Avoiding Fraud

Fraudulent and Scam Messages

All Internet adverts systems are being targeted by fraudsters trying to trick people into parting with money or banking details without ever receiving payments for their advertised goods.

These messages are sent out by 'robot' software and have not been aimed at you personally - thousands of people get the same message every day. They are working on a numbers game - if they send out enough messages a few people will respond and get conned.

These messages are usually easy to spot as they use stange grammar and are general in tone and rarely ask specific questions about your items for sale.

You may get enquiries, particularly from outside the UK, offering to buy your goods by sending you a larger value cheque or money order than your asking price, and asking for you to cash the cheque and send the difference with your goods. The cheque will bounce. These messages often are often badly written and use poor English. Look out for phrases like 'current condition' and 'final asking price' which are often used and a lack of specific knowledge about the items they are enquiring about.

The best way to deal with them is to just ignore and delete them. Always communicate with potential purchasers through the site where your personal details are not revealed to the other party unless you've already included them in your advert.