0704 warning

[jingle]

I just learnt the hard way
I rang after a free ads advert in London area last month
The number was 0704 plus thee other number
I spoke to the guy over 2 days and for about 16 minutes in all
28 fookin pound it cost me on my Mobil
So be ware if you see a cheap machine on there
It's probably not when you add it all up

[aristomatic]

Thanks for the warning jingle.
It's not just the scammers direct action either. I recently sold an item on ebay (non coinop). It was a collection only item and was bought and paid for immediately by Paypal. This is a difficulty on ebay as when collection only items are paid via Paypal then the scammer can weeks later email Paypal and say that the seller never shipped the item and as Paypal have proof item was paid for in full, it's down to the seller to prove the buyer has received the item. However, personal collection of course means you have no third party barcode scanned delivery to the buyer through either Royal Mail signed for or via UPS or other major courier. Therefore Paypal then side with the buyer and refund them, so now you don't have the item and worse still now don't have the money either.

However when a legitimate buyer pays via Paypal for a collection only item and you then advise them that you would like to refund the Paypal payment and ask them to pay cash on collection they then either:

(i) think it's a scam from the seller (ironic) or,

(ii) get all nasty, accusing you of accusing them of not being honest.

Either of which can lead them to not wanting to proceed with the sale.
Thankfully in this case I copied and pasted a few threads from the ebay seller centre giving the buyer visibility of the issue and once they had seen that they were then happy to have the Paypal payment refunded and pay cash on collection.

Another scam is if you leave your mobile number on the listing and they send their email requesting more pictures. If you email the email address given you immediately get a fake email looking like an ebay message. If you click in this it asks for you to sign in and this leads you to giving password info to them...

Always check any ebay message in your email systems also appears in your ebay messages. If its in both, it's legit; if it's only sent to your own email address, it will be fake so just delete.

GP

[coppinpr]

On a slightly different note, here is a reason to always have your mobile phone auto locked with a password a minute or two after you stop using it:
Most stolen phones are not stolen for the phone, the most common reason is that as soon as it's stolen (usually within the first two mins) the thief dials a high rate number (often in the West Indies) then discards the phone in a litter bin allowing the call to continue, often for hours. Only one UK phone provider has an option for you to limit call length and then only if you opt for it. ALL will insist on full payment of the call even though it's clearly a fraud. I had my phone stolen from work two weeks ago and could actually see (on CCTV) the guy trying to make a call on it before he had left my shop. I had my phone locked so no damage done, just lost the damn phone.