Online fraud

I know this is probably like selling coal to Newcastle, but it is another reminder to be careful when buying things online.

This was from Action Fraud yesterday:


Online shopping fraud during lockdown.

" Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, received over 16,000 reports relating to online shopping and auction fraud during the lockdown, with losses totalling over £16m.

Members of the public have reported buying mobile phones (19%), vehicles (22%), electronics (10%) such as games consoles, AirPods and MacBooks , and footwear (4%) on sites such as eBay (18%), Facebook (18%), Gumtree (10%) and Depop (6%), only to have the items never arrive".

Re: Online fraud

I am extremely careful when ordering on-line, only dealing with reputable firms. So far, so good.

Re: Online fraud

Depop is a disgrace. My daughter "bought" a macbook from someone advertising on there. Long story, but it was a scam and we managed to get the money back. The same advert came up for week after week, with different username sellers (it seems that someone found a way of using the login details of other, possible bone fide sellers who hadn't logged in for a while, so wouldn't be aware, but still had historically good reviews).

Highlighted this to depop for over a month, with numerous screenshots as evidence. They said they were looking into this, but never did. Just had a quick look on their site, and the macbook is still being advertised.

Re: Online fraud

No idea if this might be of use to you, or if your daughter is still looking for a MacBook, but Apple sells refurbished devices of all kinds, link below was found after doing a search.

I have no experience of buying anything from Apple in this way but I am guessing it would save an awful lot of problems, also according to the website you would get their after sales service which is very good I understand.

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/refurbished/mac

Re: Online fraud

Thanks. We got a refurbed one via ebay. Works a treat and ebay take their security far more seriously than depop.

Re: Online fraud

Good that you got one that works a treat. The MacBook is a brilliant laptop and upgrades have always been trouble-free. I've used Apple devices since the 1980s and found them very good. I know people do say they are expensive but you do get what you pay for. My last Mac was permanently on 24/7 for twelve years without any problems, in an industrial setting too as I worked for myself. Should any information be required just do a google search and usually you will find what you need, often too an Apple help forum will have the answer.

Re: Online fraud

I've bought & sold via Gumtree ... good old fashioned meet up, cash transaction and a handshake.

Re: Online fraud

One of the great things about buying on Ebay is that Paypal offers security for your payment.

In the many years that I have been buying from Ebay sellers I have only had problems with one seller, they advertised something (I forget what as it was years ago) at a very reasonable price so I ordered it. When it didn't arrive I complained and they basically tried to get more money out of me if I didn't have another address to send it to me.

I gave them another address to send the item to yet it still didn't arrive, again they wanted more money to resend it so I complained to Paypal and provided all the emails. They refunded my money within days.

My experience on Ebay and with Paypal is very satisfactory apart from this I have never had any problems even with many Chinese sellers where postage times can range from couple of weeks to a couple of months.