Scam on Freecycle

Jelly_baby133

Hi everyone, this post will show I am an idiot but I don't want others to be caught out. I am a frequent user of free cycle love that I get, I give. Most of the time it works very well. Recently I replied to a post offering laptops just requesting to pay £10 for postage. The Story informed that a business centre was upgrading their computers and many were available for those who wished. I losted in total £50 which I could ill afford. Please don't get scammed.

Robin9

More detail please- where does the £50 come from ?

hollydays

Ouch! But why wouldn't the business have just advertised on their local free cycle. It's not as though they wouldnt have got lots of offers...

maninthestreet

'Send us a tenner, and we'll send you a laptop' - 'Great, I'll have five, here's my £50'. What could go wrong?

Sooler

Robin9 wrote: »

More detail please- where does the £50 come from ?

They lost[STRIKE]ed[/STRIKE] £50 because at £10 each they must have ordered 5.

brightonman123

freecycle is meant to be totally FREE- no postage, collect only. report the 'offerer' to freecycle (or freegle, if using yahoo groups?)

Sooler

brightonman123 wrote: »

freecycle is meant to be totally FREE- no postage, collect only. report the 'offerer' to freecycle (or freegle, if using yahoo groups?)

freegle is not the same as freecycle
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/329180/what_went_wrong_with_freecycle_in_the_uk.html

prowla

This is a regular scam: you say "Can I have the item, please?" and they say "Ah sorry, we've just moved to the other end of the country, but am happy to post it to you."; of course, once you send the postage money you never hear back from them.

The rule is: ON FREECYCLE/FREEGLE YOU DO NOT PAY FOR ANYTHING!

mossstitchmama

Yep, I nearly fell for something like this. I put a post on Freecycle asking if anyone had any yarn on cones for me to knit blankets for charity.

Got someone asking me to pay £5 for a courier delivery of a job lot as they lived the other side of the country to me. I was told to go to my local newsagents and pay it through a Pay point. I was on my way out to do it when it dawned on me. This person was pretty convincing.

kingfisherblue

These scams show up regularly on Freecycle. If you click the report button, the mods will look at the ad and hopefully remove it.

missile

Why did OP want 5 laptops? To sell perhaps? Seems she was greedy and got her fingers burned.