Lon More
19th Nov 2012, 13:56
Just received this from a mate.
Hi all,
I could do with a holiday right now! Anyone for Madagascar? Have just been sorting out police calls after being scammed on the internet. I got suckered big time over a period of a week and a half, and my guard was down. They used fake delivery company emails - probably cloned from Parcelforce in this case, but I understand all the major delivery companies are being copied.
Just to warn you, so you don't get caught in similar fashion:
Gumtree has a major problem at present so beware of using it; eBay is better but not guaranteed.
1/ The scammers copy an old advert - in my case it was a rear van seat. It all sounds genuine because it was, originally.
2/ There is a delay replying to you, then an apology and you find you are dealing with a 'friendly' 'woman'. She claims the phone coverage is bad in her area, so please use emails. She says she has a relative in London/wherever and will drive down and deliver item.
3/ Another delay and an apology - 'she' says she has suddenly had to do overtime and is very busy; but a perk at work is that she can send things via Parcelforce/any company free of charge - where she works; the office will pay for deliveries because they do a lot of work with the delivery company. Is that OK? You can pay the driver. If not satisfied, don't pay and the item will be returned etc. etc.
4/ You happily agree, and soon you receive an email from 'Parcelforce/whatever'. However, it now says drivers are not allowed to receive cash at the door for security reasons.
5/ Blast it! you think and email the lovely lady to explain. She replies in due course, sorry sorry, but I have asked around in the office, and apparently you can use a secure payment system called UKASH (which I had never heard of before).
6/ You receive another email from 'Parcelforce/whatever' with a Pending tracking number, and a notification to go to a PayPoint shop and obtain a pre-paid voucher to the value of the goods (in my case this was £200). You are notified that delivery will be Friday between 4pm and 5pm.
7/ You do as instructed, email a copy of the voucher to the fake Parcelforce address, and wait.... and wait.... and wait....
There were several points at which my red light should have gone on, but I am under some stress at present with a high activity load (not remunerative work). Moreover, the scammers are very convincing, even going so far as to put a "see me on Facebook" tag on their emails - all false of course. The worst is that I had never used UKASH before, and when I went back to the corner shop to complain, the man was apologetic but not much else. At the bottom of the voucher in small print is a warning not to use UKASH for Gumtree, eBay or other internet sales! Not much use when you have already handed over your cash. I am taking the matter up with UKASH, which is otherwise a reputable company, that it should train shopkeepers to ask what the voucher is for, and warn customers accordingly. PayPal protects both buyer and seller, but UKASH is only guaranteed for the recipient.
Another disarmer is that 'she' says be careful, with invoices you have to pay VAT, so why not say you are doing internet gambling, then you pay only the agreed amount. This suckers you even more - you start to become co-conspiratorial, although in my case I became confused not knowing what online gambling company I wanted, so I told the shop the truth.
I have since learned a fair amount about the scam. The scammers are likely to be in Belgium(!), according to MoneyExpert.com. Someone or persons (very likely) have invested in their own domain - so some outlay was necessary at the beginning. They are pretty good at cloning/copying or creating very convincing website type emails. (If you receive anything with 'post.com' at the end of the address, it is a scam.)
If you deal with anyone for online sales, GOOGLE THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS first. In my case it was [email protected]. A whole load of hits come up regarding scams! (But too late for me...) The email address is one of several variations, and of course the scammers 'live' all over the country. However, they seem to like the nr 75 in their URL.
The police informed me that while they were sorry for me, I was small beer in terms of stolen value - they were dealing with one man who had paid £15k for a non-existent car.
I can't see any easy answer for the problem at present. Reading between the lines, I reckon Gumtree is aware that the scale of scamming has reached an all-time high.
For my part I have created and will use a second 'spoof' email, so I can test out Gumtree ads and eBay without revealing myself. I will even send a doctored UKASH voucher to anyone I suspect of scamming, to cause them maximum problems at the post office (or wherever they cash the voucher).
