Fraud & Scam protection

I've just been scammed £120, not naming anyone as it's being investigated and as far as i'm concerned you're innocent until proven guilty. But i think it should be a requirement to pay for items on forums via paypal so you have some type of cover if you are a victim of a scam or the person decides to not send the item. I would be willing to donate some money to get this put in place if other people joined in we could all donate a small amount each and have the protection forums need. Just an idea, Let me know what you think.

Remember i'm a victim here, obviously i'm angry and want something done about people like this. People don't realise how bad scamming can be on forums until you have it done to you leaving you completely skint.

 

This is irrelevant but what did you get scammed for mate ive been in a similar situation before

 

don't really know what has happened yet, could be the member on here denying any fault and making out he has been hacked, or it could be that he has been hacked and the hacker has been pm'ing me.. the member on here is denying sending some messages from what has been said so far, or it could be a case of an old phone number being on his for sale thread and some random person getting my text asking how should i pay, then giving me their bank account details. The person i spoke with on the phone to get the bank details knew alot about scooters so he probably is on this forum so just beware of buying things and only pay with paypal or ebay as there is a gaurantee of you getting your money back if you are scammed or don't recieve your item.

 

Firstly sorry for your loss it happens to the best of us sadly. My friend got scammed about £400 buying an iPad like this recently as it goes so it could have been alot worse I suppose and hopefully you wont fall for it again.

In my opinion a sort of insurance system like you suggested would be open to getting rinsed by a few dishonest people and I dont really think too many people would be keen on paying for 'other peoples mistakes' so to speak. In the sales rules bit it does say that there is no responsibility accepted but if there was a fair and good way for it to be used then I don't see why not. Obviously its in no way my choice or anything as I'm not staff.

Really though sending money to someone you don't know using a method you aren't sure about rarely goes well..

 

Anything.. even just a sticky advising people to not send money via bank transfer as once it is sent theres no way of getting it back, i've contacted my bank and his bank and the only thing you can do is report them to the police and unless you have any proof of them doing it more than once they are very unlikely to even investigate it. Mine's being investigated as me and my mate have dug down a little bit and found some more information.

To anyone thinking about buying anything online, from an individual that you dont personally know.. don't pay via bank transfer as there are people on here that will happily take your money.

 

Really sorry that happened to you. Unfortunately there are all too many people out there who are all too happy to rip people off. In an ideal world you would be able to trust people in cases like this, but sadly it's not the case.

To be honest there is no way I would have agreed to pay someone I didn't know in that way. The only people I have done similar things with are people I have known for some time in real life. I really hope you get some kind of good result from this, scam artists really piss me off.

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i got ripped...of sold a gear box in mint condition for £113 that included postage to australia and he said he never recived it and opened a dispute on paypal and they took the money back out

 

Did you not dispute it and provide proof of postage? It does seem that Paypal is harsh on sellers.

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Paypal takes side with the buyer 99% of the time. Proof of postage is worth its weight in gold tbh.

 

I have to say, i only do Paypal or Cash (on collection). If you want extra protection, use a credit card to pay through paypal, and if it goes south with paypal you can fall back on the credit card company. Never do bank transfers unless you are retarded and have gullible written on your forehead.

Saying that i dont often buy stuff from people on forums, and when i have ive preferred a face to face meeting, even if it meant driving 100 miles. I also dont touch ebay sellers with less than 100 items sold/bought and with, at the bare minimum, a 99% reputation. To get a high reputation 100 times, means most likely you wont get ripped off by the guy as he is in it for the profit and reputation. Scammers dont last longm let alone hit 100 sales with a high reputation.

If you sell something to someone on a forum, always send the item registered/special delivery, so the buyer has to sign for the package. That way if a scam is attempted you can a) contact royal mail and verify it was signed for, and b) contact the police and ask for advice regarding the situation. Given proof that a person at the correct address signed for and received a package, then attempted to scam you, i would think it would constitue fraud, and many forces will happily look into those sorts of offences, as its generally an easy conviction if it goes that far, and that adds to certain stats that are kept.

My suggestion is the buy/sell area has a stickied thread called "Traders Review", where any member buying something from a member here can make a post saying how good or bad the transaction occured. That way we can search that thread to see a persons reputation. Another forum i use has a similar thread where any dealings with other forum members can be recorded (it usually equates to posts like "bought x from john doe, and the whole thing went off without a hitch. I'd recommend him").

 

That sounds like a good idea!