If you tend to buy or sell things via online marketplaces OPP have got a warning for you.
Police have been looking into a number of instances recently of people being scammed while making transactions on buy and sell sites.
Investigators say the scams tend to involve the buyer offering to pay you the asking price of what you’re selling, or more and then will send a cheque, before asking you to send the item via a shipping service.
They say the cheque is usually worth more than what the item was listed for and fraudster will then ask you to deposit the cheque and send back any remaining cash, outside of the cost of the item and shipping, with the cheque then bouncing at the bank.
Police say where possible, you should consider dealing face to face with people you’re buying from or selling to online and you should make those transactions in cash, to avoid being scammed.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of a money transfer scam, you can contact your local police service, or the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre.
