Almost got scammed today

G

giovannidc

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So I tried selling my old laptop on Gumtree this weekend and after engaging with a potential buyer I decided to meet up at a public place. The long of the short, the guy couldn't pay cash because of daily withdrawal limit and phoned his uncle to do an eft (who over paid me). I received an sms verification from his "bank", so I called the bank who said I needed to ask for an email pop, and when I asked the guy for it his, uncle was unavailable to do so.

Told the guy until I receive a popper pop I'm not going to part with the goods and proceeded to leave, informing him I'll meet up later when his uncle can send an email pop from the bank. That didn't go down to well, and got accused of all kinds of things. Later the afternoon I received an email with an attached pdf. I called Capitec who confirmed it was a fake.

So now what, do I just leave it or do I report it to the police? When I received the sms I almost handed the laptop over, glad I decided to be a thick-skinned douche bag at that moment.
 
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well done. my co-worker was not so lucky.

he lost out on R20k selling a macbook pro on gumtree.

guy sent him a fake sms and pop. he didn't clear it with the bank like you and guy got away with it.

if you have the time and the guys details you can report it to police. most likely the police won't get the guy because they using a pre rica sim that they probably destroyed by now.
 
Most people have d over the goods because of the aggro. That's what they rely on, they are the veterans of this particular tango.
 
BlackMamba said:
But how are they tricking the bank system to send the sms without actually any transaction? Somebody please enlighten me
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They are not, they are just using some 3rd party provider, which is what gives it that long style telephone number the SMS from banks comes from as well, which some people (including you?) might think is from the bank, but isn't, it's just from a 3rd party provider.
 
BlackMamba said:
But how are they tricking the bank system to send the sms without actually any transaction? Somebody please enlighten me
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

Copy paste a bank message and send it using an sms service or a pre-rica'd sim.
;)

The pdf. There are plenty of free photoshop-type programs out there...

And also watch out for deposits.
 
Someone tried a similar tactic with me.
I actually received an sms from my bank, logged on and saw that there was a pending deposit into my account. However, they used a cheque at an atm, which will show as a pending deposit, only to be reversed a few days later. The guy even sent an uber vehicle to me to collect the item. Glad my sense of smell didn't let me down with the rat.
 
giovannidc said:
So I tried selling my old laptop on Gumtree this weekend and after engaging with a potential buyer I decided to meet up at a public place. The long of the short, the guy couldn't pay cash because of daily withdrawal limit and phoned his uncle to do an eft (who over paid me). I received an sms verification from his "bank", so I called the bank who said I needed to ask for an email pop, and when I asked the guy for it his, uncle was unavailable to do so.

Told the guy until I receive a popper pop I'm not going to part with the goods and proceeded to leave, informing him I'll meet up later when his uncle can send an email pop from the bank. That didn't go down to well, and got accused of all kinds of things. Later the afternoon I received an email with an attached pdf. I called Capitec who confirmed it was a fake.

So now what, do I just leave it or do I report it to the police? When I received the sms I almost handed the laptop over, glad I decided to be a thick-skinned douche bag at that moment.
Click to expand...

Well done. Report to cops. Tell the buyer to meet at cop station ... hehe
 
TelkomUseless said:
Well done. Report to cops. Tell the buyer to meet at cop station ... hehe
Click to expand...

I suspect that getting cops involved will be more trouble than what it's worth. OP, good job for dodging the scam there. Happens to me as well.

If someone wants to pay me something with an EFT, then I meet them in their bank, branches have computers that you can do EFTs and you can have a bank employee facilitate the process. That way you're sure that they can't dupe you out of something.

Alternatively Shepherd works quite well. If the buyer is serious they shouldn't object to the small extra fee.
 
silkenphoenixx said:
I suspect that getting cops involved will be more trouble than what it's worth. OP, good job for dodging the scam there. Happens to me as well.

If someone wants to pay me something with an EFT, then I meet them in their bank, branches have computers that you can do EFTs and you can have a bank employee facilitate the process. That way you're sure that they can't dupe you out of something.

Alternatively Shepherd works quite well. If the buyer is serious they shouldn't object to the small extra fee.
Click to expand...

I know the cops will do nothing.. it was just to scare the scammer ;)
 
giovannidc said:
So now what, do I just leave it or do I report it to the police?
Click to expand...

Report it to the police. If they are willing to do their job that is. Sometimes just an attempt at being scammed won't make their fat-asses get up and do paperwork because nothing got stolen. Try anyway, maybe you get a fresh one and they file the complaint.
 
silkenphoenixx said:
I suspect that getting cops involved will be more trouble than what it's worth. OP, good job for dodging the scam there. Happens to me as well.

If someone wants to pay me something with an EFT, then I meet them in their bank, branches have computers that you can do EFTs and you can have a bank employee facilitate the process. That way you're sure that they can't dupe you out of something.

Alternatively Shepherd works quite well. If the buyer is serious they shouldn't object to the small extra fee.
Click to expand...

+1 for Shepherd, they have excellent service and it's worth the extra bucks to make sure you get the money (or the goods) before releasing payment to anyone.
 
The FNB proof of payment includes a reference number that you can use online to verify the payment, no phoning needed.
 
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