Shopping via online classifieds can be intimidating, especially if you’re have a more paranoid composition. Buyers and Sellers alike probably regularly ask themselves questions like “How can you trust that the person behind an ad or responding to one is sincere?” or “How can you stay safe online?”
While the Junk Mail team may try everything in their power to find dodgy listings, they can still sneak through. The nature of community classifieds, online or not, means that your safety can’t be fully guaranteed, but there are many precautions that you can take to help protect yourself and others from scams, pranks, and fraud.
- Trust Your Instincts: First and foremost, the age-old saying “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” holds strong. Your instincts are often the best indicator if something is amiss. Use common sense.
- Report Abuse: Don’t be afraid to make use of the “Report Advert” link if you feel that a Junk Mail advert is fishy. As a community-based site, we rely on you to alert us when scammers are lurking.
- Never Give Out Personal Information: Beyond your phone number or e-mail (so that you can contact sellers and vice versa), never give out any personal information such as your credit card number, your ID number, birthday and so on. If you have to give out your address, only do so if you think the person is legit (if you are still uneasy, meet in public).
- Talk on the Phone: While e-mail may be the most convenient, especially for initiating transactions, when possible try to speak over the phone before agreeing to meet. If they refuse, excuses are often very revealing. Trust your gut.
- Deal Only in Cash: Never wire money, send advance payments or use your credit card. This also helps you to avoid any deals done through mail – a notorious method for running scams.
- Keep it Local: Reduce your risk by keeping all transactions local. This also eliminates the need to use anything other than cash when buying or selling.
- Inspect Before You Buy: Never buy something that you can’t check out in-person first – not only can you assess it’s quality (and thus, pricing) for yourself, but you can meet the seller in-person.
- Meet in Public: When possible, always meet to exchange in a public place. Not only does this protect you by not revealing your address, but also makes it less likely that someone will steal from you. Better yet, have a friend accompany you.
- Don’t Go To The Car: Do not accompany the person to their car for any reason, and, of course, do not let them go to the car with items in hand if they haven’t paid for them yet!
- Ask Questions: Don’t be afraid to ask questions! Ask sellers why they are selling their item and about it’s condition. And sellers – don’t be afraid to ask buyers what their intentions are. If something sounds shady, remember you don’t owe anyone anything and you can always back out of a transaction before any money is exchanged.
- Research The Item: Where appropriate, research the item you are planning on buying beforehand so that you know what you are buying, how much it should cost, and what shape it should be in. If you are selling something, you can protect yourself by always providing correct and as detailed information as possible.
- Keep Records: Especially if you buy and sell often – keep some sort of record of what you have bought and/or sold, where you met, and who you bought from or sold to.
We hope that you find these tips useful. If you have a tip that you can add to this list, please comment on this post and let the readers of the Junk Mail blog know. Also feel free to share this post with your friends to get the message out there. For more detail about scams, check out the ‘Avoid Scams’ page on the Junk Mail website.
You might also find the information in the following posts on the Junk Mail blog useful:
Also feel free to check out the other posts in the Safety & Security section on the Junk Mail blog for more scam tips and safety warnings.
Very good information, especially to have somebody with you, and be extra careful when the prospective buyer pitches up with a friend or friends. I was robbed twice in my house!
This is very good advice.The one I think I already gave to you recently in my blog is to watch our for a Fake EFT from Nedbank. Looks very authentic, but wait for confirmation from your bank before believing you have been paid. if instead of an EFT a cheque has been deposited , have it retuned straight away, especially if it bears a different name from the proposed buyer. I was charged R70 by my bank for the one for R10,000 that was deposited in mine.
Thanks for sharing Mary Hell Gill
To prevent from online classified scams and frauds, it is very important to follow all these above tips. Before make a trust on an ad do proper research and take proper time, after that make a decision. If you found all the information like phone number, owner’s address, product details, price, way to contact etc then you can trust on an ad,otherwise be careful.