Rip off alert! Warning to those who sell stuff online.
Interesting scam exposed on Watchdog tonight, a warning to anyone selling anything.
What happens is that someone contacts you to say that they are interested in buying your whatever and keep contacting you to ask for info. etc before agreeing to buy. i.e. sounding like someone who is a keen buyer.
What then happens is that he says is working abroad, but that a client of his in the UK owes him money for an amount greather than your asking price. He will arrange for his client to send you a cheque for the total amount and ask you to transfer the remaining balance to him.
e.g. you sell something for 100 pounds, he gets his client to send you a cheque for 300 pounds and you deduct your selling price and send 200 pounds to the buyer.
Where people got caught was that the buyer is willing to wait until the cheque has cleared into your bank account before you send the money back. Surely if the cheque has cleared into your account everything must be alright, right?
Of course not. The cheque that the buyer sent was a fraudulent cheque and they got returned to the hapless seller, but only after the money cleared and the seller sent the balance on.
Apparantly all the major bank's have some stupid thing in their terms and conditions that says that money "cleared" into your account does not mean that it is cleared for your use!
Sellers beware!
What happens is that someone contacts you to say that they are interested in buying your whatever and keep contacting you to ask for info. etc before agreeing to buy. i.e. sounding like someone who is a keen buyer.
What then happens is that he says is working abroad, but that a client of his in the UK owes him money for an amount greather than your asking price. He will arrange for his client to send you a cheque for the total amount and ask you to transfer the remaining balance to him.
e.g. you sell something for 100 pounds, he gets his client to send you a cheque for 300 pounds and you deduct your selling price and send 200 pounds to the buyer.
Where people got caught was that the buyer is willing to wait until the cheque has cleared into your bank account before you send the money back. Surely if the cheque has cleared into your account everything must be alright, right?
Of course not. The cheque that the buyer sent was a fraudulent cheque and they got returned to the hapless seller, but only after the money cleared and the seller sent the balance on.
Apparantly all the major bank's have some stupid thing in their terms and conditions that says that money "cleared" into your account does not mean that it is cleared for your use!
Sellers beware!
posted by Kee at 19:25
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