Beware of Online Payment Scams!

[mj-trading]

As you all know Bidville is shuting the doors so the scammers are really out now! We sold 31 items on Bidville yesterday to 31 differany names and addresses! They all wanted to pay by Revolotion (i think thats what it is called) as they said they don't use Paypal because of so much scam! and they gave the good old story of Shipping Overseas!! We contacted them and said we do not ship overseas like stated! We got a message back on all 31 buyers saying they want it shipped to there USA store but want to pay by Revolotion! Funny!
I'm not cutting down Revolotion as this could happen to any online payment center! All i'm saying is for you folks to keep and extra eye open when accepting online payments! Must be some way the Scammers found out how to do Revolotion now like they did on Paypal!

Good Luck!

[katandron1]

Thanks John for the heads up.
They never rest do they? But when we report like this and give heads up, others are sure to be on the lookout for it.

[jtsspecialties]

Thanks For the heads up John and Kat;) I have found with dealing with these scammers that usually when you get to the payment part of the transaction the payment center(spoof email by scammer) will send the seller a payment confirmation email (this is actually generated by the scammer then sent to the seller), they state that the funds are being held until a tracking number is sent and confirmed by the payment center. In fact the fund were never sent. This is what my experience has been with these folks. Sure wish i could actually meet and actually complete just one sale with one country in particulare never the less i still try to confirm all winning bids and buy nows with them hoping one day to have a successful smooth transaction with them IMHO They can't all be scammers over there.:rolleyes:

[mj-trading]

There not all scammers there good ones too but have to watch for them! When we were at Yahoo auctions untill they quit, we were getting 50 plus sales a day But hear it is! About 25% of them were not scammers! This is one reason Yahoo quit! Also we have had UPS, FEDEX,and other carries deliver us envolopes wioth counterfit Money Orders, Cashier Checks,Even Post Office money orders! We have never got a bad personal or company check yet! Knock On Wood! We have sitting on the shelf over $23,000 of counterfits!
#1-Folks whenever a carrier brings you a envolope like this, be Very curious about it because it is most likely scam!
#2-Call the issueing bank on them or any you get even in the mail!
#3-Never ever ship anything out until these payment have cleared!
#4- State this in your terms of the auction that if paying by any abovepaymet must clear before shipping!

Be carefull! Watch closer then ever with these other sites closing!
See or get something that you thing is funny! Contact Admin so they can go to work and get this person out of here! The more sellers that report the better this site will be and will be here a long time!

WATCH CLOSE FOLKS!!

[jtsspecialties]

I had one person actually email me a personal check and said that all i had to do was print it out and it would be good as gold. I immediately contacted my bank and was updated as this would not be legal tender and to have them issue a actual paper check. As i never heard of such a thing as a emailed check I figured this would be a good time to ask my bank of such a thing. These folks are getting harder to spot these days. Oh and thanks for the additional info about these other payment types MJ i have not dealt with those yet thank goodness as for sending prior to clearing fund thats just automatic for me it just makes good sence to C.Y.A
that way.

[mj-trading]

That online checks like you were talking about has been here for a while now! That carrier scam most of the time the buyer will be fro say CA, Ther carrier will bring your envolope and it will be from lets say SC then there is sometimes a note in them but not all the time just a check (with what we sell we have to look threw all our paper work to see which sale it was) or they'll email you and want you to send it to lets say NY!
So there is 3 addresses to confront! This is one reason the FBI has a hard time to track them!

[admin]

As you all know Bidville is shuting the doors so the scammers are really out now! We sold 31 items on Bidville yesterday to 31 differany names and addresses! They all wanted to pay by Revolotion (i think thats what it is called) as they said they don't use Paypal because of so much scam! and they gave the good old story of Shipping Overseas!! We contacted them and said we do not ship overseas like stated! We got a message back on all 31 buyers saying they want it shipped to there USA store but want to pay by Revolotion! Funny!
I'm not cutting down Revolotion as this could happen to any online payment center! All i'm saying is for you folks to keep and extra eye open when accepting online payments! Must be some way the Scammers found out how to do Revolotion now like they did on Paypal!

