****FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE SELLERS BEWARE OF BUYER CALLED SLAWEK OR GREGORY ANDERSON!!!***
$$$ In brief: Facebook “buyer” agrees to buy item using direct bank transfer, then spins a yarn about needing to pay extra money to “upgrade” seller’s bank account from personal to business so that transaction can complete, asking seller if buyer can ‘trust’ him to “refund” the extra amount paid! It’s a total scam relying on seller’s sense of personal honesty. “Buyer” however, has no such scruple and is very impatient for refund to take place! $$$
The Scenario: My housemate (Walter) is selling a sizable musical item on Market Place, and strikes up a deal with a buyer (assuming it’s a local, as it has to be collected).
Item sold and time to make payment arrangements. Buyer wants W to use PayID which is a Commbank app supposedly to discourage fraudsters (!) W doesn’t have this app and doesn’t want it so it has to be cash, paypal or bank transfer. Buyer (Slawek) opts for bank transfer, then comes back with a story that since his account is a BUSINESS account, and Walter’s is not, that he (Slawek) has to pay to upgrade W’s account so that the transfer can complete. Slawek the scammer then goes through a dialogue saying that if he pays the amount to upgrade Walter’s account ($550) can he TRUST Walter to refund him the difference?
Well, what are you going to say – *NO, you can’t trust me, I’ll take the extra thank you very much?”
Then follows a digital dialogue where Slawek the buyer insists he has transferred the amount and keeps pushing for W to follow a set of instructions sent by him as to how to send back the “extra” $550. Meanwhile, we keep checking W’s bank account to see if any dollars have gone in, or any message received from the bank. Zilch, nada, nothing.
The “buyer” is becoming increasingly frantic in the messenger dialogue, despite being asked to wait several times until the deposit is confirmed. He sends an image supposedly confirming that the money has been transferred, but on W’s bank account website, there is no such evidence.
We then asked the buyer, Slawek, where he had gotten the image with the instructions (image 03), and asked for the first time if perhaps HE was a scammer. While W was sending this last message, concurrently the buyer sent his payment details (obviously in the hope that W would cave and send the “refund”) in the name of another person, namely Gregory Anderson and bank account details.
By the time W typed back ‘WTF is Gregory Anderson’, Slavek “the buyer” had left the conversation.
The item is still for sale, but it seems that not only BUYERS, but also SELLERS need to be aware!!!
