I have been conned once years ago on ebay.com.my.
From that day, i carefully buy things online.
And i inspect every single tricks used by scammers.
Hopefully this post can save millions ringgit of people by being conned


First:
They don't reveal their details (phone no, copy of IC etc)
They just give name and account number.
Outdated trick used by conman, now just give it since they know that even police couldn't do nothing about it.


Second:
They won't do any COD
Obviously they will not, because they don't have the stuff.
Or they will, but you have to pay some deposit, usually quite high amount.

Most popular excuses:
1) This is Kastam thing. To avoid me from being caught because of selling illegal goods (...) - Mostly found on Ebay.com.my
2) "I don't COD with my 1st time deal customer."
3) Too busy, urgent, going somewhere/balik kampung tomorow (...)
4) "I'm at overseas, i can ask my brother to post the item (...) "
5) "I live in Mersing, in order for me to go to JB, i need some money first because im out of money." (Then they ask for deposit) - Mudah.my Johor

My personal suggestion.
Play around with them. For example:
1) "u post the item 1st, they i pay you later" (the answer: if u can't trust the one that u don't know, why should i?)
2) "ok i have a cousin there, can u cod with him/her somewhere in ..." (just pretend you have cousin everywhere on the earth)
3) Text them "Scammer!" and they will cursing/bulls**tting you in SMS but that's all they can do, genuine seller they will not. (This one is the best way i guess)


Third:
The details given is doubtful
They give others details, his girlfriend/mom/sister/neighbour.
They just don't want to give theirs with silly excuses such as "no maybank/cimb account"

The reason:
1) To avoid multiple cases of scamming using same bank account number so that police will take the case lightly.
2) Using underage kid/dying grandmother account number so that the case can be considered close.


Fourth:
They selling so many items on internet
They sell iPhone, xperia, ipod touch, ps3 and other demanded stuff using same phone number. (usually up to 5items per a phone no.)
I found a seller on mudah.my, selling xperia x1 with the reason for sale: buying iPhone 3G but at same time he selling an iPhone too.

To detect this, there is two ways i usually used:
1. Open up their profile, click Find Member's Topic or Find Member's Post (For forum such as LYN and ZTH)
2. Check their phone number online using exact match result. (For mudah.my, ebay.com.my and similar website)
Try mutiple combination of phone number.
Example:
01x-xxx xxxx (1dash, 1space)
01x-xxxxxxx (1dash)
01xxxxxxxx (no dash, no space)


Fifth:
They have bad online reputation
Search their name online, it might be there, the name with some cursing from people they conned.
Lets say his full name on bank detail is SCAMMER ABCDE VWXYZ, just google his name using quote sign (" ") for exact match result.
Search on Google: "SCAMMER ABCDE VWXYZ"

Sixth:
They sell goods extremely cheaper than others - the_dead_identity
The price offered just impossible or hard to believe. Some deals are real, but you have to check their online selling reputation.
Hint:
Ebay/Lelong: The seller simply got star/feedback from previous buyers. Check his/her registration date also.
LYN: Check his successful trade list and feedback from previous buyer. At least, he/she did 50 trades in LYN. Check his/her registration date also.
Mudah.my: I have no idea about this. Just COD!

This post has been edited by aindejeje: Jan 25 2010, 06:13 PM

- RESERVED -

[YOU COULD ADD OTHER TRICKS ALSO]

Nice tips, i would like to add some here.

Those sell adv with term and condition like :-
- goods sold are not refundable.
- seller are not resposible for the item send by post.

I guess with those T&C is Potential fraud also. Cause u might get faulty item, and the seller refuse to refund.
What do u think?

U can't say it's potential fraud.
That is just a disclaimer.
Even shops will put up ggods sold are not refundable sign.
If u are not comfortable with it, don't buy. simple as that.
Else, COD.

Bro, we just advise, share experience.

If we read those tag, must alert, a further clearify shud be conduct with the seller about the warranty.

If the seller insist those policy, then forget it. go for COD.
As a sincere seller, they charger customer for courier, of course they need bare certain resposible, do some work to wrap the product nicely before ship.
Right or not?

About "goods sold are not refundable".
If goods sold is working condition, of course is not refundable.

If good sold is faulty also not refundable? U must be kiding me.

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Added on January 21, 2010, 11:23 amCheck this out.
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/260354
nice article touching about shipping.

Just remember, further clarify with seller.
If read those "disclaimer".
If no deal happen is the seller lost a potential customer.
Buyer nothing to lost.




This post has been edited by chaiwh: Jan 21 2010, 11:23 AM

another 1 ma,
seller sells things alot more cheaper..
sometimes prices that's almost impossible to blieve..
just to trick ppl..
beware with those cheap price..
not all is a fraud but mostly it is..

