I placed an order recently to a private seller on Gumtree. After 2 days it appeared to be a scam and various excuses were made as to why they couldn't send the items - and this after payment.
I took this very seriously (R1750 was the value) and engaged Gumtree, FNB (my bank) which made contact (fraud) to their bank Capitec and even opened a case of fraud with the police as a case number is needed for the bank anyway - needless to say I didn't expect the police to do much.
Then 2 days later, they sent the items this after Gumtree suspended their account.
this is the first I've experienced this. How is it possible if at all to mitigate such frauds or is it a case buyer beware - ultimately we are taking a risk ?
If Escrow was a possibility and cheap to warrant, I'd do it that way but we're not talking multi million dollar deals here.
I took this very seriously (R1750 was the value) and engaged Gumtree, FNB (my bank) which made contact (fraud) to their bank Capitec and even opened a case of fraud with the police as a case number is needed for the bank anyway - needless to say I didn't expect the police to do much.
Then 2 days later, they sent the items this after Gumtree suspended their account.
this is the first I've experienced this. How is it possible if at all to mitigate such frauds or is it a case buyer beware - ultimately we are taking a risk ?
If Escrow was a possibility and cheap to warrant, I'd do it that way but we're not talking multi million dollar deals here.
