Written by Anna from TheHouseofMouse
As users of the internet most of us are aware that we should protect our personal information as well as we can. But as there is a new scam happening with increasing instance on Etsy I thought that I should post a little reminder....
The scammer(s) on Etsy are convoing sellers to ask for personal information to apparently pay for items by cheque or bank transfer BEFORE they have actually bought anything from the store. They are asking for Name, Address, phone number, email address and bank details! My advice is to stick to PayPal as your preferred method of payment (which is relatively safe) and if you receive a convo like this then reassert your payment policies and forward the convo to abuse@etsy.com
You should never take part in business transactions you don't feel comfortable with, nor reveal private information to those you don't trust.
I guess because my husband is a computer security expert I am more aware of this stuff than most. For instance did you know that posting your full name, telephone numbers, email addresses, home address and birth date on your Facebook info page is a welcome invite to identity thieves! They will happily use them to create bank accounts and other fraudulent accounts like credit cards and phone bills in your name. Even worse you can hand over your bank details, social security numbers of drivers licence numbers to anyone who feels like going through your trash... Always shred any information like this before throwing it away. Identity theft is ugly when it happens, and as it is increasing all the time so does the chance that it will affect you.
Written by Anna from TheHouseofMouse
7 comments:
Scammers! This is horrible, I know someone that had something similar happen to her, it's so sad that there's actually people in this world doing things like this.......
I have found that, most of the time, when someone wants to ignore my very clearly laid out payment policies that their intent is not to pay - especially since most do it by "buying" first and then refusing to pay for the item!
This particular practice is straight from 409 scamming methods that you see in spam mails all the time. It was only a matter of time until they moved on to Etsy. I only hope that Etsy cracks down fast, as these people can really wreak havoc.
Thanks for the heads up!
I agree, this is sad. It sucks that there are such vile people. Good info though, thanks for posting it.
This is so scary! I am so nervous when it comes to the internet already. That is good to know about facebook. Thanks for the information!
www.megansjewlrymoments.etsy.com
Thanks so much for your post! This is so important to remember, we tend to let our gaurd down. As for facebook, I am trying to resist it. So many other less potentially invasive social networking alternatives. This is very appreciated, I will try to link this to my blog (I am a dinosaur learning new tricks LOL)
It's very exciting to get a large order. Please do not fall for this scam becasue you want it to be real.
Stay informed and don't be a target.
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