Am I Being Scammed? 7 Red Flags To Watch Out For (Part 1)

Free ads sites have quickly become a hit to Pinoys mainly because of its convenience and wide customer base. Unfortunately, where there is money, there are also malicious people.

Stop, look and listen!

Online scams are a reality of today’s online marketplace. Before dealing with unknown sellers online, it’s important to check on a few things to make sure the offer is legit.

I have been an online buyer and seller long enough to know my way around shopping online. To help you have a stress-free online buying experience, I am sharing this list of things to look out for when shopping online.

1. Limited payment method. Criminals don’t want to be traced so having only one payment method, an untraceable one like wire transfer ONLY, is a sign that the ad is a scam.

Why? Having a bank account in there gives the buyer the confidence of having the option to file a police report in case of a scam. A scammer may create a wire transfer profile ealisy, but opening a bank account requires valid documents (ie. valid IDs, Photos).

2. No meetups for expensive electronic items. Some people might say the meetups defeat the purpose of buying online. But in many cases, especially for Pinoys, meetups are the best way to complete an online transaction. Sounds ideal, but let us also consider other sellers who are located in other parts of the country or those who are just genuinely busy.

Why? Wouldn’t you want to test out an expensive electronic item first before handing out your money to the merchant in the flesh? The bottomline is, if you’re okay with having your expensive item shipped, then you may go ahead with the deal – just be sure you read the rest of the tips here.

3. Copied photos or stock photos. Scam ads are fictitious in that the seller is only enticing a potential buyer to buy a fictitious (or in other cases a fake) item. The listing or ad post will most likely contain copied photos (from another online seller) or stock photos (advertisement photo taken from the official website)

Sample of Stock photo

Sample of Seller photo

Why? A seller not having actual photos of an item most likely doesn’t really have it to begin with. Check other listings to make sure that the photo is not just copied from somebody else. Sometimes, a watermark is added by other sellers, so be sure the information on the watermark (ie. username) matches with your seller’s.

4. Offer is too good to be true. You know the price range of the item you want to buy and this seller is selling it for a ridiculously low price. Chances are, it is indeed ridiculous because it is a scam! Don’t fall for items selling at half their prices even if the seller mentions a story about how he/she badly needs the money.

Why? Scams work like that – they make their offer so inviting that potential buyers are blinded about the possibility of it being a scam. The rule of thumb is, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Continue reading: Am I Being Scammed? 7 Red Flags To Watch Out For (Part 2)

*Seller photo taken from http://www.upvery.com/50207-ipad-64gb-for-sale-best-price-apple-ipad-tablet-16gb-32gb-64gb-wifi-3g-cheapest-ipad-for-sale.html