Information on Loughborough

Police advice for secure online auction selling

Posted on 20/01/2009

Police advice for secure online auction selling

The police are warning people who sell goods on online auction sites to make sure the money has definitely been received or cleared in their accounts BEFORE they send the goods.

It follows four incidents in December 2008 in the North of Leicestershire in which sellers sent items in the post to buyers in West Africa, Nigeria in particular, only to discover the money wasnt in their account.  On some occasions the seller received an email claiming to be from Pay Pal telling them the money was in their account and they could now send the goods.  They then discovered those emails were fake.

This happened to a 30 year old man from Castle Donington on 11 December 2008 who posted a camera worth £150 to a man in Lagos after receiving a fake email telling him the money was in his account.  The same thing happened to a 59 year old man from Loughborough on 14 December 2008 who also lost £150 after posting a digital camera to Lagos.

Sergeant Pete Chotak, from the North Areas Volume Crime Unit, said; "As more and more people shop on line we are seeing more reports of theft.  Weve had eleven incidents like this reported to us on the North in the last year but we suspect there are many more which havent been reported to the police.  They are very difficult crimes to investigate because the offenders use internet cafés in places like Lagos in Nigeria and are almost impossible to trace.

"Id like to warn people who use online auction sites to be very cautious if they receive an email that appears to be from an auction site, or Pay Pal, particularly one that requests personal information. The chances are the email may be a "spoof" or "phishing" email. The people who send these fake emails hope that unsuspecting recipients, usually people who are new to using auction websites, will reply or click on a link in the email and then provide personal information including passwords, bank account or credit card numbers.

"Most auction websites have comprehensive sections full of advice about trading online and how to avoid being the victim of theft or identity fraud.  I would recommend sellers read those before they start to use the site.  But the key advice is to make sure the money has been received before you dispatch the goods and to make sure you never reveal your password or PIN to anyone no matter how official their request seems."

You can keep safe online with free and expert advice by logging on to http://www.getsafeonline.org/, a website that was founded by the Home Office, HSBC, the Serious and Organised Crime Agency and others.