Buyer Beware – be extra vigilant when purchasing onlin, Queensland Police saye
Buying online has never been easier with numerous escrow, trust or payment holding sites available to help you manage your financial transactions safely, including PayPal and Amazon Pay.
However Queensland police have recently been made aware of scammers attempting to use disguised and fake payment sites in a bid to lure unsuspecting victims.
Scammers will often steal vehicle details from legitimate advertisements. They will then change the price and contact details and repost the vehicle for sale.
The unsuspecting buyer is talked into making payment without even seeing the vehicle or sent links to fake phishing sites to make payments. These sites may seem and look legitimate, but never click on a link sent by the seller, and never make payment for a vehicle without physically seeing it and verifying the sellers details.
A recent scam left the buyer out of pocket when he attempted to purchase an advertised interstate vehicle. The buyer was sent a link to a fake phishing site to hold his payment. The site looked legitimate, however on closer inspection was spelled differently to a legitimate payment site. Unfortunately the man lost his money.
Be on the lookout at all times when purchasing online. If in doubt, do further research to verify the sites you purchase from and use to transfer your money.
