Fraud Alert! (for buyers)

Increasingly, when I visit my local Postal Outlet, I am hearing of people asking to purchase Western Union MoneyGrams to pay for purchases they think they are making through eBay. In fact, it was Rosemary`s suggestion that I post these alerts.

In fact, these are not payments for eBay transactions at all. They are generally payments being made to a scammer who contacts an unsuccessful underbidder on an eBay auction. The scam artist will target someone they believe is a novice (low feedback) and approach them outside of eBay with a purported "second chance" offer. He will frequently suggest that he has more stock of the item and will offer it at a bargain price if the transaction can be concluded outside of eBay and PayPal - supposedly to help keep prices down by avoiding "high" fees. They fail to mention that conducting the transaction outside of eBay and PayPal will mean that you forgo their protection though.`

The scammer will then ask for payment by Western Union MoneyGram to be sent as payment. Occasionally it will be to a PO Box and frequently it will be outside of Canada. They also fail to mention that MoneyGrams are like sending cold, hard cash. There is no way to protect yourself with MoneyGrams.

A word to the wise - NEVER pay for transactions with Western Union MoneyGrams! I mean NEVER!!! There is a very good reason why eBay have not included MoneyGrams as an acceptable payment method in their Approved Payments Policy. If you send a MoneyGram you will never see the item you purchased - nor will you see your money again!

One sure way to determine if the Second Chance offer you receive is legitimate is to visit My Messages on eBay. All legitimate Second Chance offers will show up here. You should also ensure you are protected by using PayPal exclusively as your payment method. Legitimate sellers are well aware of the dominance of PayPal as the preferred payment method by buyers and will accept PayPal as a convenience to their customers. They have nothing to hide or fear if they are truly offering the goods for sale.

Be extremely wary of sellers who claim they are circumnavigating eBay and PayPal fees in your interests. It is rarely the case.

Fraud Alert! (for sellers)

Buyers are not the only ones succeptable to fraud. In recent months a rash of bogus money orders have been sent to unsuspecting sellers of big ticket items. Canada Post money orders seem to be the payment method of choice for these scammers.

Most frequently the fraud works like this. The seller offers an expensive item for sale on eBay. When the auction closes they are contacted by the supposed buyer (frequently the account has been hijacked by the scammer or it will be a zero feedback buyer) who promises to send a Canada Post money order in payment for the item. Time passes and a money order is received followed immediately by what appears to be a duplicate payment. The "buyer" emails that they have mistakenly sent a double payment. Would the seller please ship the item immediately (frequently it is needed as a gift and the shipping costs are no object) and cash both money orders and send the overpayment back to the buyer in the form of a Western Union MoneyGram? Would they also ship the item and overpayment to a different address than the one on the buyer's eBay account?

An unsuspecting seller, in the interests of customer service, will comply. Of course, in a few days they find out that the money orders were both bogus and that they get no response to emails sent to the buyer. Not only are they out the expensive item they sold - they are also seriously out of pocket for the MoneyGram sent.

There are a few tip-offs for this one. They include:

• Canada Post money orders received from out of country are guaranteed to be bogus. Their money orders are only available at postal outlets within Canada.
• Legitimate Canada Post money orders have a heat sensitive pink square near the top-middle. If you place your thumb on this area for a few seconds it will change colour from pink to white. Counterfeit money orders do not duplicate this feature.
• Be suspicious when a buyer wants an item shipped urgently to an address (frequently out of country) and to one other than is registered to their eBay account.