon it could have been, but the tactic is quite a good one, lots of low value transactions, then leg it!!!!