Online – Fraudsters have discovered the classifieds portals for themselves. There they have recently appeared as prospective buyers. (Photo: Pheelings media / shutterstcok.com)
The State Criminal Police Office of Lower Saxony warns of a new scam on classifieds portals. Exceptionally, these are not fraudulent sellers, but prospective buyers. They contact the sellers and signal that they are ready to buy. They accept the goods unchecked.
Credit card as an extra gift
Since the alleged buyer: is not in Germany, asks they ask the seller to ship the goods. It is a gift and therefore they want to add a prepaid card. Above all, there is talk of Steam, iTunes, Google, Amazon and Paysafecard prepaid cards. In addition to the purchase price for the product and the said card, the perpetrators offer the victim a generous allowance for expenses. The LKA indicates 30 euros or more.
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3 ways to get money
From here on, the fraudsters sometimes proceed differently. In alternative one, they abuse a third-party PayPal account. The second way: You falsify an e-mail with the payment provider. It suggests that the provider acts as a trustee and only waits for the shipping confirmation to transfer the money. Via route number three, the perpetrators ask for the credit codes, for example, “for checking”. As soon as the goods including the credit code have been sent, the money is gone – either it was never paid for or it was retrieved from the misused account.
What to do if it has already happened
If someone has already fallen for the scam, the police recommend checking with the credit provider to see whether the card can still be blocked. Depending on how much time has passed, you may be lucky and get the lost money back. In any case, you should file a complaint with the local police station.
How to protect yourself
The LKA advises never to send credit codes to strangers – neither as a card, by e-mail or messenger. When selling classified ads, sellers should specify shipping and payment methods and not allow themselves to be persuaded to adopt other approaches or services. It is true that PayPal acts as a trustee through buyer protection; In fact, however, the payment service provider does not request a shipping confirmation so that supposedly temporarily stored money can be paid out.
