eBay backed Get Safe Online are working with the Office of Fair Trading to promote Scams Awareness Month, which aims to educate users on how to stay safe and secure online.
Get Safe Online told us “With the credit crunch biting we’re seeing a rise in the number of internet scams as fraudsters attempt to prey on people’s money worries.” 23% of UK internet users say that they, or their close friends and family, have fallen victim to phishing scams in the last year which is a sobering figure compared to 8% of the previous year.
The Consumer Direct website details many of the most common scams and how to recognise and avoid them.
Get Safe Online also have four sets of top tips to avoid being scammed – Avoid online rip-offs, Using online auctions safely, Don’t let conmen trick you and Don’t fall for advance fee fraud.
At the end of the day it all comes down to common sense and the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.
8 Responses
Not exactly the type of scam you are referring to but one of my websites did launch a new feature two days ago called “Bid Alerts”. Hopefully that will protect someone out there.
I simply lurve the Get SafeOnline Make payments online safely link 😆
https://prune.it/vcyosm
@ # 2
Didn’t eBay tell you that Auctionchex wasn’t safe?
Yep, they did along with most others – its a long story, but can be summarised if you think why Canadian Tire Money was safe for UK sellers at one time !
Come on, who is gonna pay you in Canadian Tyres?
you cant even get a tyre in your pocket!!!
#5 I kid you not there have been countless attempts at counterfeiting Canadian Tires (yeah they can’t spell “Tyres” over there 😉 ) including one for (if memory serves me right) about $10m in dodgy notes!
Canadian Tire Money ain’t real money, but it’s very negotiable in Canada much more so than say Airmiles are in the UK 😀
Beleive it or not, at the time Canadian Tire Money was listed as ‘acceptable’ on the eBay Acceptable Payments Policy page – not all eBay localised sites had it – .com did, .co.uk did, but .ca didn’t !
Its like the UK page now – in the ‘some examples’ section try and see if or not you can use some of the ‘Accepted’ payment options for an eBay purchase ?
https://prune.it/8egsj6
what? you mean folk were surprised when tires bounced?