With so many scams out there, especially now as we face the end of the financial year and the pinned “How to spot a tax scam” post being nearly a year old, I’m going to pin this thread as a place to share advice regarding scams or any new scams you might have noticed.
This isn’t to say not to post scam related stuff in the main community but to create a place to keep track of scam related stuff which might get washed away over time.
Anyone on Gumtree who asks you to email them instead of the app, or seems too eager to pay is a scammer.
Absolutely! I’d also just caution against buying goods that need to be posted on Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace as there aren’t as many buyer protections as eBay. They’re great services but they should only be used where an in-person exchange is possible
Counter argument, harder to have your kidneys stolen via post /s
Gumtree is really best for stuff you really don’t care about if it is broken or lost. Because the item might just work enough to pass a cursury inspection, but is otherwise broken.
@CameronDev On gumtree I generally stop every text conversation after the first two or three messages with “I don’t have time to exchange texts, and I have two other people texting me. Just call me if you’re serious. My number is XX”. About 5% of people call and they’re always polite genuine buyers/sellers. I don’t bother with email or messages with anonymous people when it comes to discussing sales and transactions.
I think that would relegate me to the 95%, I don’t really want to call anyone :D But it doesn’t scream “SCAM” the same way “please email me all the information that is right here in the ad” does.
@CameronDev Yeah it’s unfortunate. There’s no good solution I’ve found to sort genuine people from time wasters and scammers. I have so many people string along for hours with text messages and then end up wanting to do a bank transfer or have me send something somewhere or their brother will drop something off. It’s hard to sift the genuine from the dodgy. If i manage to talk to someone I quickly work out if they’re realistic and serious. It’s a hard problem.