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Beware a scammer

Richard Law2022-04-24 17:13:17
I've had a contact (about an tandem in the For Sale section) from a supposed buyer, who I'll not name as he would only change his name next time anyway. After exchanging a couple of emails I was almost at the point of providing contact details, address etc, when something he said made me suspicious - basically he lives abroad (allegedly) and would be happy to send someone else to collect the bike from me. This is a well-known scam. The gist of it is that the supposed buyer makes the payment via Paypal or Western Union or similar, gets someone else to collect the goods, and then raises a 'Damaged or Not as expected' dispute via Paypal. They then claim the money back from your account, but by that time the goods are gone. 
I have halted the deal now, but if anyone else sees a similar transaction brewing, the general advice is to please be very, very cautious and only proceed if you are absolutely certain it's genuine.
Nicholas Cavan2022-05-09 14:33:50

I've had a similar experience when trying to sell wheels in the For Sale section. I was asking for £180 for the wheels but received a cheque for £1800 from a buyer claiming to be in France. The scammer asks you to pay the cheque in and arrange for collection with their shipping agent and to refund them the £1800 less shipping costs and the cost of the item for sale. The cheque is bogus but it would take 5 to 6 working days for your bank to get back to you by which time the scammer has collected the goods and you have refunded his "overpayment" from your own funds.

Fortrunately I was already aware of this type of scam so played along with it just to waste the scammers time and keep him away from other people.

Tim Ashelford2022-06-30 13:33:50

Yesterday I was victim of an almost identical scam attempt. I've advertised my tandem on the forum for sale page, received an offer, was then sent a cheque in Euro for 10x the agreed price .  Presume this cheque if a fraud and its been destroyed and blocked the supposed buyer.  

Tim