The factor of ease in online shopping has attracted the shopaholics from all around the world. But the spammers have become the dark reality of online shopping. By offering fake payment methods, low quality products and applying phishing tricks on innocent buyers have made the life of online customers like hell. Every problem has got a solution. With a little common sense,you can avoid these spammers.
Therefore, popular e-commerce/online shopping platforms are creating awareness among their customers that how they can avoid fraudsters while shopping online. is one of them, it’sthe number one classified ad community in the UK where anyone can post an ad regarding their products and services so that they can reach to the target audience quickly. Their aim is to make transactions safe and sound on their platform. Gumtree came across the various types of scamming cases and wants to share them with the online customers so that they can save themselves. Let’s have a look what Gumtree customers have experienced on their platform:
- PayPal
One recent way of fooling Gumtree customers that they come across over the internet is phishing via PayPal. In this case, fraudster will ask you to deliver payments through PayPal. When you will send the payments scammer will pretend that the PayPal has held the payment amount until you send the items to the buyer. The scammer will also send you fake emails by using the name of PayPal. Never respond to such emails because PayPal never holds the money. Whenever you receive any such email do before replying do confirm it with the PayPal by calling at their customer service department. The best solution to reduce the cases of spamming is to meet with the seller face to face.
- Agricultural/Farming jobs
These days Gumtree is receiving complaints regarding fake job ads especially related to fruit picking and farming. Such fake ads include attractive features for the employee.In these ads they would’ve mention to pay some fees in advance. Remember do not respond to any such ad and share this information with them onGumtree customer service live chat. Never respond to such job ads on Gumtree:
- If, they are offering you an accommodation free of cost
- Pay some fees in advance
- UK visa approval in few days
- Offering a guaranteed job
- They have not provided any residential address. Instead they’ve mentioned only P.O. box address. Note: Some scammers can also mention the street address but it doesn’t mean that the address is right.
- Fake Emails
They will send you fake emails with the name of Gumtree and will ask you to login to the website by entering your email id and password. After logging in they will ask you to make quick payments otherwise they will delete your ad. Furthermore they will demand your bank account details. Gumtree will never ever ask your credit card details and they’ll not delete your ad until and unless you violate their rules. Their original website will be like this- my.gumtree.com or www.gumtree.com. Except these two all other website addresses are false.
- SMS
Similar to email you’ll also receive fake text messages by using the name of Gumtree. Such messages will ask you to share personal details, your bank account details, residential address, etc. The original Gumtree never asks you for your personal information. If you receive such SMS simply ignore them.
- Phone calls
You can receive fake calls and the caller mayclaim to be a part of Gumtree customer service team. But it’s not the reality. On a phone call the spammer will ask you to make payments on an urgent basis. The original Gumtree employee will never ask you about your bank details.
Do not respond quickly to every ad. First collect information about the seller and do check any previous reviews about that seller if possible. Don’t trust blindly over the internet. For a secure transaction first check the product and then pay for it. Be gutsy and if at any point you feels that you are not making a correct payment then cancel t on the spot.
