Online Sellers Beware
ONLINE SELLERS BEWARE

Another popular scam involves those people who sell items on eBay and other Internet and smart phone apps. The scam goes like this: you offer something for sale on eBay for let’s say, around $500. You are then contacted by a person who says yes they want to buy it. They want to know if they can send a check. Of course you say, no problem. Please send the check and when the check clears I’ll send the product. So a couple of days later you receive a check in the mail but the check is for $800, not $500. You then get an email or call from the purchaser who says I’m sorry. I sent you the wrong amount. Please deposit the check and send me back the difference by ACH, $300. Not concerned because you have an $800 check, you ACH them $300. A week and a half later, your bank tells you that the check you deposited for $800 did not clear. In most cases, the check is written on a closed bank account that doesn’t even belong to the “buyer.” So now, instead of having sold your product for $500, you’re out $300 that you sent to the scammer who claimed to be a bona fide purchaser.

Remember when you said you would not send the product until the chicken cleared?. Sure you do. But why didn’t that same logic apply to sending the scammer $300 by ACH? Let’s face it, no one ever over pays for something. It’s just another way to try to cheat you out of your hard earned money.

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