Buyer beware, online as well

Sellers', buyers' scams

The Pet Scam - here scammers place ads to lure consumers into parting with their money by tugging on their heartstrings. A common practice is to advertise cute, often reasonably rare, puppies 'free to a good home'. When users respond, they are targeted with a carefully crafted sob story about how tragedy has meant that the puppies can no longer be cared for.

It transpires that there are costs involved as the puppies need to be shipped from a remote location but by this time, users have seen photographs of the irresistible puppies and the unwary happily part with the money supposedly required to transport them.

Once money has changed hands, there is often a further exchange of emails and another sad tale about flight problems, accompanied by a request for more money to cover additional costs. This scam has received extensive coverage via a variety of posts, blogs, messages and newsletters.

In another instance, collectors of exotic birds and animals are targeted. For example, fertilized parrot eggs are advertised at rock bottom prices; and collectors naturally show an interest. This is probably the single most obvious thing that helps weed out the scams from the genuine adverts. When the price seems to be amazingly low and too good to be true, it probably is "too good to be true."

The Fraudulent Cheque - The scammer responds to an advertisement, usually for a small item like a laptop. The scammer promises to deposit cash immediately into the seller's bank account and sends a driver to collect the item. The deposit slip is then forged, or payment is made via cheque but made to look like cash. The advertiser believes the money has been paid and hands over the item. It is only days later, when the money does not materialise in the advertiser's bank account, or the cheque is returned, that the advertiser realises he has been duped.

Consumer protection

Use common sense - consumers should be extra alert if email correspondence is from a 'free mail' account, such as gmail or hotmail and contains odd spelling or peculiar turns of phrase.

The classifieds arena is really about person-to-person interactions and ideally people are dealing with others in their neighbourhood or city. It is important to make personal contact and not to limit transactions to email. Internet transactions can seem very convincing, but try to verify who you are dealing with. If possible, check out the address supplied and speak to the other party personally. Call the person and hear what he or she sounds like.

In addition, sellers should only ever deal with cash. If a deposit has been made into a bank account, verify that it has been cleared before proceeding with the sale.

Consumers should use a reputable classifieds provider. At our site, we take scamming very seriously and work hand-in-hand with the SAPS' Cyber Crime Unit to combat it. All classifieds placed on our site or in our publications are moderated - and rejected if they look suspicious.

Users are now reporting cases of being scammed instead of being embarrassed and hiding the fact as they tended to in the past. This helps enormously in the fight to combat fraud. The police service takes cyber crime very seriously. Many scammers are based outside South Africa, requiring cooperation from police services around the world. However, many are based in South Africa, even though they claim to be elsewhere.

Other tips

• If an item like a new car or iPhone is advertised for a ridiculously low price, remember that it is probably too good to be true and stay well away.
  
• Be especially vigilant when it comes to renting property. Ensure that the person you are dealing with is the bona fide owner of the property.
  
• Watch out around World Cup time if you are booking accommodation. Make sure the place you are booking actually exists, and that the agent is authorised to act as the agent. People have arrived on holiday to discover their holiday apartment does not exist, or has been triple-booked.
  
• Some scammers place ads simply to collect email addresses for use in another scam, such as the Nigerian 419 scam. Do not give out contact details unnecessarily.

New website scans for phrases

The company's soon-to-be-launched new website automatically filters all classifieds to identify phrases most commonly used by scammers, alerting moderators to treat these as priorities. The new website also requires users to register and verify their email addresses, which will further deter scammers, as it will make them easier to trace.

The site appends security tips to all inter-site messages, highlights scam practices in its newsletters and features safety precautions on its site.