Avoiding "second chance" offer scams at online auctions: Internet ScamBusters™ #205
Internet ScamBusters™
The #1 Publication on Internet Fraud
By Audri and Jim Lanford
Copyright © Audri and Jim Lanford
All rights reserved.
Issue #205
Hi,
Today we have three Snippets for you about very common scams
-- and we've never written about the first two:
-
Online Auctions - The Second Chance Offer
-
Cheap Prescription Drug Scams
- Most Bank Robbers Don't Wear Masks or Carry Guns Anymore
However, before we begin today's Snippets, we first encourage
you to take a look at this week's most popular articles from
our other sites:
Dangers Your Credit Cards
Must Face: Be careful that your credit cards don't become demagnetized.
Personal fraud: Identity Theft and Holiday Shopping.
Here are some tips for reducing your risk of identity theft this holiday season.
How Savvy Consumers Save Money By Working Less.
Here's a unique idea: Save money by doing less laundry!
How
Organizing Coupons Can Save You Money.
Here are some tips to make organizing coupons easy.
Also, if you missed last week's new announcement for Leo Quinn's terrific ebook called How To Own Your Paycheck Again! we recommend you check it out now (it's half price for ScamBusters subscribers, but only this month -- and the reviews are exceptional).
Let's get started...
Online Auctions - The Second Chance Offer
Let's say you're visiting a popular online auctions website
like eBay and you bid on a car that you fall in love with. You
notice the car didn't sell because it didn't meet the reserve
price, and to your surprise, you receive a "second chance
offer" email from the seller.
It seems that the seller is willing to let the car go at a
lower price -- the price you were willing to pay.
All you have to do is send a deposit of a few thousand dollars
to hold the car, and then when you receive the pink slip, you
send in the rest of the money to the seller.
Sounds great, right? Almost too good to be true?
It very well may be.
Unfortunately, many people have been in this very situation,
and after they send the money, they never get the pink slip
and they go on to find out that the person they sent the money
to wasn't even the person selling the car in the first place!
So what's going on?
There are scammers who prowl the auto auction sites, and when
they see a car that doesn't meet the set reserve price, they
get the email addresses of all of the bidders and send the
bidders an email with a second chance offer.
The bidders, who think they are buying the car based on this
second chance offer, send the scammer thousands of dollars --
and then the con artist ups and disappears.
Actions: If you receive a second chance offer (and second
chance offers can be legitimate), make sure you deal directly
through the auction website you were bidding through and that
you get the contact information for the seller from the site.
You can then verify that you're dealing with the actual
seller. Only then should you consider taking advantage of a
second chance offer on an auction website.
You can find out more about how the second chance offer works on
eBay and other online auctions here.
Cheap Prescription Drug Scams
Your e-mailbox is undoubtedly filled with spam offering incredibly low prices on prescription
drugs.
Scammers know that cheap prescription drug prices are
irresistible to many people, so they send billions of spam
messages that purport to come from online pharmacies selling
prescription drugs at steep discounts.
To take advantage of these amazing offers, all you need to do
is supply your address and credit card information. ;-)
This seems reasonable to many victims, since they do need this
information to process your order and then ship the products.
Unfortunately, you never receive the prescription drugs, but
you do find gigantic charges on your credit card bill.
Action: Never respond to spam. And if it seems too good to
be true, it probably is.
Most Bank Robbers Don't Wear Masks or Carry Guns Anymore...
Here's an interesting -- and different -- way to look at a
common phenomenon (we thought you'd find this perspective
intriguing):
Today, many bank robbers don't fit the stereotypes most of us
have: they don't wear masks and they don't point guns at their
victims. They won't get caught by video surveillance, and they
don't set off standard alarm systems.
In fact, they never even walk in or out of a bank when they're
robbing it!
Instead, they just steal the identities of account holders,
and drain the money from their accounts.
This means that credit cards aren't the only target of
identity theft criminals. These modern-day bank robbers are
targeting bank accounts, too.
So how do these robbers get your bank account information?
The most common method is through the many phishing scams
we've talked about in past issues. You can read about
phishing here.
In addition, a scammer will occasionally succeed in hacking
through a bank's security system (but this is very rare).
Another uncommon method is that some scammers buy information
directly from a bank employee. There are, of course, many
other methods scammers use to steal your information.
Sometimes they steal money from one or a handful of accounts;
other times, they steal from many account holders at once.
If you want to make sure you don't become a victim, keep a
close eye on your banks accounts and immediately report any
suspicious activity to your bank's manager -- even if it's
just a few dollars. And don't forget to change your passwords
often.
Time to wrap up for today -- have a great week!
