I’ve been trying out Gumtree to sell some excess junk from around the house lately.

So far it’s been a pretty interesting experience… One thing that has struck me is the volume of fraudulent requests to purchase.

One came in about a laptop that I had for sale asking that I accept a company cheque because “I need the laptop for a job tomorrow, the cheque needs to be co-signed and I need to be onsite by 8am”. Of course the guy was very happy to pay full price without trying to negotiate it.

I proceeded to have a bit of fun with him and in doing so learned that he actually had no idea what he was buying, only that it was valuable and he could resell it. When I flatly refused to release the laptop into the money was cleared and in my bank account he swore and hung up on me.

Here’s the mantra:

If you are selling on a classifieds or ANY online store whatsoever (eBay and other included) NEVER let the goods out of your sight until the CASH is in hand.

This includes cheques, screenshots of bank transfers, Paypal receipts with bizarre explanations about why you may not be able to see it in your account, etc, etc, etc. No cash = no play.

If you do NOT compromise on this and you will greatly reduce you chance of getting scammed.