The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office
wants to alert citizens to various eBay scams that have affected several
residents recently. The most recent scam
reported to the Sheriff’s Office is the buyer offers to overpay for an item for
sale, and the scammer will then send a fraudulent cashier’s check or personal
check. Typically, by this point the item
has already been sent to the scammer. A
variation of this scam is to request some of the extra money sent be returned
or forwarded to another party.
When selling vehicles on eBay, another
common scam is the buyer will send the seller a check to cover shipping
costs. The seller will wire money as
directed to cover the shipping costs, and the scammer will then decline to
purchase the vehicle. The seller sends
the remaining funds back as directed and ultimately the seller discovers the
check was fraudulent after having sent the money to the scammer. Other similar
scams involve fraudulent checks wherein the sender requests gift cards be
purchased and the serial numbers forwarded to them. A safe waiting period for
any deposited check to be fully verified is seven business days; more than seven
business days maybe required for banks outside the United States.
Tips for selling items on eBay:
·
Don’t send the item before you receive payment or before
the transaction has gone through
·
PayPal is an electronic option and produces digital logs of
the transactions
·
Keep all dealings as a seller on eBay where it can be
monitored
·
Refuse any requests to bypass eBay or cut auctions short
for a “buy it now” price
For additional information and proper
buying and selling of items on eBay please go to www.eBay.com.
Anyone who has been the victim of an
eBay scam and wishes to make a report can contact the St. Mary’s County
Sheriff’s Office at (301) 475-8008.
For official news and information,
follow the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office on Twitter @firstsheriff.
