'Money order' scams

As people start to use online advertisement websites to sell their unused merchandise, new scams have been appearing on these websites as individuals attempt to cheat others out of their belongings. A common scam that has been occuring on websites such as eBay, or Amazon is that when users put their auctioned item on the internet, for example a laptop computer some individuals may offer to buy the item by the use of a 'money order cheque'. These cheques may appear to work for the first couple of days, but after a couple of months when you have already shipped the product to the individual that gave the 'money order cheque' the cheque will bounce and you will be asked to pay the difference. This scam occurs mainly to items that are hard to sell, for example used laptops and it relys on the users haste to sell the item to which he will be glad to accept the 'money order' offer.

To protect yourself from this type of scam, accept only paypal or bank transfers as the method of payment as this will allow you to successfully confirm that the money has entered your account before sending off the item to the individual.