Questions for Trustworthiness

[jcmaz]

How can i protect myself from scammers when buying and selling etc.

and what should i do if i get scammed

THX

[cadaveca]

Get the person's full details, mailing address, phone number, etc...

Call the person(and when you are a seller, people appreciate it!).

Use verified methods of payment...paypal, etc offer some protection...(I usually only accept EMT for my sales, but I'm a pretty good seller...at least so people tell me!)

Find a cop and befriend them(I have a neighbour)...scams online AMT to fraud, but most police aren't willing to do the paperwork it seems.

Ask your bank what sort of protection they offer you...

Look at seller's feedback...how old it is, who it's from, and check out other people that have bought from them...

Buy local, and meet up.



I don't buy stuff unless from Forum staff, myself, but then I rarely buy used goods. I'll buy review hardware, but not much else, but that's becuase getting a deal isn't my first priority.

[Inik]

You can ask for an heatware record, ebay record. You can also ship only to registered paypal address. If you get scam, you can try to fill a claim with paypal or reverse the transaction on your CC

[sswilson]

Buying local in a face-to-face deal is really the only sure fire way to protect yourself, but for distance deals there are a few things you can do to lessen your chances of being ripped off......

- Always get a real name, address, & physical phone # and talk to the individual. Compare that phone # with online 411 and google the name. There are many sites which list known scammers.

- Look for some kind of trading record (Like heat, ebay, or our own itrader), but remember that a good rating from previous sales is not always a good indication of the seller's current situation. I've seen many a deal (not all on here) where the seller had a great rating, but their circumstances changed and they seemed to grab a bunch of money and then disapeared without shipping the goods.

- Ask for different pictures than the ones listed.... if they've photoshopped the images they might not be able to come up with different ones on demand. Ask for something unique like a scan of pages from the manual.

- Stick with members who've got some time on the site. Even better if there has been some discussion on the site about that particular hardware... at least that way you know that they had the hardware at some point.

- As a seller.... don't ship until you have real cash in hand. If it's a check or money order, ask your bank how long it will take for it to be verified by the issuing agency (most banks put a 5 working day hold on funds, but that doesn't mean the check has actually cleared). If it's a money order, you can contact the issuer (look the # up in the phone book, don't use the # on the money order) to verify it. Never fall for the "Sorry... the check/money order is for more than I owe you, please cash it and send the difference back" scam. It's the oldest (and unfortunately the most successful) in the book.

If you do get scammed, what you're able to do is largely dependant on how much homework you did on the buyer/seller. If you've got a valid Phone # &/or address you can take it to the RCMP (they've got a unit set up for internet fraud), if not, you're mostly out of luck.

Ultimately, it comes down to doing everything you can to feel comfortable with the deal, but keep in mind that the career scammers are very good at what they do so it's hard to weed them out.

Your question comes at a very opportune time. Just a couple of days ago I thinking about the fact that the depression era was probably the most famous time for career scammers.... heavy recessions like we're currently faced with are breeding grounds for folks looking to rip people off.

[b1lk1]

If it looks to good too be true it almost always is too good to be true.

[lemonlime]

Originally Posted by b1lk1

If it looks to good too be true it almost always is too good to be true.

Well said.