Safe From Scams: Online shopping scammers
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- From Craigslist to Amazon, online shopping is a multi-dollar business.
Con artists also use these sites to try and steal your money.
"I was looking for a car," a victim, who wanted to remain anonymous, said. "I really was in dire need of a car."
The victim still can't believe what happened when she saw an ad on Craigslist.
"I saw a truck on there that was cheap, that was kind of like unbelievable deal," she said. "Which should have put up a red flag."
But it didn't. She and the seller spoke back and forth for more than a week and it never dawned on her something was wrong.
She said that her husband had previously died and she was moving she was moving back to Maine and she just wanted to get rid of it - the truck gave her bad memories.
The seller told the buyer that online vehicle transactions work differently.
Payment needs to be made on cards and she needs to send numbers to her before the vehicle is shipped. All of these instructions came via email with an Ebay logo at the top, so it seemed legitimate.
"They asked for the numbers for the cards which that kind of made me a little suspicious," the victim said. "But, as I said, I thought it was Ebay. I'm like I'm not privy to what these people are doing online."
She never got her car and her money was gone. The Ebay logo and instructions were all fake and part of the scam.
"I didn't trust my instincts, I didn't," she said. "And I feel so bad."
"Credit cards are the best way to make payments when they make purchases online because it offers the most protection," US Postal Inspector Silvia Carrier said.
"Either you can go to your credit card company and make a complaint that either you weren't given the product or you can file some type of a dispute."
Postal inspectors also warn consumers that if they are entering a transaction with a seller from a site - always correspond on that site. If they try to tell you to communicate through phone or personal email, that should be a red flag.
