So, I recently posted a Facebook Marketplace ad for a piece of jewelry I wanted to sell. Hoping to get a reply from someone in the New York area, I made the lising available for the public to see. An hour after I first made the post, I was contacted by someone who wanted to purchase the jewelry and pay extra for me to ship it to Africa....sound a bit fishy? Well, thankfully, my mother had seen a news report on online scams in which a buyer makes payment with false cashier checks over the amount of purchase, then requests the excess money to be wired back. Final outcome? Checks bounce, product is shipped, and someone is royally screwed. Now, I am being harrassed on Facebook by someone I have already refused to sell to. I am not the only one.
Here is a listing of national newspaper articles detailing some of these scams. Apparently, the FBI is already undergoing investigations on the matter, but because most of the scams originate in Nigeria there is only so much that can be done.
Another obnoxious scam that most people have come in contact with is the Car Warranty telemarketers. Up to five times a day I will recieve an automated call telling me that my car warranty has run out. The first time it happened, I freaked. I just bought a car last December and was pretty sure I purchased a 2-year after market warranty from the dealer. When I was connected to a representative and asked the name of the company, I picked up on the scam and immediately dismissed calls from unknown numbers. I tried asking to speak to a supervisor, but the representatives for these companies simply disconnect you. (I wonder why!) Here's a blog by MSNBC's ConsumerMan detailing his personal experience with the annoying phone calls.
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