Things You'll Need:
- common sense
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Step 1
Use your head and your instincts. If you are selling something and the buyers seems a little too eager, re-evaluate payment and shipping methods. Make sure your not going to be stuck shipping your item out of the country and you getting stuck with a fraudulent check.
If you are the buyer, make sure you use your credit card. If using paypal, change your settings to only allow payment through your credit card. This will allow you to dispute the charge if your item is never received, or if paypal decides that there is nothing they can do to help you. Using your credit card is the only way to purchase anything online. And don't worry about fraud, as long as you monitor your transactions, your credit card company will not hold you responsible for any transactions you did not charge. -
Step 2
Never deal with anyone out of your country. Almost all scams are located in other countries that you are located. The reason? What are you going to do about it from so far away, report it? Nigeria is probably the largest location where scams have been coming from lately. If you deal with someone in your country, you can cut down the risk by over 80%. If selling, make sure YOU ship out the item, and not let the buyer have a "shipper" pick it up. If you are a buyer, try using paypal with your credit card. This hides your credit card information from the seller, and at the same time gives you the extra leverage needed from the ability to dispute the charge if indeed the seller out smarted you (temporarily).
IMPORTANT: If you are a seller and accept paypal, this does not mean you are protected in any way. If you do accept paypal, only ship to the confirmed address and keep a record of your shipment. -
Step 3
LiveSimon.comCheck the IP address from the email conversations. Look in the header and use a service such as www.whatismyipaddress.com to check the origin of the email. This will help you determine if they are really where they say they are.
LiveSimon.com scans every email that goes through their system and check IP and message content for any signs of a scam before it is sent to the seller. This is a great feature and can really save you time since those bad emails are deleted before they are sent to you.
LiveSimonPosts.com has a really cool feature that includes a clickable link in the email that allows you to check the origin easily. -
Step 4
Take notice on how the other party is communicating. If they seems to be writing with mistakes, broken english, or too formal, take notice.
If they are willing to pay extra or willing to do almost anything to get you to deal with them, or are a "third party" buy or selling for their "client" or "family member", then think again before dealing with them. -
Step 5
If you are a seller, there is no reason why you need to send them money. A lot of scams out there, in one form or another, send you more money than you ask for your item, and ask you to return the balance to them or their "shipping company". This is ALWAYS going to be a scam.
If you are a buyer, NEVER send cash. You will have no record that you paid for anything, and no way to know who has your money since it cannot be traced. ONLY use your credit card, as I stated earlier, this will give you the extra protection and the ability to dispute the charge if indeed you were scammed. -
Step 6
Last but not least, the best way to avoid fraud is to deal locally if possible. If you are the seller, you ONLY accept cash and avoid the bad checks or stolen credit cards. If you are the buyer, you avoid being scammed by seeing your item before you hand over the money.
