Online Scams & Fraud

Amy_TradingPost — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:13:44 GMT

The internet is a great place for criminals to operate - they rely on being able to remain anonymous and on targeting and luring unsuspecting users into their latest scams.

Always keep in mind that Trading Post is for buyers and sellers located within Australia only. If you are contacted by either a buyer or seller stating that they are located overseas, you should exercise extreme caution and report the user to us immediately.

Trading Post advises that buyers and sellers should be aware of scams and hoaxes when trading online. These internet-based scams aim to steal both money and personal information such as:

• name
• address
• date of birth
• certain financial information

Listed below are a number of well known scams:

Items listed well below market value

A seller advertises a high-value item for sale at a price well below market value. Such items include:

• Cars
• Motorbikes
• Caravan
• Tractors
• Computers/Laptops
• Gaming consoles

Generally, a contact phone number and email address are listed in the ad. The contact number is either invalid, a fax line or the person answering the number does not have the item for sale. Would-be buyers then email the seller for more information. When the seller responds, they provide a reason for the item being priced under market value. Examples include: the seller has moved and the item is located overseas, the seller has been divorced and need to quickly sell the item.

Often the seller nominates money transfer services such as Western Union or Moneygram to receive the funds. If the buyer sends funds the item is never received by the buyer. The seller collects the funds generally within hours of the funds being sent, once this has happened the buyer is unable to recover the funds. In some cases, the seller will nominate an escrow service to hold the funds until the purchase is completed. The seller fakes correspondence from the escrow service to deceive the buyer.

PLEASE NOTE: Both Western Union and Moneygram advice users to only use their services to send funds to people that you know and can trust. More information on transferring funds with Western Union and Moneygram is available on their websites:

www.westernunion.com
www.moneygram.com

Protect Yourself

• Look out for deals that seem too good to be true. If they seem too good to be true, they often are.
• Never send money via cash transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram to people you don’t know and trust. Please note these payments methods are prohibited on Trading Post®
• Beware of emails from sellers who are offering buyer protection or insurance for the purchase price
• If in doubt contact Trading Post® to verify the item and transaction, email investigations@tradingpost.com.au

Buyers requesting personal information

A seller places an item for sale (either online or in the print publication) and an interested buyer makes contact. The buyer asks for excessive amounts of personal information (such as date of birth, drivers licence number, bank account names and numbers). Such information can be put together and allow a criminal to take over the seller's identity. This is known as identity takeover. This can lead to loss of funds or even credit and loans being taken out in the victim's name.

Protect Yourself - only provide information that is relevant to the sale of your item. A date of birth or a licence number would rarely be required to complete a sale.

Fake Emails

Emails are sent in an attempt to trick the recipient into giving away personal information such as user names, passwords, credit card numbers, and other personal or financial information. Such scams are known as "phishing" attacks. The emails are deliberately designed to look as if they have been sent by a legitimate institution such as banks, financial institutions, online shopping and trading sites, and internet service providers. If data is obtained, the fraudsters can impersonate the victim and take over their identity.
Links in these phishing emails often direct the user to a fake website, which has been setup to look like the legitimate company's website. This is done to deceive the victim and make them more comfortable about providing their personal information.

Protect yourself - you can protect yourself from falling victim to phishing scams by following these steps:
• Never log into a website from a link contained in an email
• Always log in by typing the website's address into your browser
• Be wary of emails from unknown senders
• Note that phishing emails are often written in poor English and with grammatical errors
• Be cautious of emails that are not personally addressed to you such as "Dear User". Legitimate emails from Trading Post will always include the name you have registered with us
• Be wary of emails where the email 'threatens' you into taking urgent action or the email advises the company has lost certain personal information. This type of email will request personal information to prevent an account from being closed, suspended or being billed. In some cases the email will request this information to update the company's records.
• Do not rely on the sender's email address to identify if the email is genuine. The sender's email address can be faked
• If you are at all unsure if the email is authentic, contact the company in question to verify the email
• If you believe you have received or responded to a phishing scam, immediately contact the relevant company to report it and seek further advice. Once you have reported it (and forwarded the email if applicable), delete the email and then empty your 'Deleted Items'
• Report a phishing email - forward a copy to spoof@tradingpost.com.au

Overseas Buyers

An overseas buyer offers to buy a car (or other high-value item). The buyer offers to send a cheque or bank transfer to the seller for more than the purchase price, to cover shipping costs, customs fees etc. The buyer then asks the seller to send back the difference via cheque or bank transfer. If the cheque or bank transfer to the seller fails, the seller could be out of pocket.

Protect Yourself – Be cautious of international buyers offering to send you more money than the purchase price of the item. If you suspect a scam, you can report it by sending an email to investigations@tradingpost.com.au including all relevant details.

Fake Job Advertisements

Many users have reported receiving scam job offers within Australia to take positions as money transfer agents. This scam is known by some as ‘mule recruitment’.

Typically, the fraudsters send out spam emails to ‘advertise’ these jobs or approach people directly through online chat rooms and instant messaging programs. Anyone taking up one of the fake jobs is asked to receive funds into their personal bank account or credit card and then to send the money overseas, after taking a percentage as commission.

Fraudsters use this scam to trick unsuspecting people into laundering money on their behalf. The funds are usually the proceeds of criminal activity undertaken by the fraudsters. Users should be aware of these fake job advertisements and remember that if the job seems too good to be true, it probably is. Participating in such activity could lead to prosecution from law enforcement agencies.

Protect Yourself - If you receive such emails, Trading Post recommends that you ignore and delete the emails. If you believe that you have replied to such a scam or received stolen funds into your bank account or credit card, we recommend that you contact your financial institution and local police or law enforcement agency for advice.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) runs the SCAMwatch website which provides information to consumers about how to recognise, avoid and report scams. Visit the SCAMwatch site to stay up to date on the latest information: Click Here

If you wish to report an item or you require some advice, you can email the Trading Post Trust & Safety team at investigations@tradingpost.com.au

Discussion Forums / TRADE ONLINE SAFELY / Advice and Information for Trading Online / Online Scams & Fraud / Latest Posts

Online Scams & Fraud