Classified Website Safety Tips

General Safety Tips
Buying and Selling
Renting a Property
Meeting someone from OzAdz (dating/friendship)
Meeting an Escort

General

Never send money to anyone. OzAdz is for face to face trading only.
Never give your bank details to anyone.
IP addresses can be spoofed, so they are not 100% accurate.
Meet in daylight preferably.

Buying and selling

Never send your goods or money to anyone.
If someone says they are out of the country and they want to send you money for shipping goods to them, it's probably a scam!

- How the scam works: They send you a fake cheque or a fake email from some kind of payment system such as paypal hoping you will send the goods before the cheque clears or before you notice the payment confirmation email is not legitimate.
Don't carry large sums of cash on your own. Take a friend with you to purchase the item.
Be suspicious of people who claim to be out of the country.
Be suspicious if a deal is too good to be true. Don't let greed get the better of you! :-)
Meet the seller in a public place if possible.

Renting a property

If a landlord says they are out of the country and want you to send the money as a deposit, it's most probably a scam!

- How the scam works: You send the money, there is no property to rent so you lose your money.

- Another Scam: They ask you to send money to someone you trust to prove you have money to rent the flat. They want you to use a system such as Western Union. You send the money to your friend or family member. They then ask for you to prove it by showing your payment receipt. You scan the receipt and send it to them by email or fax. They can then duplicate the receipt and claim the money with the serial numbers on the receipt.
If a potental tennant says they are out of the country and want to send you a deposit for the property before viewing it, it's most probably a scam.
How the scam works: They send you a fake cheque for more money than you require (you want £1000, they send £1500). When you tell them they paid too much, they say "ok, send me £500 back". If you send the £500 back before finding out the cheque is fake, you'll lose your money.

Meeting someone from OzAdz (Personals/Dating/Friends)

Meet in a public place such as a bar or coffee shop.
Tell a friend you are meeting someone from OzAdz and say the time you expect to be back.
Get a phone number of the person you wish to meet and speak to them before you meet.

You can read more Internet friends and dating tips here.

Meeting an Escort

A number of users have emailed this scam to me. You hire an Escort to come to your house for company. The Escort asks you to pay first then says they need to leave your house to give money to their mini cab driver or manager. You pay the money up front, the Escort leaves with your money to pay the cab driver or manager and you never see the Escort again.