Smart tips to beat internet scammers
Last year a scammer sent me a “second offer.” on a laptop that I didn’t win on eBay. Its price was much cheaper than the winning bid on eBay. I fell in love with the scam thinking it was an offer from a genuine Ebayer giving me a second offer. I lost around $ 200 to the scam. Since then, I’ve gotten smarter about internet scams. So here are some smart tips on how to beat similar scams.
1. If a scammer sent you a second chance offer directly to your email address on an item that you didn’t win on eBay:
What to do: Do not accept any offers outside of eBay. Make sure all your communications are through EBay. Contact the seller. form. That way, EBay keeps track of your communications with the seller.
2. An online seller provides you with a foreign phone number to call if you have any questions:
What to do: The foreign number is a red flag. Some scammers hope you don’t call the number to avoid incurring long distance charges. Therefore, adopt a policy of “If I cannot contact you, I will not do business with you.” Try to limit online transactions to your country of residence unless you have international business experience.
3. The seller requests payment by Western Union money transfer or money order.
What to do: Do not make payments by credit card, Western Union, or money order to foreign sellers. PayPal is a better and more secure option, at least for now. Anyone doing business on the Internet knows that once a scammer in a foreign country receives your Western Union money transfer, or money order, they have no way of getting your money back. Unfortunately, some of the scammers in some foreign countries work closely with the staff of local banks in those countries. Don’t expect help from either the foreign bank or the local officials there. All a scammer needs to receive a Western Union money transfer is the code and an ID.
4. Does the seller forward a UPS? You will receive a Cash On Delivery (COD) form that contains instructions, where you must complete a Western Union Money Transfer Number (MTN) and shipping information. Typically, the form will prompt you to complete and submit it and send it directly to UPS. database and not the vendor. You can also explain that a UPS staff will review the form and retain the Western Union code. A UPS staff will first inspect the item from the seller and receive it on their behalf for shipping, and finally deliver the Western Union code to the seller for payment. The form will normally look like an official UPS online form with logos, colors, and trademarks. Everything will look genuine.
What to do: According to UPS, they hardly do COD on international shipments. Therefore, this type of online UPS form is bogus and does not originate with UPS. If you receive a similar form by email, do one of the following.
Check the web address:
Look for underscores, hyphens, extra letters or numbers added to the web address to mimic an official website. For example, ?? http: //www.ups.com ?? definitely not the same as ?? http: //www.ups1.com ??. Also ??[http://www.westernunion.com]?? is not the same as ?? http: //www.westernunionn.com ?? (notice the strange ?? n ?? added to ?? union ??). If you suspect the web address, call the toll-free number listed on the official website that the scammer is trying to mimic to confirm whether the forwarded web address belongs to you.
Find out where the form is sent:
Each web-based form you fill out sends the information to a database or email address. You can check where the information is sent as follows:
?? Right click on the form
?? Click “View Source” (the HTLM code will appear, don’t be intimidated)
?? If you’re technical, look at the form header to see where the form is submitted. If the form is sent to one of the free email clients like hotmail, yahoo, etc., please treat it as suspicious. A reputable business cannot use free email addresses to receive customer orders and personal information.
If the email address belongs to a private company, say [email protected] ??
?? Takes the ?? yoyo @ ?? and replace it with ?? www ??.
?? Enter the web address, for example, ?? http: //www.blabla.com ?? in the address bar and open the website.
?? Make a note of the website’s IP address.
?? Go to http://www.dnsstuff.com and enter the web or IP address. Dnsstuff.com is a free service that will give you detailed information on where a website is hosted.
?? If the seller claims to be from, for example, Canada and the site is hosted in, for example, South Africa, you have reason to investigate further.
The biggest misconception is that all internet scams originate in Nigeria. This misinformation has prepared the minds of many people to only consider Nigerian online transactions suspicious. The reality is that Internet scammers are everywhere, in every country. It is an easy way to earn money quickly, which is why it attracts many people from various countries and backgrounds.
The guys who scammed my money were based in one of the breakaway republics of the USSR. When I blocked my phone number and called them, one of them picked up the phone by mistake, greeted me with a clear Soviet accent, and then hung up the phone when I spoke. He was definitely not African.