There have been reports in your area of the fraudulent sales of mobile phones/electronic devices advertised for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
The items have been listed for sale with postal delivery only due to Covid lockdown restrictions. The items are posted once the full payment has been made. The parcel has arrived with the buyer only to find the package does not contain the item the buyer has paid for.
Please be aware of fraudulent activity such as this and exercise caution when purchasing items from any Social Media platforms.
We have spoken to the owners of Tiger Computers in Scarborough and Bridlington. They have said they discuss cases of fraud and give advice to customers on a daily basis.
Heres what they recommend
(1) Always try and discuss the deal via a landline number as these are easier for police to trace if an act of fraud has been committed.
(2) Never pay by bank transfer always use paypal (and not friends and family)
(3) if the item is local then collect it from a mutually agreed place outside the property. thoroughly check the item and then make payment.
(4) Check the persons facebook profile. even if it is mostly hidden they should still have a profile picture which will normally attract some likes from their followers. If there are non or very few then this sould be a warning sign.
(5) if you are purchasing online then review selling sites such as Ebay are more trustworthy. You may pay a little bit more but there is a lot better chance of the item arriving. Please still always make payment via paypal and through Ebay to have your payment protected.
They have said that although the points above will better protect you this is not a gaurantee that the purchase will go as planned.
