Beware of Fraudulent Advert Responses

CautionMany of you reading this article are probably aware of the fraudulent advert responses. Scammers tend to target electronics or other high priced items for sale on Junk Mail and other classifieds websites.

Fraudulent advert responses comes in many shapes. Some of the respondents address classifieds users as “Seller” or “Friend” and write e-mail in substandard or broken English. Some of them present themselves as doctors, lawyers, professors or persons in other respectable positions.

No matter what approach they take, these scams all have one thing in common: 99% of the time these persons want to pay you before actually viewing the item that you’re selling.

Scammers who approach you in this way also request that you deliver the item to them and offer to pay via online payment services like Paypal or banking services like Western Union. If you’re picking up a dodgy vibe from a potential buyer using any one of these methods, alarm bells should sound off in your head.

Remember: Sell your item on your terms, don’t let a potential buyer dictate terms to you. Don’t settle for a potential buyer that sounds too good to be true. Read our article giving Selling Tips for Junk Mail Users for more information about this.

Other fraudulent advert responses are basically spam. We are fully aware of these responses and we realize how much this frustrates Junk Mail users.

In case you’re not familiar with them, here are some examples of Fraudulent Advert Responses that can defined as Spam:

“Hello Am kate, i saw your profile today and became interested in you, i will like to know you the more, and i want you to send an email to my mail so that i can give you my picture for you to know whom i am. Here is my email address (kateluv@hotmail.com) I believe we can move from here. I am waiting for your reply in my mail don’t send it in the site. Remember the distance or color does not matter but love matters allot in life (kateluv@hotmail.com)”

E-mail address:  emilysamuel777@att.net “Good Day, my name is Emily,I contact you base on your profile,so i will like you to contact me back in this email (emilysamuel740@yahoo.co.uk) Yours Miss Emily”

E-mail address:  mercysamuel161@yahoo.co.uk “How are you doing? my name is mercy,i saw your ID while i was searching on internet,I will be happy if we can be good friend,please reply,for an IMPORTANT things that i want to share with you,also i will send my photo to you,you know Distance,Color or Language dose not matter what matters in life is sincerity,caring and true love,I’m waiting for you reply God bless you,thanks yours sincerely,mercy. Please reply me to my box ID here mercysamuel928@yahoo.in”

E-mail address: cynthia2014@hotmail.com “Hi My name is cynthia. . i just saw your profile here and i want to make friendship with you to discus a lot of things with you, what is your opinion about this? please reply me on (cynthia2014@hotmail.com) and i will tell you details about me with my photo. thanks from miracle. thanks truelove miss cynthia”

Also be aware that these Spammers / Scammers like to change their e-mail addresses on a constant basis. They’re doing this because they don’t want to be pinned down – they are always looking for potential victims.

We do have measures and procedures in place to keep these kinds of responses to a minimum, but we need your help to make sure it stays that way. If you receive any e-mail that can be defined as a fraudulent advert response or that seems fraudulent in nature, please ignore them and forward the responses to our Customer Care Department so we can investigate.

Don’t get caught by scammers. Check out our Safety and Security page for regular updates about scams and other fraudulent activity that has been picked up on Junk Mail.

Remember: Be Smart, Be Savvy, Be Safe!

Henno Kruger

Digital Marketing Campaign Coordinator at Junk Mail Publishing.

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19 Responses

  1. Munyai says:

    This are few of several scam ads, all the ads are posted via eMail, who is this guy?? Can you block his ip or ads? Give him a big ban!!!!

  2. Munyai says:

    PLEASE ALL THE ADS PLACED VIA MOBIL WITH 1 PICTURE ARE SCAM ADS PLEASE REPLY PLEASE STOP THIS SCAMMER

    PLEASE ALL THE ADS PLACED VIA MOBIL WITH 1 PICTURE ARE SCAM ADS PLEASE REPLY PLEASE STOP THIS SCAMMER.
    REMOVE THIS SCAMMER HE POSTING DUPLICATE ADS FROM MOBILE WITH 1 PICTURE

    CHECK THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES
    CARAVAN
    MOTORCICLE
    BOATS
    BOATS
    VW
    FORD
    OPEL
    BMW
    AUDI
    ETC
    ETC
    ETC

    ALL THE ADS PLACED VIA MOBILE WITH 1 PICTURE ARE SCAM, ARE DUPLICATE ADS, REMOVE THEM REMOVE REMOVE

  3. Munyai says:

    REMOVE THIS SCAMMER HE POSTING DUPLICATE ADS FROM MOBILE WITH 1 PICTURE

  4. Munyai says:

    junkmail.co.za is down, where are you guys, all the ads are hacked !!!!

  5. Munyai says:

    PLEASE ALL THE ADS PLACED VIA MOBIL WITH 1 PICTURE ARE SCAM ADS PLEASE REPLY PLEASE STOP THIS SCAMMER.
    REMOVE THIS SCAMMER HE POSTING DUPLICATE ADS FROM MOBILE WITH 1 PICTURE

  6. Munyai says:

    How can this SCAMMER can post over and over again???? Look at the ads palced via mobile with 1 picture, Audi A1, Hyundai Getz, RunX, Yaris, Corolla, Bikes, Boats, ETC…where are you Henno Kruger, what site is this????

  7. Munai says:

    I hope the police will bust you with your down site, you cannot block a single and simple scammer, where is the security????

    • Henno Kruger says:

      We do block many scammers from using the site. They change their details every single day. They use different e-mail addresses and phone numbers. If you find them report them to us, it’s only way we can prevent them from abusing the site

  8. Munai says:

    Why the report button don’t work? How can he post ads via mobile with 1 picture and low low prices? Why nobody remove the ads? Why I have to be scammed from this guy? I paid R100 000 to this guy, how this guy can post the ads, you can look now and see how he is posting the ads day by day, night by night.

    • Henno Kruger says:

      We are aware of the error with the report button. Rather send our Customer Care department e-mail via ccc@junkmail.co.za. Like I’ve said before. These persons change their e-mail addresses and phone numbers on a permanent basis. It’s hard to track them.

  9. Munai says:

    Repair your report button!!! Block his IP or mac or the title of ads !!!!

  10. Munai says:

    Henno I sent them 40 emails and no response no nothing !!! What is going on??? The ads are also palced on automart.co.za, can you see the fake ads via mobile with 1 picture? I think the scammer has a turbolisted or something? Can you help me????

    • Henno Kruger says:

      Hi Munai – Send the details to our Customer Care Department. Specify if its for Automart so we can notify the Automart Webmaster. Please note that we do receive many reports like this daily.

  11. Munai says:

    How can you sleep when know that all night this scammer palce fraudulent ads like in this moment, are 100-200 adverts placed and he is not stopping. Are you friend with this scammer or what?

    • Henno Kruger says:

      Junk Mail is not a friend of this scammer. There’s more than one of them doing what you’ve picked up. They use DIFFERENT contact details, which makes it hard to track them. We have a moderation team checking for fraudulent adverts. You should also be aware that it takes time to remove the items and block the advertiser.

  12. Munyai says:

    Yes I understand but you can block the advert title or description or the ads placed via mobile, you can look to the listings and see that he is placing ads right now.

  13. Munyai says:

    And repair your report button, why is taking so long? We (the buyers) cannot report fake ads !!! Get a new team if they cannot do that.

  14. Munyai says:

    He start to posting again, ads placed via mobile with 1 picture !!!!

  15. Ian says:

    Munyai, get the message. They are working hard to solve the problem. Stop being a little girl & let them do their job. Report the problems to ccc@junkmail.co.za & get on with your life………or is it your doing seeing as you are complaining so much?

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