Watch out for con artists!!!

[mafioso]

fully agree with Gert. we should. anyone know a body in the police who would take this seriously?

Fat chance of that. A SAPF? response would be that it is a commercial matter. I once tried to get the so-called Commercial Branch of the SAPS involved but was informed the matter had to be channeled via their 'regular' blokes at police stations. To get things to move from there is prolly more difficult that landing someone on the sun. And I'm not generally a cynical bloke.

Perhaps the hon Ampdog will have some recommendations.

mafioso

[leonpjhb]

Okay, I recently wanted to buy a Harmony universal remote for a friend. He is starting his home theatre setup and I was keeping my ears n the ground for when I saw one come up for sale. I contacted the seller. He wanted a copy of my id and a photograph. I refused. At this point I thought that this transaction was really turning into too much effort. I then discovered the service from RMB (FNB) that enables you to send money to someone's mobile number. You never see their bank details at all. The seller receives an sms and then needs to register with a pin and can withdraw the funds from an atm without using a bank card in a manner that their banking details stay safe. they do not even have to bank with FNB. This way benefits the Seller only as the buyer takes ALL the risk...

We did end up concluding the deal and my friend is very happy with his "new" harmony.

[leonsound]

ABSA has something similar, sounds even simpler.  You get a number and the recipient types the number in at ATM, and draws the cash.
In Cape Town that was used extensively on Gumtree by fraudsters who sell holiday accommodation to Gauteng customers, sight unseen, and when they arrive here on holiday the address doesn't exist, and they can't find the guy who took the deposit, and it's not possible to trace him.

Btw, no one can do very much with a normal bank account number. Only way to draw money from it is via a D/O run, and only relatively large & safe companies that have gone through a registration process can submit D/O runs to a bank, and they can loose the privilege immediately if something is not kosher. Further than that, you have 45 days in which to dispute a D/O transaction at your bank, they will reverse and then the onus is on the other party to prove they have the right (signed Debit Order).
So if you think about what happens with Credit Cards, a fraudster will be able to take out e.g. a policy or DSTV or gym membership using your bank account details, if those companies really don't do due any diligence, but even then you can reverse it for 45 days. I can't think of goods that you can leave a store with, using someone else's bank account number only.

Regards
Leon

[Hi-Phibian]

the e wallet saved my but a few weeks ago. en route to pta sans wallet, close to halfway with fumes in the tank. called wife, she went on line, pulled off next off ramp and with my cellphone and some codes pulled cash out of the atm. I was well impressed.

[leonpjhb]

I never thought of an application like that. Coool idea indeed!

[leonpjhb]

I guess I should have known from the start...

I placed an add on AVSA to say that I am looking for an HTM1D. Some time went by and I ended up getting an email from Roger Davidson from EMISI (new little HiFi shop in Essex). He had an HTM1D available for me. I was cautious and asked a LOT of questions, I asked for a picture and even a picture of the shopfront. All the answers were provided along with a picture of the shop.

He was ready to roll and comitted to a price including shipment via UPS.

I decided to ask for a physical address (was still uneasy). Again the response was immediate. I decided to check with the local Police (in Essex) to find out if the address existed.
It didn't. I also tried the Royal mail and GoogleMaps (simply out of curiosity) to see if the result would be the same.

This guy was quite smooth.

If it doesn't smell completely right, it simply isn't!

[GearSlave]

Ah, so the AVSA site is getting trolled now. What a pity.

[windshear]

I guess I should have known from the start...

I placed an add on AVSA to say that I am looking for an HTM1D. Some time went by and I ended up getting an email from Roger Davidson from EMISI (new little HiFi shop in Essex). He had an HTM1D available for me. I was cautious and asked a LOT of questions, I asked for a picture and even a picture of the shopfront. All the answers were provided along with a picture of the shop.

He was ready to roll and comitted to a price including shipment via UPS.

I decided to ask for a physical address (was still uneasy). Again the response was immediate. I decided to check with the local Police (in Essex) to find out if the address existed.
It didn't. I also tried the Royal mail and GoogleMaps (simply out of curiosity) to see if the result would be the same.

This guy was quite smooth.

If it doesn't smell completely right, it simply isn't!

I got a reply from the exact same guy as well about the DS8s i was looking for.

[Mervin]

I would like to get the headers of the email this huy sent you... got it still?

[Steerpike]

Just hypothetically: Suppose you make a payment into a bank account, knowing the owner name and account number. If the product you paid for is then not sent, or is not what you were told you were buying, is there any easy way to get the money back?

[MorneDJ]

If you did an EFT or paid using your credit card, you can lodge a thing with the bank and if everything checks out, they normally reverse the transaction. Sometimes they first reverse the transaction then they let you know Actually very save. You have a few weeks to lodge a query.

The . (dot) key on my numerical pad does not work nicely, and before I got used to it I paid in quite a few more grand into a person's account than intended. Think 2 more zeros. Because of these issues regarding fake cheques and "overpayment", I just went to the bank immediately, and literally a few minutes later the transaction was reversed.

[Mervin]

ECT act locally protects you and reversal of EFTs are quite common.  SWIFT (transborder payments) could be more challenging of course.

[leonpjhb]

I would like to get the headers of the email this huy sent you... got it still?

I will fwd to you, when I am next in the office

LP

PS: I told him to @%$ off when I found out that he had supplied an incorrect address. He still replied and gave me a new (presumably fake) second address, telling me that he was quite upset about the fact that "your guys" had said that the address was fake. damned idiot...

[NoSnipeLimit]

Tried to reverse a transfer before, bank told me I couldn't reverse it, cause the money's already out of his account.

[Steerpike]

Tried to reverse a transfer before, bank told me I couldn't reverse it, cause the money's already out of his account.

I went & asked them at absa about this. They said first they will negotiate with the account holder, since they cannot take only my word there has been fraudulent activity. If that doesn't get anywhere, I need to register an official complaint of fraud, then reversals can be done without the recipient giving concent. He will then be in dept to the bank, who can start debt collection against him.

But if you have a genuine bank account number, and get the bank to match it to the supposed account holder's name - before they transfer any money - at least you know who you are going after - they can't vanish.