I thought you might be interested in this scam, there is always something new coming up. This is from Google news.
Yolande Lehmkuh, 24, is devastated.
She was recently duped out of R7 000 after advertising her Nikon D40 digital camera on an electronic classifieds database.
Lehmkuhl says she placed an advert on Junk Mail on September 30. Two days later she received an SMS from a man we’ll call K, who indicated his interest in the camera and offered to make an electronic bank transfer.
She gave him the banking details and later that day he faxed through proof of payment.
Since he was using an FNB account and her mother an Absa account, they were advised that it would take three working days for the money to reflect, but she refused to release the camera until the money had cleared.
When the money had still not cleared by October 7, Lehmkuhl says she realised that she had been scammed.
“I tried to call Mr K on his cell and there was no answer. I left a message on his cell to say that we assume that he is no longer interested in the camera (because) there was no money transferred,” she said.
While conducting business with K, Lehmkuhl had received an e-mail from another person, whom we will call D, who had inquired about the camera. When the transaction with K failed, she contacted D, who said he was still interested.
Via e-mail correspondence, he told Lehmkuhl that he’d be using a bank-guaranteed cheque to make the payment.
She asked him what that meant and he explained saying: “A bank-guaranteed cheque is a means of payment which is convenient to use and easy to carry since it is a substitute for cash. It is just as good as cash because you can cash it over the counter at any bank.”
“So I replied to him saying that I will accept the bank-guaranteed cheque (because) a lot of people told me this is a pretty safe way,” she said.
She asked for a copy of his ID and work and cellphone number.
They arranged that D would meet Lehmkuhl’s dad at his dance studio in Meyersdal to make the exchange. But on the day, he sent someone else to fetch the camera with a letter explaining he could not make the meeting personally as he had “work commitments”.
“This person had all the documents with a letter from D apologising for not being able to make it. My father looked at everything and it seemed above board, so he handed over the camera,” she says.
She went to cash the cheque at an FNB branch in Krugersdorp, but to her dismay, she was told that the cheque was a fake.
She wants to alert people doing business through the classifieds to be cautious with their deals.
“Go with these guys to the bank and have them draw the money from the bank there and then. If you have a gut feeling and you feel that something is not right, rather take an extra day or week to decide on the sale,” she advises.
Eblockwatch founder Andre Snyman says fraudsters prey on people advertising items for sale in classifieds, usually contacting the victim on a Wednesday, promising a deposit by Friday.
“You see a payment into your bank account so you make the exchange thinking the money has cleared, but by Monday you realise that the money has been reversed and that you’ve been duped,” he says.
He relays a story about a woman in Kempton Park who had wanted to redo her kitchen. She found a man who came to her house and gave her a very good quote.
“He told her she’d have to put down a deposit and the balance of 50 percent when the goods were delivered and the other 50 percent on completion,” he says.
The men arrived at her house and they agreed upon a day, took out her old kitchen and brought in a truck full of wood.
They never returned and got away with her old kitchen and half of the total amount of the job. It was later found that the wood they had dropped off were offcuts.
“If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is,” he said.
