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Be on your guard for scammers on Gumtree and similar sites.
Spotted a lovely Scott Foil 20 road bike on there a few days ago very near me so replied to the perfectly worded and well-written ad.
Got a message back via gumtree asking me to contact them on their home email addy, which I did.
Said I was interested and gave them my number and asked them to ring me if the bike was still for sale.
Another message back confirming the bike was still available, was in perfect condition, still under warranty etc and had all the original receipts and accessories.
Excellent! Asked to view it but then got a not-so-well written email back saying;
A quick bit of googling and it turns out they've tried it before with some Technics turntables.
I believe the scam works like this;
They ask you to prove you've got the necessary funds to buy said item before they send it down by purchasing a Ukash voucher for the purchase amount. The idea being if you don't like the item, you get a refund on the voucher but..........
To prove to them you bought the voucher and are a genuinely interested party, they ask you for the last 10 digits of the 19 digit voucher code as assurance.
The last 10 digits are all they need! Once they have those, they have your money.
The old saying "if it looks too good to be true etc..." was right in this case, the bike was advertised for £900 but would have cost around £2400 new.
I reported it to Gumtree and I see the ad has now been taken down.
Be wary!
Spotted a lovely Scott Foil 20 road bike on there a few days ago very near me so replied to the perfectly worded and well-written ad.
Got a message back via gumtree asking me to contact them on their home email addy, which I did.
Said I was interested and gave them my number and asked them to ring me if the bike was still for sale.
Another message back confirming the bike was still available, was in perfect condition, still under warranty etc and had all the original receipts and accessories.
Excellent! Asked to view it but then got a not-so-well written email back saying;
DINGALINGALING.....!
A quick bit of googling and it turns out they've tried it before with some Technics turntables.
I believe the scam works like this;
They ask you to prove you've got the necessary funds to buy said item before they send it down by purchasing a Ukash voucher for the purchase amount. The idea being if you don't like the item, you get a refund on the voucher but..........
To prove to them you bought the voucher and are a genuinely interested party, they ask you for the last 10 digits of the 19 digit voucher code as assurance.
The last 10 digits are all they need! Once they have those, they have your money.
The old saying "if it looks too good to be true etc..." was right in this case, the bike was advertised for £900 but would have cost around £2400 new.
I reported it to Gumtree and I see the ad has now been taken down.
Be wary!
