Man in the middle scams

[Woodinblack]

This should probably be in the selling areas, but there are so many stickies in there it is hard to see anything, and I think it is quite important, although hard to stop.

 

There are a current number of "Man in the middle" scams being tried, both here and on other forums.

 

How this scam works is that someone is selling something on the forum like this:

 

GoodSeller: I am selling this expensive bass, I am not shipping it

GoodBuyer: Oh thats just what I want, will you ship it

GoodSeller: No, I said I wouldn't!

 

then someone looks at that interaction, and creates an account GoodSel1er, where there is a 1 instead of an L, a complelete different username, but looks really similar, then he sends a message to the buyer:

GoodSel1er -> GoodBuyer: Hey I have changed my mind, do you want to me to ship it? I can send it to you by paypal F&F for £20.

GoodBuyer-> GoodSel1er: Great thanks, you have lots of good feedback I will buy it off you. <sends money>

 

then a week later, angry buyer posts on sellers real post 'you are a scammer you haven't sent me anything', and of course it is the first that the real seller has heard of it. BadSeller has trousered the money and is off with it, and because it is either a bank transfer or a f&f, you have no comeback.

 

Obviously the answer is not to accept F&F or bank transfer, and ask for additional photos etc as usual, but additionally, be really sure who you are talking to - if someone messages you offering you something that is on the forum, go to that post, click on their username and select 'send message' to reply, then you know you are talking to the right person.

[LeftyJ]

Not too familiar with PayPal (haven't used it in years, I only had it for my eBay ventures and it's been well over 10 years that I last used that). How is a Friends & Family payment different in terms of buyer protection?

[Lozz196]

Good call, thanks for pointing this out, does make PayPal with fees seem a much safer form of payment. 

[Linus27]

Thanks for posting this, you can see how easily someone could be tricked.

[Woodinblack]

18 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

 How is a Friends & Family payment different in terms of buyer protection?

 

Its different in the fact there is none. Paypal doesn't charge for a Friends and Family payment, as it is, afterall, for paying your friends and family, who you trust. If you pay with normal paypal, with a fee, you can talk to paypal to investage and get your money back if you are scammed, if you pay with F&F, it is the same as shoving some money in an envelope and posting it - you cannot get it back, paypal will not let you open a dispute with that.

[basexperience]

21 minutes ago, LeftyJ said:

Not too familiar with PayPal (haven't used it in years, I only had it for my eBay ventures and it's been well over 10 years that I last used that). How is a Friends & Family payment different in terms of buyer protection?

F&F has *no* buyer protection. It's essentially the same as bank transfer - probably worse, as at least with modern fraud protection there might be some chance of reversing the bank transfer. PayPal? Forget it. Nightmarish. Don't use F&F on Paypal, ever, unless it's genuinely a member of your family, or a close friend you know is definitely on the other end.