Avoiding Fraud
There is no doubt that scams and fraud are the number one thing to be
concerned with when you buy and sell on the Internet. We try our best here
at Ga Listed to remove, stop, and block as many of these criminals as we
can. It's our top priority because we don't like to see anyone taken
advantage of. To help protect your hard earned money, we have put together a
few things that will reduce the chances of you being scammed when you buy
and sell online.
You should take the following precautions:
- Whenever possible meet face to face before completing any
transaction.
- Never wire money to buyers or sellers.
- Never give out personal information such as your Social Security
Number, checking account numbers, etc.
- Use your gut instinct. Don’t complete a transaction if you have a
bad feeling about it.
Common Scams:
- Overpayment Scam - The most popular scam on classified websites. A
buyer or seller will send you a check for more than the transaction
amount and request that you send them the difference. Their fake check
payment may take up to 30 days to bounce and when it does you will be
out the amount you sent back to the scammer.
- Fake Ads - We do a pretty good job of removing most fake ads.
However, we don't walk on water and sometimes miss a few. Fake ads
usually have an item priced way below their market value to entice many
ad replies. An ad can usually be determined to be fraudulent when the
seller wants to complete the transaction by using over complicated
payment and shipping methods. If this happens, please discontinue
contact with the criminal and
contact us
with the ad number.
- Phishing Scam - You receive an email that claims to be from Auto
Crowd or another Internet brand requesting that you complete a
transaction, you need to update your account, etc. Ga Listed will never
send you an email requesting such things.
Fighting Fraud:
- The easiest way to fight fraud is to meet face to face before you
complete any transaction.
- You may want to Google the email address of a suspicious
buyer/seller. You will find that scammers usually have fraudulent items
posted all over the Internet.
- Use more caution when communicating with buyer/sellers that use free
email accounts.
- Contact your local police department if you become a victim of
fraud.