Following the fear of fraud in the digital space being at an all-time high, online classified site, Gumtree, has partnered with Shepherd, a third party service which is supported by Standard Bank, to reduce the risk of fraud for both buyer and seller.
According to the head of marketing for Gumtree South Africa, Claire Cobbledick, scammers are becoming more creative. “They’re generating fake proof of payments and sending SMS notifications to inform you that funds have been paid into your account to gain the release of the items before you realise that no actual funds were transferred,” she said.
Cobbledick explained that using Shepherd was fairly simple. “Once a price has been agreed, Shepherd, for a small fee, collects the item from the seller, delivers it to the buyer and, if all is in order, releases the buyer’s money to the seller.”
Although fraud was very high, Cobbledick confirmed that an overwhelming majority of the hundreds of thousands of transactions on Gumtree were legitimate.
She provided the following safety tips:
- Use the message centre on the free Gumtree app which enables you to connect with potential buyers via direct messaging – this also allows Gumtree to track scammers and retrieve their contact details.
- If the seller or buyer is pressuring you, be suspicious – insist on due diligence, even at the risk of losing the deal.
- Never release your banking details to strangers – when paying, ensure that you’re using a secure connection with a padlock setting in your browser.
- Once a price has been agreed upon, do not release items until money is actually cleared into your account by your bank and not just by text alert.
- Gumtree never requires payment as part of any transaction – if any such payment is mentioned then the deal is potentially a scam.
Gumtree relies heavily on their community to help reduce fraud and report questionable integrity.
Warrant Officer Balan Muthan, head of communication for Douglasdale Police Station urged traders to always follow safety precautions on the site and to report any suspicion of fraud.
Details: help.gumtree.co.za
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