In our last edition, we reviewed a few different scams and provided tips on how to protect yourself and what to do if you think you were a victim of a scam.
If you missed our first alert, stop by our East Wareham branch, and we’ll give you a copy.
It is more important than ever to be aware of the many scams fraudsters are trying to get away with. This month, we are going to review a different type of scam and what you can do to protect yourself if you believe you are being scammed or have been a scam victim.
One of the more common scams that we are seeing almost once per week is the “Advertisement for Sale” scam. This scam is widespread on nearly any website someone can advertise something for sale.
We see this on some prevalent websites, such as Facebook, Craigslist, and Offer-Up; sometimes, we even see it on websites for rental properties.
This scam works because you may be browsing Facebook Marketplace for a specific item, such as a new boat. You found someone selling a boat, but the deal looks a little bit TOO good to be true. The scammers know that an attractive price will bring in more possible people to scam.
The most important thing to be careful of is if anyone selling a product wants you to send money via Venmo, Zelle, or CashApp. These apps send your hard-earned money electronically, and the funds leave your account instantaneously.
Part of the agreement to use these applications indicates that you are solely responsible for any transactions sent, and there is ZERO recourse if you hit that send button. Once you send the funds to the scammer, they will no longer answer you; they will block your number or, even worse, completely disconnect the original number you were communicating with. They use a fake name and fake profile to stay under the radar. You are out of your money, and you aren’t going to get the boat.
How can you protect yourself from this scam? To start, if you are buying an item from a third party online, it’s very important to make sure this is a legitimate person. It sounds silly, but look at their Facebook. Do they have a lot of friends? If they sell the item locally, do they have any friends locally?
These are big red flags, as scammers will typically create a new account to do a new scam. Another great tip is NOT to send any money until you can see the item you are buying, make sure you can verify that the item physically exists.
My final tip, which is the most important… Never ever send a Zelle, Venmo, or CashApp to someone you do not 100% know and trust. These apps can be very helpful, but only with people you know, they are easy methods for fraudsters to get funds!
Vincent A Pircio
Branch Manager II
Rockland Trust
2995 Cranberry Highway
East Wareham, MA 02538
Phone (508) 295-6900
Fax (508) 295-7178
Vincent.Pircio@RocklandTrust.com
