How to not get scammed.

I have seen a fair amount of threads about people getting scammed or wondering if something is a scam.  I study scams in my free time so I don’t get scammed myself and decided that I could help NSers.

This is NOT to teach you how to scam other people.  I hope that you use this to protect yourself and not to steal from other people.  All of these are illegal and you will go to jail if caught so do not do them.

First on the list is ebay scams.  These are very common and too easy to get away with.

Here a few ebay scams and how to protect yourself from them:

1)  Bid withdrawal
    This is a particularly nasty one and one that is hard to avoid.  What happens is someone chooses an item with no reserve price.  They set their auto bid to; let’s say $1,000.  Then they use a friend’s account to bid $990.  They will automatically become the highest bidder at $995.  At the last moment the friend withdraws his bid and the final selling price will revert to the opening bid.  The auction ends and the seller is obliged to sell you the item at a ridiculously low price.

Ways to protect yourself from this:
Always have a reserve price.  Say you have a reserve price of $300 on an item you’re expecting $1,000 from.  This will reduce your loss $300.

2)  Phishing Scams
    This one is not limited to ebay.  People send out mass emails from a legit looking email address telling people to update their ebay account details.  They will ask them to confirm their ID and passwords.  They can then use the account for a whole number of things.  This can also be used for Amazon accounts, credit cards, bank accounts, and more.

Ways to protect yourself:
Never, ever, reply to these emails.  Update your info on the website.  Don’t even click the link on it to update.  It will redirect you to a VERY professional looking copy of the website.

3)  Postage
    Some will sell an item cheaply but charge very high postage to catch impulse buyers unaware.  This is less serious, but you may be shelling out $40 extra to pay for shipping of an item that is being shipped 5 miles.

Ways to protect yourself:
Just look at the shipping cost.  If it’s really highm factor that in your decision to buy an item.

4)  Western Union Scam
    People will sell items at a cut price and use Western Union for the money transfer, but send nothing.  They will pick up the money at any Western Union and disappear.

Ways to protect yourself:
Don’t agree to ANY transactions through Western Union

5)  Free Items
    People will sell a “foolproof program” which promises to unlock a world of free gifts and samples.  They send successful bidders a plan advising them to pretend they are a business and to request free samples from many different manufacturers and wholesalers (this is fraud)

Ways to protect yourself:
Don’t buy these things.  It’s pretty simple.

6)  Wholesale List Scam
    People will list an expensive item at a bargain price, show photos, and give all the item’s specifications.  Then somewhere in the item description will mention that they are selling a wholesale list only (a worthless list of wholesalers) from which one can buy their item.

Ways to protect yourself:
Read the WHOLE description.  They will include it because it is illegal if they don’t.  If they include it and someone buys it, it is the buyers fault.

7)  Buy and Switch
     People will purchase two identical items (one broken and the other in working order.)  When the sound item arrives, they will claim it was damaged in the post and send back the broken item.

Ways to protect yourself:
Take pictures of the serial numbers and ID stickers on the goods to prove that they sent back the wrong one.  You might also want to make a small mark that does not affect the product, but is easy to identify.


Pyramid Schemes

Ahhh, the pyramid scheme.  We’ve all gotten those emails or letters, or seen those ads claiming that you can “Get rich quick” and that “All you have to do is send in $X to the person on top of the list”
The list contains 6 names and addresses, all 6 are scammers.  There will be instructions to send in $1, 5, or even 10 to the person on top of the list, cross his / her name off slide all the names up one slot and put your name on the bottom.  It will then instruct you to send it to copy the letter and send it to 5, or 10 friends.  When your name reaches the top, you will make HUGE money.  The problem is: your name will never reach the top.  Here’s why: 48,828,125 people will have to take part if the original letter was sent to 100 people and you have to send it to 5 people for your name to reach the top.  Pyramid schemes often collapse quickly so that even further lowers your chance of making money.

There are other variations of pyramid schemes.  If it looks remotely like this, it’s a scam.

Tip:  Don’t send in money

To save A LOT of time and space I will tell you a sure fire way never to get scammed from an email.

If it seems to good to be true, it is.  You won’t make money by sending emails.  You won’t make money by giving someone else money.  You won’t get a free vacation.


I hope that was informative and will help you make good decisions with money on the internet.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me.  There are so many scams out there and I can’t even begin to list them.
If you are unsure of something just hit me up with a PM , I would be glad to help.