Good Luck!

revolution money is actually only available to US members. So a revolution payment and a non US shipping address should be a red flag. As mj has stated, be sure you have the funds before shipping anything. Receiving an email that you have funds is not confirmation that you have these funds, as emails can be forged fairly easy. If someone is forging checks, the company/person will most likely not know until well after you cash the check and ship the merchandise. So doing your research and contacting people as stated above is very wise, and encouraged.

[angelsolutions]

Receiving an email that you have funds is not confirmation that you have these funds, as emails can be forged fairly easy.

This is so true with Paypal as they are over ridden with phishing scammers. NEVER click on a link in a Paypal email, no matter how real it looks. Better to open another window to go look at your account and see if those funds are really there.

And if they paid with an echeck through Paypal, same advice...don't ship till it clears. LOL

;)

[Lanascountry]

I rarely ever use pay/pal anymore but with RME (I LOVE) I check every transaction
and my balance. (BEFORE I get ready to ship)
I still MAIL most from pay/pal, because I love that 18 cent DC!! :D (I sell small items)

[Lanascountry]

Sylvia with the Google check out..is it fairly easy to set up and invoice
your customers?

[unclejunk1]

Good to see you in here John! So they have discover RME! They must be getting slower! Well it has already been mentioned but worth repeating. Check your account activity page before shipping - no matter who you use. If the payment is not there - don't ship. You can bet they will come up with another scam tomorrow!

[angelsolutions]

Sylvia with the Google check out..is it fairly easy to set up and invoice
your customers?

It was easy to me, but then I was expecting business related questions. So if you mind giving out any of your information online, you won't like it.

What many folks don't realize is that if your bank does any kind of business at all, it can be hacked online and it's members information taken anyway. This is why I established a different checking account for my business and went on with life.

I'm a sole proprietor and so yes, I used my SSN. I don't need an EIN, what in the world would I want another number to keep track of?

After you set it up, you'll need to wait for them to make a deposit to the bank account you give them & come back and tell them how much it was. Then you're verified and done. All told, takes about a week.

From the stories I've read about merchant accounts and Paypal both, I'm still happier with Google checkout.

sylvia

[angelsolutions]

Here's their page about fraud too:

http://checkout.google.com/seller/fraud.html

[unclejunk1]

Hi Sylvia! You made some good points but if you go back on the posts you will see some members have had problems with Google checkout. They also charge for their services.

[Lanascountry]

How much do they charge? I know pay pal charges you 35 cents to sell
a dollar item(if you do) :D

[angelsolutions]

Sorry...walked off to make supper. Heh....:rolleyes:

Here's the fees page for Lana:

http://checkout.google.com/seller/fees.html

When you use Google Checkout to process your sales, you'll only be charged a low 2% + $0.20 per transaction. With Google Checkout, there are no monthly, setup, or gateway service fees.

Can't say as I recall the whole fee set up for Paypal (i try not to think about it often).

I musta missed where folks were having problems, unclejunk. Are they older threads? I've never met anyone that had a problem that didn't have a logical reason. :confused:

sylvia

[unclejunk1]

Yes Sylvia, they were older threads and several at the time. I have also seen them on other sites. as I recall they were like the problems paypal has - holding payment for 21 days or so for silly reasons. I don't use google so I never had the problem and have not experienced it with paypal. Still there have been so many that have that I hardly believe it was always the fault of the seller or buyer. I am not knocking google but it makes me wonder! Google pays some of the bills here - thank goodness, but no-one is perfect.

[angelsolutions]

Heavens no, never meant to say they were perfect, cuz they aren't. I can't get some of my adsense ads to display correctly to save my life and I know I'm doing it right. LOL They have quite a few foibles.

I merely meant to share my own experience. I do recall asking several questions of the folks at google checkout's help area as well as the google base help area. Always got good answers pretty quick.

The point, I guess is not to let someone else's poor experience create such a fear in trying something that you could miss out on something that wasn't as bad as you thought. :D Did that make any sense at all? Nope, no iced tea with too much sugar today. LOL

Personally, I've seen more fans of GC. I'll be interested in reading the threads you mention. (taking a needed break at the moment)

sylvia

[unclejunk1]

MJ Tradings original post!

