Almost Got Scammed on Marketplace

Platinumtelecom on 23/10/2022 - 20:20

I am selling an IPhone. And pretty much all day I have been saying “cash only”.

Tonight someone messaged me and wanted to buy it. She said she would PayID and her son would pick up tomorrow. I thought, fine, the funds should clear by then.

Asked for my address for pick up and phone number for PayID. I provided both.

Then she said she needed my email to send confirmation. And that was a red flag for me. As soon as I said no, she left the conversation.

Is there anything they can do with name, phone number and address? I have already contacted the bank just in case.

I am so annoyed with myself as I know, number 1 rule is cash only.

Financial

Comments

  • TheMills on 23/10/2022 - 20:36
    +3

    I had a similar encounter but I insisted on cash and the lady left. Also, it was a red flag for me when she said her son doesn’t have a bank account.. 😂
    I didn’t give my address or the email id.

  • Twix on 23/10/2022 - 20:56
    +4

    Targeted by name with scam calls and messages pretending to be from eBay, PayPal, Amazon and so on.

    • Platinumtelecom on 23/10/2022 - 21:58
      +2

      Oh so nothing new for me 😂 this has been going on for years.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 23/10/2022 - 21:23
    +4

    Cash 👏 is 👏 king

  • Ziggy28 on 23/10/2022 - 21:33

    Insist on Cash only (No bank transfer, PayID, Paypal etc). Meet at a place like Maccas. Don't supply contact numbers, addresses, personal info.

    • ForkSnorter on 24/10/2022 - 07:59
      +3

      I don’t agree with insisting on “public meetup” to sell 2nd hand items. This is what some people do when they’re selling stolen goods, or tech items that don’t work. Just don’t provide any information except your address, and insist on cash, in person.

  • USER DC on 23/10/2022 - 21:58
    -1

    hmm they could already have gotten your

    name, phone number and address

    from the optus breach anyway

  • ben5000 on 23/10/2022 - 22:09
    +6

    There's millions of those people. Cops don't even chase up real scams, let alone one that was 'attempted' unsuccessfully. Australia has become the scam capital of the world at this point, it's completely out of control. Half of them are just junkies here in Australia, the other half are organised overseas syndicates.

    • SuspiciouslySquishyG on 24/10/2022 - 07:47

      I agree. I got scammed via FB marketplace. I can clearly see that they used the gift card at a select store with the receipt number. I gave all the information and screenshots to the police and 3 years later, still nothing.

      Be aware and don’t be scammed. If you do, police are next to useless in helping you.

      • ThithLord on 24/10/2022 - 09:37

        Someone used my partner's Credit Card (reported stolen) to renew their car registration! and the Police said they can't do much about it

    • samfisher5986 on 24/10/2022 - 13:12

      What exactly will the police follow up? Its all done overseas with hacked/stolen bank accounts.

      If people just followed the rules and stuck with cash we wouldn't have an issue.

      • ben5000 on 24/10/2022 - 20:26
        +1

        Totally agree, but the issue is where I live all of the atms and bank branches have been shut down. The banks have gone way too far with cost cutting measures. Theres only like 3 branches left of each big 4 bank, in a city of over 1 million people.

        • samfisher5986 on 25/10/2022 - 01:05

          You can get cash from any supermarket for free… there's no excuse.

          • ben5000 on 25/10/2022 - 01:23
            +1

            @samfisher5986: No you can't. They have very small limits of a couple hundred bucks.

            • samfisher5986 on 25/10/2022 - 09:34

              @ben5000: If you need $1000+ cash then you should be either going to a bank or going to an ATM. Again there's no excuse, my point was that it was no extra effort for the average thing sold on facebook marketplace as you can just get the cash from the supermarket.

              • Quantumcat on 25/10/2022 - 10:12

                @samfisher5986: If there are no bank branches and no ATMs where they live what exactly do you suggest

                • samfisher5986 on 25/10/2022 - 10:13

                  @Quantumcat: Show me a town where there are no banks or ATM's?

                  I'll wait.

                  • Quantumcat on 25/10/2022 - 10:17

                    @samfisher5986: They closed the last commonwealth bank branch and ATM near me (Jamison shopping centre in Canberra) and now I have to go to the mall. It's very inconvenient as the mall is not always open. The ATM used to face the street so I could go there any time.

                    • samfisher5986 on 25/10/2022 - 11:13

                      @Quantumcat: I can see at least 6 ATM's within 3km of that area, there's plenty more likely not showing as well as more further out.

                      Most of those are probably 24/7.

                      • Quantumcat on 25/10/2022 - 11:55

                        @samfisher5986: Commonwealth ATMs? Other ATMs are no good as I use cardless cash (I don't carry a wallet and pay for everything with my phone) and need to deposit cheques occasionally. Please tell me where they are as I would love to know!

