Internet fraud - Tips to avoid the Western Union / Chronopost scam
I came across this particular attempt at internet fraud whilst looking to buy a computer through craigslist.org the USA website for p2p classified advertising.
In my case I inquired about a laptop computer supposedly for sale in the Boston NH area and found that the 'seller' was claiming not to be in the US but in London; a student needing the money to finish university studies there. He was not willing to meet (this was the very first warning signal) for the transaction in London or anywhere, and would only do the deal via Western Union and Chronopost - the price was also very cheap for the computer model advertised. I did not proceed with the transaction. The ad has since been removed from craigslist.org.
As others have mentioned similar stories I thought the following tips might help people id and avoid being ripped-off by these criminals. If you don't take the time to check the legitimacy of the deal you will only have yourself to blame - Western Union won't give you money back and Chronopost or whoever aren't going to give you the non existent item.
In my case:
1. The price seemed very cheap for the model offered. - Check the average market price for the item you are wanting, if the price seems to good to be true it probably is - greed is what gets most victims in trouble with these scams. A little bit of detective work will help sort the real from alleged.
2. The ad on craigslist.org was for the Boston NH area - OK no problem yet except the price was way too cheap - Reality Check...
3. The 'Seller' gave an address in London which appears to be a large office building - doesn't look like the home of a poor student - Check the address on Google Maps or similar and ask yourself why the item is advertised in the USA but the seller seems to be elsewhere.
4. The 'Agent' gave an address of an 'American' type of street name (dead give away) in London which does not exist. ('1445 N. Springlake Blvd' London SW71DL UK). Check the address and name of the 'Agent' on the real Western Union website and Google Maps for the address.
5. The English in the email correspondence had spelling and grammatical errors - not written correctly as would be the case if you were dealing with the real Western Union / Chronopost who are more professional than this - Read the correspondence properly and look out for errors in the text; also have a good look at how professional the graphic content in emails is. This is mostly where the scammers fail because they tend not to be native English language users or well educated.
6. The email links to the 'Chronopost' email address was for the fake domain - notice the two nn's... <customer-service@chronnopost.co.uk> - Check email addresses and domain names for discrepancy.
7. If by this stage you are not sure if it's a scam the following should clinch it for you. Remember fake websites can be quite convincing in the way they look so have good look at the URLs. NEVER click on links in emails other than to compare the exact URLs of the pages to - real against alleged.
8. The Chronopost website was fake as well ... http://chronnopost.co.uk/ - mispelt with two n's and fake location - Check domain names for correct spelling and google the real company to be sure.
9. The weblink in the email to the Western Union website agentLocator.asp page was different to the link on the real Western Union site - Compare the real page URL to the alleged fake one; read it and spot the differences.
10. The real Western Union site has been verified by Verisign whereas the fake site has not - Check for domain verification; big companies like Western Union and Chronopost always use this.
http://www.westernunion.com/info/selectCountry.asp?country=global - fake site no verification
https://wumt.westernunion.com/info/selectCountry.asp?origination=global - real site - domain verified byVeriSign Inc.
11. Don't get excited or greedy at the 'bargain' offered, take the time to think the whole thing through.
12. Keep posting everywhere to warn naive buyers about this problem.
Hope this helps.
I came across this particular attempt at internet fraud whilst looking to buy a computer through craigslist.org the USA website for p2p classified advertising.
In my case I inquired about a laptop computer supposedly for sale in the Boston NH area and found that the 'seller' was claiming not to be in the US but in London; a student needing the money to finish university studies there. He was not willing to meet (this was the very first warning signal) for the transaction in London or anywhere, and would only do the deal via Western Union and Chronopost - the price was also very cheap for the computer model advertised. I did not proceed with the transaction. The ad has since been removed from craigslist.org.
As others have mentioned similar stories I thought the following tips might help people id and avoid being ripped-off by these criminals. If you don't take the time to check the legitimacy of the deal you will only have yourself to blame - Western Union won't give you money back and Chronopost or whoever aren't going to give you the non existent item.
In my case:
1. The price seemed very cheap for the model offered. - Check the average market price for the item you are wanting, if the price seems to good to be true it probably is - greed is what gets most victims in trouble with these scams. A little bit of detective work will help sort the real from alleged.
2. The ad on craigslist.org was for the Boston NH area - OK no problem yet except the price was way too cheap - Reality Check...
3. The 'Seller' gave an address in London which appears to be a large office building - doesn't look like the home of a poor student - Check the address on Google Maps or similar and ask yourself why the item is advertised in the USA but the seller seems to be elsewhere.
4. The 'Agent' gave an address of an 'American' type of street name (dead give away) in London which does not exist. ('1445 N. Springlake Blvd' London SW71DL UK). Check the address and name of the 'Agent' on the real Western Union website and Google Maps for the address.
5. The English in the email correspondence had spelling and grammatical errors - not written correctly as would be the case if you were dealing with the real Western Union / Chronopost who are more professional than this - Read the correspondence properly and look out for errors in the text; also have a good look at how professional the graphic content in emails is. This is mostly where the scammers fail because they tend not to be native English language users or well educated.
6. The email links to the 'Chronopost' email address was for the fake domain - notice the two nn's... <customer-service@chronnopost.co.uk> - Check email addresses and domain names for discrepancy.
7. If by this stage you are not sure if it's a scam the following should clinch it for you. Remember fake websites can be quite convincing in the way they look so have good look at the URLs. NEVER click on links in emails other than to compare the exact URLs of the pages to - real against alleged.
8. The Chronopost website was fake as well ... http://chronnopost.co.uk/ - mispelt with two n's and fake location - Check domain names for correct spelling and google the real company to be sure.
9. The weblink in the email to the Western Union website agentLocator.asp page was different to the link on the real Western Union site - Compare the real page URL to the alleged fake one; read it and spot the differences.
10. The real Western Union site has been verified by Verisign whereas the fake site has not - Check for domain verification; big companies like Western Union and Chronopost always use this.
http://www.westernunion.com/info/selectCountry.asp?country=global - fake site no verification
https://wumt.westernunion.com/info/selectCountry.asp?origination=global - real site - domain verified byVeriSign Inc.
11. Don't get excited or greedy at the 'bargain' offered, take the time to think the whole thing through.
12. Keep posting everywhere to warn naive buyers about this problem.
Hope this helps.