ANNOUNCEMENT, AVOIDING SCAMS
Ad type
ANNOUNCEMENT
Email
Description
It's that time again...
before paying for any goods or services, here are RED FLAGS to watch for to identify SCAM advertisements:
✔there are no images of the material being sold and the seller will not provide images upon request (or images provided are obviously copped from the web)
✔the ad is an impossible list of multiple desirable species, all ready to sell at once (bonus scam points if the species are from multiple continents)
✔the advertisement contains no information about the species offered--it is simply a list of species
✔the advertisement does not provide terms of sale--no prices, no shipping rates or methods, no payment instructions, no preferred currency, etc
✔unusual and unfamiliar modes of payment are required, bank transfers are to countries not matching the country of origin listed in the advert (always avoid vendors using Western Union to accept monies. Always.)
✔the name of the contact person is different on all instruments. For instance, the contact email and / or the posting account and / or the name of the payment / bank account provided all carry different persons' names
✔ names of the advert poster are unusual in that they are combinations of names from different languages, or a Google search associates the names with non-USA celebrities and, particularly, star soccer players
✔the listed country of origin of the poster in the advertisement does not match any other information provided by the seller
[IMPORTANT NOTE: this list is posted to assist in identifying outright criminal activity with an intent to defraud. This information cannot--and is not meant to--identify bad trades or vendors with poor quality goods or poor business skills]
before paying for any goods or services, here are RED FLAGS to watch for to identify SCAM advertisements:
✔there are no images of the material being sold and the seller will not provide images upon request (or images provided are obviously copped from the web)
✔the ad is an impossible list of multiple desirable species, all ready to sell at once (bonus scam points if the species are from multiple continents)
✔the advertisement contains no information about the species offered--it is simply a list of species
✔the advertisement does not provide terms of sale--no prices, no shipping rates or methods, no payment instructions, no preferred currency, etc
✔unusual and unfamiliar modes of payment are required, bank transfers are to countries not matching the country of origin listed in the advert (always avoid vendors using Western Union to accept monies. Always.)
✔the name of the contact person is different on all instruments. For instance, the contact email and / or the posting account and / or the name of the payment / bank account provided all carry different persons' names
✔ names of the advert poster are unusual in that they are combinations of names from different languages, or a Google search associates the names with non-USA celebrities and, particularly, star soccer players
✔the listed country of origin of the poster in the advertisement does not match any other information provided by the seller
[IMPORTANT NOTE: this list is posted to assist in identifying outright criminal activity with an intent to defraud. This information cannot--and is not meant to--identify bad trades or vendors with poor quality goods or poor business skills]
Country
United States