SCAM ALERT! What scams are out there?
As with any business venture you always
have the possibility of being scammed. Let’s
look at different scams that occur on eBay
and similar sites and how you can avoid
them.
Scam #1: Avoid Western Union at all costs!
Never buy any items with an individual or
company that wants to use Western Union
for your payment. Plus, Western Union is
not responsible in the event that you do not
receive the items you purchased.
One Western Union scam involves the
seller’s request that you pay via Western
Union and send the payment to one of your
relative’s names. The caveat is that you
have to send it to the seller’s address plus
you have to provide the control number.
This control number is used so that the
seller can verify your payment at Western
Union. Then the seller will ask you to change
the name on the Western Union payment to
the seller’s name once you have received
your items. This way the seller will then be
paid.
Here’s the problem – Western Union agents
in foreign countries don’t ask for
identification. If the seller is informed of the
control number and address you have for
the payment then he can snag your money.
He can do this without ever sending you
your shipment.
Scam #2: Another Western Union scam
situation would be if the seller requested
that you pay by Western Union using
Western Union’s “secret question”. The
“secret question” is a question that a
Western Union agent will ask the person
that requests the money, in this case the
seller.
Here’s the problem – Western Union agents
tend to be lazy about the “secret question”
and may not even ask it! If they see that the
seller has the control number or address
then they give him the money, no questions
asked. Check out Western Union’s website
and you will observe that they don’t
recommend using their “secret question”
feature if you don’t know the seller
personally.
Scam #3: Another major type of scam
involves doing business through a
disreputable Escrow service. These
dishonest Escrow services are out there in
droves. Therefore, you should ONLY use
Escrow.com. eBay has determine that this
Escrow services is legitimate and they
recommend them. A wonderful benefit is
that Escrow.com services nearly every
country in the entire world, except for
Romania and Indonesia. They don’t service
those two countries because of the intense
amount of fraud there.
How does Escrow.com work? In a nutshell,
Escrow.com has the buyer and seller make
an agreement on terms. The buyer submits
the funds through Escrow.com upon which
Escrow.com informs the seller. The seller
ships the items and the buyer notifies
Escrow.com after they have received the
shipment. The seller is then paid through
Escrow.com.
You might think that the buyer could keep
the items and not release payment, but this
won’t happen. Escrow.com has installed safe
guards for both the buyer and seller. If the
buyer says that they haven’t received
shipment (even if they might have) then the
seller can find the shipment with a tracking
number and shipping documentation
confirming that it was in fact sent and
received. Escrow.com could use this
information to release payment to the seller.
One specific type of Escrow scam involves
the seller requesting to work through a
different Escrow company then
Escrow.com. The seller will explain that
Escrow Company XYZ is the only one they
can rely on and do business with. The
website for this Escrow Company may
appear to be legitimate when in fact it has
been created by the seller! Remember,
making a professional looking website is
fairly easy. If the buyer were to send their
money to this fake Escrow website it would
go right into the hands of the seller.
Scam #4: Another Escrow scam involves the
seller informing the buyer that they can do
business through Squaretrade.com.
Squaretrade.com is a respectable business,
but it is NOT an Escrow service.
Squaretrade.com does not offer services
where they can accept deals and hold funds
for interested parties. Squaretrade.com is
used to resolve disputes. That is the main
reason why any eBay seller would have the
Squaretrade.com logo on their profile. Some
scammers will take it a step further and
even send you a fake email that appears to
be sent directly for Squaretrade.com when
it has not.
Scam #5: Another Escrow scam involves a
shipping service called “TNT”. The seller will
explain that the buyer needs to send their
money to TNT and TNT will keep the
payment until after they have shipped the
seller’s goods to the buyer. This is scam
because TNT is NOT an escrow service. They
will not collect funds and they don’t inspect
shipments. Scammer’s can also create a fake
email that looks like it is sent to you from
TNT when it is not.
Hope this info helps those dat do ebiz.tx