                        • samfisher5986 on 25/10/2022 - 14:41

                          @Quantumcat: Using a commonwealth feature and then complaining about lack of ATM's isn't anyone else issue though.

                          The fact is that there are plenty of ATM's and if you needed cash you should just use your bank card.

  • dtc on 23/10/2022 - 22:16

    How did people avoid it when the white pages gave everyone your name, phone number and address…

    • Muzeeb on 23/10/2022 - 22:35
      +1

      Whitepages still exists

    • cookie2 on 24/10/2022 - 07:27

      You could choose to be unlisted. Plus a very different time with scamming and data theft not as prolific as it is now.

  • thatonethere on 23/10/2022 - 22:51
    +4

    Heh. I have a facebook marketplace/gumtree pickup address. Next suburb opposite at the base of an apartment block with an open foyer.

    • Neilzy on 24/10/2022 - 08:28

      My pickup address is my the foyer of my local cop shop. Genuine buyers have no issue with it and havnt had any issue with the cops either.

      • spal on 24/10/2022 - 08:48
        +1

        When buying I would prefer a genuine seller too. So, meeting at a cop shop is better to calm my nerves too.

      • Tleyx on 24/10/2022 - 19:25

        As if the cops would do anything if they scammed you though

  • Kiro on 24/10/2022 - 08:00

    on all my FB market place sales or gum tree i always end wth the line 'Cash is king'

  • ForkSnorter on 24/10/2022 - 08:01
    -2

    When I sell things on marketplace, I don’t negotiate the price online, and I don’t “hold” items. The item is sold when they’ve picked it up and paid in cash. I ignore people who only ask "is this available?” I also generally ignore people who don’t have a profile photo.

    • tajid on 24/10/2022 - 17:37
      +1

      I don't know why people negged you - this is very fair as there are so many time wasters and so many 'is this available'.

      Facebook accounts get hacked all the time so profile photo is not the best but i helps fitering out I suppose.

  • tajid on 24/10/2022 - 08:49

    Yup happened to me couple days ago and a very common Gumtree/markeplace type of scam. As soon as they ask for email and/or payid now and pickup tomorrow because they are not in town etc, i block them.

  • eltito on 24/10/2022 - 08:51

    Out of curiosity, what would have been the potential scam in this instance? She sends a fake pay ID screenshot to your email showing funds have been paid? I assume it goes something like, comes to collect and says funds should clear and you've got the screenshot as proof?

    I've never been a 2nd hand buyer/seller, however I've recently dipped my toes and sold my scooter for around $500. I was happy with using bsb/acc provided the $ cleared before I gave the goods. I hadn't mentioned this to the buyer, but the funds cleared instantly. But now I'm thinking, should I never consider PayID/bsb & acc as an option if I'm selling?

    • freefall101 on 24/10/2022 - 09:44

      Nah, so long as you check it's actually hit the account then it's unlikely to be an issue. They could technically reverse it but the banks are going to contact you about that and the trail becomes pretty long at that point.

      The scam here is sending a fake email of the funds being deposited and hoping they don't check their bank account. Not exactly original - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-09/qld-gumtree-online-se…

  • pok on 24/10/2022 - 08:58

    Had something similar. They send an email with payID confirmation and then want to have someone else collect.

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 24/10/2022 - 09:41

    About 4 years ago, I did a Paypal transaction via Gumtree. All went through, no problems. :)

  • Porker on 24/10/2022 - 10:04
    +1

    Cash only is the first rule, but not always suitable for all buyers.

    Second thing I do is NEVER give out my address until (say) an hour before collection. I just let them know which street and suburb I'm on, and then when they message me that they're on their way, I give my house number. I try to avoid unnecessarily giving my address and let the buyer know this arrangement prior.

    If paying via PayID, I wait until I see the 'completed' screen on their phone and take photo of it then hand the goods over. One time I had a buyer come and request to pay via PayID. She began the process and said 'okay, that's now done'. I asked if I could see her screen and she showed it to me and saw that it was still at the 'pay' screen, ie. she didn't press pay to transfer the money.

    I politely said she has another step to do and then she pressed pay which then showed the completed transaction screen.

  • Richmond Tigers on 24/10/2022 - 10:10

    What happened to good old dedicated sub account, giving your acc no and waiting for the osko to clear immediately?

  • md333 on 24/10/2022 - 12:57

    I just took $13,000 by payID for a car. Worked brilliantly. Not until the buyers had inspected in person though. I gave them my email address too (actually its on the vehicle transfer form these days).

    • Muzeeb on 24/10/2022 - 16:37

      Never knew you could do $13k via payid instantly.

      • Tleyx on 24/10/2022 - 19:36

        Depends on bank

      • md333 on 24/10/2022 - 19:59

        Yeah surprised me too. They did phone the bank and arrange it beforehand.
        Buyers were German and very impressed with the instant payment system here, said there is nothing like that in Germany.

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