So, best wishes, and stay more alert than I have been!
- Richard
Hi all,
I could do with a holiday right now! Anyone for Madagascar? Have just been sorting out police calls after being scammed on the internet. I got suckered big time over a period of a week and a half, and my guard was down. They used fake delivery company emails - probably cloned from Parcelforce in this case, but I understand all the major delivery companies are being copied.
Just to warn you, so you don't get caught in similar fashion:
Gumtree has a major problem at present so beware of using it; eBay is better but not guaranteed.
1/ The scammers copy an old advert - in my case it was a rear van seat. It all sounds genuine because it was, originally.
2/ There is a delay replying to you, then an apology and you find you are dealing with a 'friendly' 'woman'. She claims the phone coverage is bad in her area, so please use emails. She says she has a relative in London/wherever and will drive down and deliver item.
3/ Another delay and an apology - 'she' says she has suddenly had to do overtime and is very busy; but a perk at work is that she can send things via Parcelforce/any company free of charge - where she works; the office will pay for deliveries because they do a lot of work with the delivery company. Is that OK? You can pay the driver. If not satisfied, don't pay and the item will be returned etc. etc.
4/ You happily agree, and soon you receive an email from 'Parcelforce/whatever'. However, it now says drivers are not allowed to receive cash at the door for security reasons.
5/ Blast it! you think and email the lovely lady to explain. She replies in due course, sorry sorry, but I have asked around in the office, and apparently you can use a secure payment system called UKASH (which I had never heard of before).
6/ You receive another email from 'Parcelforce/whatever' with a Pending tracking number, and a notification to go to a PayPoint shop and obtain a pre-paid voucher to the value of the goods (in my case this was £200). You are notified that delivery will be Friday between 4pm and 5pm.
7/ You do as instructed, email a copy of the voucher to the fake Parcelforce address, and wait.... and wait.... and wait....
There were several points at which my red light should have gone on, but I am under some stress at present with a high activity load (not remunerative work). Moreover, the scammers are very convincing, even going so far as to put a "see me on Facebook" tag on their emails - all false of course. The worst is that I had never used UKASH before, and when I went back to the corner shop to complain, the man was apologetic but not much else. At the bottom of the voucher in small print is a warning not to use UKASH for Gumtree, eBay or other internet sales! Not much use when you have already handed over your cash. I am taking the matter up with UKASH, which is otherwise a reputable company, that it should train shopkeepers to ask what the voucher is for, and warn customers accordingly. PayPal protects both buyer and seller, but UKASH is only guaranteed for the recipient.
Another disarmer is that 'she' says be careful, with invoices you have to pay VAT, so why not say you are doing internet gambling, then you pay only the agreed amount. This suckers you even more - you start to become co-conspiratorial, although in my case I became confused not knowing what online gambling company I wanted, so I told the shop the truth.
I have since learned a fair amount about the scam. The scammers are likely to be in Belgium(!), according to MoneyExpert.com. Someone or persons (very likely) have invested in their own domain - so some outlay was necessary at the beginning. They are pretty good at cloning/copying or creating very convincing website type emails. (If you receive anything with 'post.com' at the end of the address, it is a scam.)
If you deal with anyone for online sales, GOOGLE THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS first. In my case it was [email protected]. A whole load of hits come up regarding scams! (But too late for me...) The email address is one of several variations, and of course the scammers 'live' all over the country. However, they seem to like the nr 75 in their URL.
The police informed me that while they were sorry for me, I was small beer in terms of stolen value - they were dealing with one man who had paid £15k for a non-existent car.
I can't see any easy answer for the problem at present. Reading between the lines, I reckon Gumtree is aware that the scale of scamming has reached an all-time high.
For my part I have created and will use a second 'spoof' email, so I can test out Gumtree ads and eBay without revealing myself. I will even send a doctored UKASH voucher to anyone I suspect of scamming, to cause them maximum problems at the post office (or wherever they cash the voucher).
So, best wishes, and stay more alert than I have been!
- Richard