Scams, Suspicious Messages, Phishing
Suspicious Messages
If you receive a suspicious message concerning an item in your shop, please proceed with caution.
The message might be sent by an individual attempting advance-fee fraud, also called the “419 scam”.
What to look out for
In combination, the following characteristics may indicate the message is a scam:
Does the buyer:
- Use odd phrases, or strange formatting in the message?
- Offer to send you more money than you are asking for your item? This is known as an overpayment scam and is described under How the Scam Appears below.
- Say they are a traveling businessperson, an oceanographer, or away at sea?
- Insist you reply via a personal email address, off of Baphomart? A buyer who immediately insists on communicating off of our site may be questionable.
- Seem to not have read or looked at your listing, based on their vague questions?
- Refuse to go through Baphomart Checkout, thereby disqualifying the transaction from any Baphomart protection?
- Have a particular interest in an item of relatively high value? Scammers tend to focus on mid and high-value listings.
How the scam appears
The scammer will attempt to convince a seller to accept a fake payment for more than the item is worth. If they are successful, the scammer will get both the item and the money. In nearly every case, the con artist will not be caught.
Here’s an example of how the scam can play out:
- Your item, listed for 1,000 GBP, gets the attention of a 419 scammer. They offer to send you 1,800 GBP by cheque, the extra intended to cover international postage costs or the costs of the scammer’s private delivery company. They ask you to transfer the remainder back to them once you have dispatched the item, sometimes even offering to let you keep a few hundred pounds more than your item costs.
- You deposit the 1,800 GBP cheque into your bank and then return the 800 GBP to the scammer. The scammer counts on you doing this before the cheque officially clears your bank account. This window between deposit and processing is known as “float time” and can last seven days, ten days, or even longer if the payment is international. During this time the money can be transferred, but it has not been verified by your bank as real.
- Once the payment is processed, your bank will determine that it is fake. They will take the entire 1,800 GBP back from you. Since you will have already sent the 800 GBP back to the scammer, you must repay the bank $800 of your own money. If you have spent any of the 1,000 GBP you thought you earned, you will also need to replace that. Your item, if dispatched, will also be lost.
These scammers typically create multiple accounts on Baphmart and send the same message to different sellers with little or no personalisation. Scammers target sellers who list high-priced items in their shop and have fewer sales.
Example of a real 419 scam message
Hello Seller
is this item still ready for the immediate purchase, before i proceed with the payment i will Like to ask about the item…
- What is the present condition of the item?
- Do you accept PAYPAL as your mode of payment?
- what is the final asking price?
kindly get back to me with your reply to my private email :
hope to read from you soon.
Best Regards
Why does this scam work?
The scammer’s payment (typically a check or money order, but increasingly an electronic invoice sent via PayPal or another payment processor) is a forgery. In the case of a check, it is not real. It is only worthless paper. Your bank may allow you to deposit it, but the payment will not clear. Your bank will hold you responsible for the entire amount.
In the case of a PayPal payment, the scammer will either send a fake PayPal confirmation email or pay with a fraudulent payment source. Whether you return the “overpayment” via PayPal or a wire transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram, you will still be held responsible for all of the money involved.
Never trust a PayPal payment which is contingent upon you dispatching the item before funds are “released” to your account, unless you are willingly using an escrow service.
Remember: Money sent back to the scammer is money which is lost forever.
What you should do
Do not respond to the message. Baphomart does not recommend engaging these scammers for any reason. Responding will encourage the scammers and cause you to receive further scam messages. Baphomart is actively engaged in preventing scammers from targeting our community members. If you receive a suspicious message, you can report it via our Help Centre Support
If you have further questions regarding a suspicious message you received, or if you exchanged money with a suspected scammer, please contact us. At that point, we also encourage you to contact your local law enforcement and financial institution.
Scam and Phishing Emails
“Phishing” is when scammers send emails or text messages to trick you into giving them your personal information. These emails and messages can impersonate a company or business.
Tips to avoid phishing and other scams
- Make sure your internet browser is on https://baphomart.com before signing in to your account or entering any personal information.
- Don’t share sensitive account details such as your password or bank account number. Baphomart will never ask you for your password, bank account, or IBAN number in an email.
- Look for tell-tale signs of a phishing email, especially poor spelling and grammar or links requesting your password, bank account details, or credit card number. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with phishing email scams and how to recognize them here: http://www.onguardonline.gov/phishing
- Change your password often.
- Don’t use the same password across multiple sites.
- If you receive a suspicious email that says it is from Baphomart, please let us know by forwarding it to trust-and-safety@etsy.com