Selling online is supposed to be convenient. But with convenient technology comes more and more inventive scams. Sadly, online scams of all sorts are quite prevalent today, and we are doing everything we can to educate members and non-members to prevent them from happening as often as they do.
Some of you may or may not know about the scams that are seemingly committed in AlertPay's name despite the fact that we have nothing to do with these activities. We would like to draw your attention to some tips and tricks on how to avoid these online scams.
One in particular involves legitimate sellers selling products to false buyers online through local classifieds sites.
How it works
- A seller will post an advertisement on a classifieds site for their product(s).
- A false buyer will approach them with a somewhat sappy email saying that they feel compelled to trust the seller's word on the legitimacy of their product and would like to buy it, sight unseen (RED FLAG #1). They also offer to pay more than the asking price (RED FLAG #2). And the email may be riddled with spelling and grammatical errors (RED FLAG #3).
- The false buyer will then send an illegitimate payment notification by email that initially looks real. Although it may not be noticeable to the untrained eye, you can tell if an "AlertPay" payment confirmation is real by the email address from whence it came: a legitimate email would come from ALERTPAY.COM only, not alertpay.[fill-in-blank].com.
It is very important to note that if a buyer has paid you for your product, then you will see the money INSTANTLY in your AlertPay account. Not in five minutes, not in five days - INSTANTLY - like magic. If there is no money in your account from this buyer, then you have not been paid. Also, if the buyer provides a tracking number, then you should proceed with caution.- If the merchant has not confirmed payment in their AlertPay balance and has not noticed the domain from which the payment email came, he/she will take the bait thinking they've been paid and will send the product. BUT, the merchant has not been paid because the notification is fake and the funds are not in their AlertPay balance.
What to do if this happens to you
If you are a seller and believe this has happened to you, there are a couple things you can do:
- If you just sent your product, you may be able to stop delivery. Call your postal office and put a stop on the delivery and have it returned to you.
- You can also report this to a law enforcement agency.
- Always look at the domain name (ex.: alertpay.com) of the website or email. If a so-called payment notification is from anything other than "alertpay.com" then it is a spoof.
- Check your AlertPay balance. Before you send anything to anyone, login to your AlertPay balance and make sure you can see the payment in your Overview. If the payment is not there, then you have not been paid.
- Deal locally... seriously. There are means and ways of finding out the location of your buyer, and one of the best ways is to get a local phone number and call them up... old-fashioned style. This may seem like a pain, but it will save you from losing both profits and products to con artists. If you don't want to call, then have a load of questions to ask such as where are you located, how long have you been there, what's the weather like, etc.... The only problem with this is that the buyer can easily make this stuff up or do a quick Google search to answer your questions.
- Contact AlertPay Customer Support and inquire about payment. You can also visit www.alertpay.com and read about our business model.
- Heed the "Craigslist scam alert". Before you can view listings on Craigslist, you will be told about the types of scams most rampant on Craigslist. The information on this page is not comprehensive, so use your judgement.
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