Even if seller charged customer for postage, doesn't mean seller have to bear with all responsibility.
That is why in disclaimer seller will put tnc like: Buyer bears risk if anythg goes wrong with postage"
If u do not accept this tnc, back to rule no.1, opt for COD!
Anyhow, i do fully support that parcel should be wrapped kaokao to protect to parcel from fall/mishandling.
Previously there's one case where the seller just put 2 sticks of ram into pos ekspress envelope and mail out...
the ram reached but bent...

Kao li.

If i send postlaju, even is not fragile, i still put as fragile. hehe.
Safety come first.

I still advice if see those TNC, just opt for another seller.
Not need waste time and money clarify with seller also.
We don't want jeopardize our hard earn money, end up argue with seller, everything will be too late.

But this is one typical trick, seller use to sell faulty item.


This post has been edited by chaiwh: Jan 25 2010, 04:34 PM

seller must put effort to protect their good.
i posted a laptop last 2weeks.
the laptop should be around ~2.5-2.7kg.
then i wrapped the laptop, put some paper to absorb shock during postage.
then when i go to post office >> 3.3kg (cost me RM27+ for postage)

good info

Oh, wanna add a few points as well...
1. The conman's join date is usually very recent (usually in the same month they opened their thread)
2. Their total post is usually 0, or sometimes very few... Usually less than 5 posts. They dont participate in other forums.
3. Their profile is very basic and simple, doesnt have much info. No custom avatars, no signature, no location, no birthday, etc.
4. They never sold anything on LYN, they dont have any successful tradelist, yet sometimes 'people' (dupes) are posting stuffs like "good seller" or "highly recommended" or "very nice item u have there". (sometimes people do this to bump their own thread, not to scam. but just be careful anyway.)
5. The 'poeple' who gave positive feedback or posted any inquiries on their thread seems to have similar join dates. Example, seller joined in January, and the people who give feedback also joined in January. Their style of writing, grammar, etc, are also similar. and all of their profile are also simple and very basic. quite common to see this sort of trick actually.
6. Sometimes they are smart and they know that potential victims wont trust them if they say cannot COD. So they put something like "COD in Sabah", assuming their potential victims are most likely living in Peninsular Malaysia. So they will have no choice but to do postage with the conman. If a buyer from Sabah wants to COD with him, he suddenly doesnt reply, or he will suddenly say item is reserved, etc. There are lots of genuine sellers from Sabah / Sarawak, i know. I'm not telling u guys that seller from Sabah / Sarawak cannot be trusted. but these conman disguising themselves as Sabahans / Sarawakians are causing a lot of problem for the genuine sellers from West Malaysia.

The tips above may be very vague in order for u to actually tell that someone is a conman. I'm not saying that a forummer who fulfills the above criteria is a definite conman. i'm just saying that we should be careful with them. Do some research on his profile, his posts, the items, etc. Hopefully it helps.

---

Added on January 29, 2010, 4:37 pmOne point which is not very reliable in order to judge whether or not a person is a conman:

-Invalid courier tracking number. yeah, conman might give u fake trace number. but sometimes even valid tracking numbers dont show up any records. Once i sent an item to a buyer and gave him the trace number, the next day he SMS me saying that the trace number is not valid. i double-checked with the poslaju and it's true that the trace number is not valid. the buyer was sort of unhappy already, cos at that time i looked like a conman. i told him to wait for a few days, and if he still doesnt receive the item, i will give refund. good thing the item arrived, one day late than the expected date though... even when the buyer received the item also the trace number still doesnt show up in the records.

This post has been edited by danny_sp15: Jan 29 2010, 04:40 PM

Good point, something everyone should also take note of

Must always confirm with the seller how he/she is going to send the item, ensure that hardware are sent through parcel service

To prevent from ending up like that, the seller didn't use their common sense when sending the item

Just wanna share my recent experience:
I'm selling my lcd tv on mudah.com, and got this one buyer e-mailed me... She said:

"Hello,i am Mrs mary from Canada,i am interested in your item posted for my son as a new Year Gift,i will Like to know is the item is still available for sale and how much is your final price for the item."

New year was like a month ago, and what kind of mom would buy her son a 42" LCD for a new year gift? if she's rich enough to buy those kind of presents for her son, i'm sure she wont have any problem buying it herself at the local store... and i wonder how come a Canadian's English is that bad... so i suspect this is a scam.. so i said the lcd is already booked...
then she replied:

"Thanks for your Mail,i will Like you to get me another one,i will offer you 2,000USD for it including the shipment,i hope thats better..."

2000USD??!! she could've bought a bigger lcd tv if she just buys herself from her country... anyway, i just ignored her. dont wanna reply anymore..

This post has been edited by danny_sp15: Feb 6 2010, 11:12 AM

Oh boy, dont believe it , i do get alot of emails like that when i post AD over at Mudah.my.

This post has been edited by sKyWiR3pT3lTd: Feb 6 2010, 04:04 PM