Scams

Be very alert to scammers! An internet classifieds site is easy prey, as anyone in the world can sound like they are a local, when they are contacted by email.

Since we started in June 2009, we began to recognise scams posted, which mostly came from people overseas trying to sell something by requesting you to pay first, usually to a Western Union bank account.

One particular scammer (using different names) was emailing the sellers on our site, offering to purchase their item for sale, but saying they were out of the country on business. They were offering to pay for the item but requesting the seller to arrange shipping to the UK. The trouble with this is that if you ship the item, you are likely to find out the other party has cancelled their payment, saying they never received it. You cannot easily take a flight overseas to follow it up!

Try to make your purchase in person.

Be very wary of giving details of your bank account, Paypal account ID or issue a payment request via Paypal to any buyers, as you could receive a Paypal payment notification by email, but it's a fake and the money is NOT in your Paypal account at all.

DO NOT post or send money to an overseas bank account. Be cautious and perhaps you can research the bank information given by a buyer.

If posting, DO NOT release your merchandise until you have had clearance of payment from your bank.

In the case of purchasing a car, perhaps arrange a car inspection. If it is a scam, the "seller" will not even own the particular car, or refuse it to be inspected.

Look out for those buyers offering to pay you more for your item, especially if they are requesting you to ship overseas.

FINAL NOTES
Because most of the scams are arranged via email, we decided it safer for our buyers and sellers, to remove the email contact from all adverts, therefore only allowing phone contact. All phone contacts are traceable within Australia. (Generally, all newspaper advertising uses phone contact.) Email addresses can still be included in the description, so still be cautious.

We do our best to scan each advert and check whether it's a possible scam.

KEEP SAFE, SECURE AND HAPPY