#1 Today, 01:59 PM
mj-trading
Community Advisor
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,054
WeBex Points: 132 [Give Points] [Check]
Blog Entries: 21

Beware of Online Payment Scams!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you all know Bidville is shuting the doors so the scammers are really out now! We sold 31 items on Bidville yesterday to 31 differany names and addresses! They all wanted to pay by Revolotion (i think thats what it is called) as they said they don't use Paypal because of so much scam! and they gave the good old story of Shipping Overseas!! We contacted them and said we do not ship overseas like stated! We got a message back on all 31 buyers saying they want it shipped to there USA store but want to pay by Revolotion! Funny!
I'm not cutting down Revolotion as this could happen to any online payment center! All i'm saying is for you folks to keep and extra eye open when accepting online payments! Must be some way the Scammers found out how to do Revolotion now like they did on Paypal!

Good Luck

[angelsolutions]

Ohhhhhhh....DOH....I sowwy. I thought you meant people were having problems with google checkout. :o Sorry. Maybe I shoulda made that tea, huh?

[unclejunk1]

Yes, as I recall they were having problems with Google Checkout. Have not seen any post lately but a while back yes. Did not mean to burst a bubble. They all have problems from time to time. The older they get the more you hear.

[unclejunk1]

Sorry Stlvia, just wanted to move johns post up for folks to find it easier.


#1 Today, 01:59 PM
mj-trading
Community Advisor
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 1,054
WeBex Points: 132 [Give Points] [Check]
Blog Entries: 21

Beware of Online Payment Scams!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you all know Bidville is shuting the doors so the scammers are really out now! We sold 31 items on Bidville yesterday to 31 differany names and addresses! They all wanted to pay by Revolotion (i think thats what it is called) as they said they don't use Paypal because of so much scam! and they gave the good old story of Shipping Overseas!! We contacted them and said we do not ship overseas like stated! We got a message back on all 31 buyers saying they want it shipped to there USA store but want to pay by Revolotion! Funny!
I'm not cutting down Revolotion as this could happen to any online payment center! All i'm saying is for you folks to keep and extra eye open when accepting online payments! Must be some way the Scammers found out how to do Revolotion now like they did on Paypal!

Good Luck

[unclejunk1]

Excuse me! Sylvia John's post

This wireless keyboard and my fat fingers just don't always get along.

[Kapu]

Ok, since i'm new here, can anyone fill me in on exactly what scams are being done? i've only dealt with ebay and have only had someone hack into my account and try to use my ID. never had a problem with payment. so thanks for your info!

[unclejunk1]

One of the most common scams is for a scammer to send you an email from a service like paypal and now RME asking for information about your account. They take your personal info and rip you off with it. The emails look real but of course they are not. Another is to get you to sell them something and over pay you by paypal or who ever and ask you to return the difference by mail or even on line. You lose your item, your payment and the money you sent them. They have gotten good at making the emails look real and you think it is legit because of the service name and logo's Protect yourself by going to your account and checking there before doing anything. There are sites that give you warning about this - just look up scams or direct it to the place like paypal ot RME for answers to your question on this. It is like the pay by certified check scams. John was telling folks in his post to watch for it with RME now, any new one will eventually get hit by this, just like paypal has for years.

[Kapu]

you are so knowledgeable about everything here, so I was wondering if you could help me trade some stocks. haha. anyway, thanks for the heads up. i'd never give anyone my info over email, and i know about the overpayments scams just by doing craigslist, but didn't know they were getting into paypal and the other one. that will help me greatly. thanks!

[unclejunk1]

Well I guess you don't want help! Thats ok by me. Where are these listings we are supposed to buy from?

[Kapu]

What, with the stocks? the only stock i have is chicken stock. Now about the listings- i have about 5 listed. are they not showing? how do i move them into my store? and do i really need a store? or are the listings enough?

[unclejunk1]

I looked in your store and did not find any.

[unclejunk1]

If you want them to show in the store you start by checking both when you start a listing - which is the reccomended way.

[unclejunk1]

Your store is looking good Kapu! items are showing and you changed the store logo - very nice. Best of luck.