Where's the scam ?

soolin

I can usually spot the scam, but this one has me baffled, yet I'm convinced there's something odd going on.

It's on SHpock, buyer makes an offer over the price I've listed at, not a lot so I counter offer and ask if they were actually trying to offer and add postage. Buyer didn't respond instead they just offered again , so I accepted and before I could contact them they asked me for my phone number so they could call.i told them there is no need for calls, and asked if they wanted me to,post or whether they could collect. They asked me for my phone number again and when I ignored that they arranged to collect today.

Then this morning they messaged again to say they wanted it posted and would send me x amount by bank transfer. I told them it was too much even allowing for postage , we agreed a price and I supplied my bank details. Then I had a series of messages, either asking me for my mobile number or telling me my bank wasn't valid and payment wouldn't go through .

I've just blocked them and cancelled the sale but I can't see why they were so insistent about having my phone number. We are talking low value here, less than £10 and a small item, easily posted.

TKPeters

No idea, maybe to pretend they're your bank & that your account has been compromised

Pun

Selling phone numbers to cold callers is big business....

soolin

Pun wrote: »

Selling phone numbers to cold callers is big business....

It's a lot of effort though for one number, perhaps they are bored. I'm pleased I decided to cancel and block though as my scam radar was going crazy.

iammumtoone

Some people are just better comunicating on the phone, I am, I much prefer to speak to someone rather then message/email, especailly if they were having a problem with payment. I would have also asked for a phone number but not to the extent of your buyer.

They may be now wondering what scam you are trying to achive by not giving out a phone number.

No everyone is out to scam.

soolin

iammumtoone wrote: »

Some people are just better comunicating on the phone, I am, I much prefer to speak to someone rather then message/email, especailly if they were having a problem with payment. I would have also asked for a phone number but not to the extent of your buyer.

They may be now wondering what scam you are trying to achive by not giving out a phone number.

No everyone is out to scam.

There was nothing I could have said though on the phone to help if they say their bank couldn't make a bank transfer. Buyer had my sort code and account number, he asked for, and received the name of the bank and my name - if they had phoned there was absolutely nothing else I could have given them.

I've made over 100 sales on SHpock, probably 3/4 of which have been posted out, and no one else has had issues with making payment by PayPal or bank transfer (I give them the choice). Also, the very first thing they asked was for my mobile number , which frankly is odd on SHpock as it tends to be a simple system where buyer pays and seller ships, it really isn't any more complicated than that.

newatc

Some people are just odd. I sold a record turntable (to be collected) years ago on Ebay. The buyer took a month to pay despite a number of reminders, (giving different excuses along the way and then never came to collect it.
He sounded quite weird so I was happy he didn't appear at doorstep (eventually give the turntable to a charity shop).

Pun

Here's one possibility: https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/3416363/fraudsters-are-now-hijacking-phones-and-diverting-texts-and-calls-to-their-mobiles-to-steal-your-money/

forgotmyname

This why facebook puzzles me, people are often quite savvy on passwords and accounts etc.

But then stick their life story on facebook, unless your an old child its quite easy to see someone on facebook and trace their family history.

Especially when you send seasonal greetings etc. Follow and find male family members, uncles etc will get your mums maiden name often used for security questions.

If you have not got one already get a cheap phone to use for these deals, dont access the internet or do banking or any personal stuff.

Set stupid security answers, fav pet.. elephant called fishy

Going back a while now i managed to change someones profile just by knowing their email address. Their security used to be awful. Login from a different country url not .com or .co.uk to bypass some security checks.

This was a long time ago now though, so hopefully thats all fixed.

Wonder if there are fake facebook sites? Used to be lots of banking ones.

Someone asked me about a suspciious Egg banking site, yep that long ago
I tried several different bank names after the URL and found my bank, phoned them up about 2am to report it and had a really good chat with their tech guy.
I bet you can't do that these days.

If anyone watches Linus Tech Tips on youtube he had his ID stolen through his phone companies lax security.
Someone pretended to be him and got a new sim etc as mentioned.

soolin

Shpock seems a little safer (security wise) than Facebook, relatively speaking as you don't even use your real name, just a posting profile. Buyers and sellers don't even swap email addresses, it's all done through an app , and as I do tend to be over cautious my profile is very basic, about the least I can get away with which is basically just a postcode.

Although Off Topic I do worry about facebook though, on some of my selling groups people talk about their holidays and even really stupid things like 'LOL, had to leave the house keys hidden in the exhaust pipe of the car today as Ian has locked himself out and I'm off to work, plonker' (that's a real one BTW with the name changed) - lovely picture earlier on their open feed of the car, the road where they live and work details. 'Hey, come burgle me please'

askmeaboutsofas

Perhaps they were going to ask you to refund the extra they overpaid by, and pay you by a cheque that later bounces? Or maybe the whole point was just to get your bank details?
To quote my dad, if you think it's a scam just bail - by the time you're certain it is a scam, you've already lost the money!